And we caught up with the PM in his constituency while he attended several events, which we will tell you about later. But he's recently arrived back in the country after a Thanksgiving break abroad. He didn't say where he was going or for how long, and he says he doesn't think he has to.
While it is the well established custom of this most senior public office, Briceno told us today that leaving an acting minister for a particular ministry and informing the public is a thing of the past, before apps like WhatsApp made it easy to communicate. And besides, according to him, he was on personal leave after all.
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"I don't know what's the big deal. The point I want to make, and this is very important. Just the other day we were talking about this, that issue about leaving, when a minister leaves and leaves somebody in charge, you used to do that back then because of communications, lack of communications. But if you were to speak to a minister, whenever there is an acting minister, they never go to them because what do they do, by WhatsApp they call the minister, we have this problem, what are we going to do, we've passed a law for electronic signature so that you can sign something from anywhere in the world. So it's not necessarily the need to really be appointing an acting minister or even an acting prime minister, but the prime minister is different. We have somebody acting that if there's a problem, DPM Hyde is more than adequately prepared to address it but at the same time, I am online everyday, all day when I am away, it's not like I shut off my phone, you could ask your boss, he send me a message, I always respond, wherever I am in the world. It's not like I'm lost, it's not like the world is coming an end, nothing is going to happening Belize. So I really don't see, honestly on a personal level, why that's important. I am also, apart from prime minister, I also have a family, I have my own personal time and if I want to go on personal time, I should be allowed to go on personal time."
Twice previously this year - and as recently as September, the government press office sent notices that the PM would be on "personal leave".
