The UDP blasted out with two press releases yesterday: one on the increase in passport application fees, and the other about government's policy decision to require Haitians visiting Belize to first get a visa, while Jamaicans heading from Jamrock to the Jewel must first show proof of hotel reservations.
Now, these are not exactly new issues - they've both been making the rounds in the news for over a week, but the Leader of the Opposition Shyne Barrow has seized upon them and he today held a one man press briefing at party headquarters.
Even after the Prime Minister explained yesterday that it's a government decision to make applicants pay the actual cost for a very high tech electronic passport, Shyne Barrow said the fee makes it too hard for the average citizen to get their travel document:
Shyne Barrow, UDP Leader
"First of all, the Prime Minister lied when he said that now, it will be 10 years. It has always been 10 years. The pathway to getting a passport should not increase by 400%. You know, maybe, maybe some increase, fine, but 400%? Are we realizing what is happening in this country?"
Jules Vasquez
"But if the applicant does not pay, then taxpayer has to subsidize it."
Shyne Barrow, UDP Leader
"The applicant is a taxpayer! And the taxpayers are paying their taxes, and their taxes should go to making the pathways to passports, to affordable housing, to education, to affordable healthcare easier. And that is the responsibility of every government. But what was telling about the interview is when he, in this context of the passports referred to Belizean citizen, as consumers."
"These are not consumers. These are taxpayers that you have now made the pathway to getting a passport, which every Belizean should own a passport. We don't care if it has a chip in it. We don't care. We don't need it to be world class. We have to deal with what we can afford, right? Yes. Eamon Courtenay could afford, uh, a 400% increase. Julius Espat can afford it. All of them can afford it. But the day-to-day Belizeans, all Belzeans should have a passport. And every government should find ways to make the pathways to these necessary things easier. A 400%, uh, increase disenfranchises people and to then dismiss the caneros and dismiss other people: Oh, they don't need passport….So, only the people who need passports should worry about that is a disconnected reflection of the reality."
