And while these projects may have been in the pipeline for a while, it's a bit more than a coincidence that they're being launched with Municipal Elections just days away. If you ask any politician, they'll deny that it's electioneering. In fact, today the PM referred to it as an alignment of the stars. He explained that the government's finances had a rough start, but now, with less than two years before General Elections, they're finally able to roll out a lot of the projects they've been planning since they took office. But one San Pedro resident made a similar observation about the flurry of work that's being done, all-of-a-sudden. Here's how the PM responded:
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"I think we need to ask the resident, you want it or not, it doesn't matter if it was three years ago, the point is that you have it now. But since that resident ask that question, it's important to point out to that person that the PUP town council inherited a bankrupt town council, I think that Jules Vasquez described it best, it's a UDP town council that was on crack, because they were spending everything. So Wally had to get his house in order, that's one, and then to be able to fix the finances, now that we have the finances and then the Central Government the same applies, that we received a bankrupt treasury, as you all very well know and I don't have to go through the recitals but now that the economy has picked up and we have more and more funds available, we could partner with the town councils to provide the necessary infrastructure development. My last message to the person that made that question, aren't you happy that you're getting the infrastructure, it doesn't matter if it was last year or this year, the point is that plan Belize is delivering to the people of San Pedro."
Courtney Menzies:
"Sir, but we've seen a lot of openings and groundbreakings lately and it's being chalked up to electioneering, which we know it's a habit of both political parties, but don't you think it seems a little crass to have this much in such a short period just before elections, do you think this is a practice that needs to be stopped?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"That may be your view but let me repeat again, we got a bankrupt government. We had to start all over and it took us some time to put things in order. It just so happened that the stars are aligning at this point and we know we only have another two years more to go or less than two years, so we have to start to get the work done now that we're starting to make the funding available. We could not spend what we don't have. I remember ministers in cabinet, they were very excited and anxious, they said we need to get the work going immediately, and I said but we can't spend what we don't have. So we had to make sure we could fix the economy, make sure that we could fix the collection of revenues and then also see where we can get support because Belize on its own, it's impossible for us to get everything so we're grateful to Taiwan, the good people and government of Taiwan, we're grateful to IFI's, IDB, World Bank and all of them that are coming in line with some of the projects."
"It just takes time to put things into place and I wish we could have done it in year one but we can't do it if we don't have the money."
