Tonight, the Prime Minister is responding to the findings of a political poll which was published this morning. It was conducted by noted pollster Dr. Phillip Castillo - and is designed to be a reflection of the political mood in Dangriga Town only near the end of the first year of the PUP's second term.
He asked respondents to give an approval rating for their PUP Mayor, Robert Mariano, their PUP Area Rep., Dr. Louis Zabaneh and Prime Minister John Briceno. We'll have a recap of the first two later on in the news, but the one that jumped out is the Prime Minister's.
57% of respondents - that's basically two out of every three - said they do not approve of the job that he's doing. That's considered a very high disapproval rating. President Donald Trump for example is at 61% disapproval. And those respondents volunteered that the Speednet acquisition which they saw as "corrupt" and "hustling", to use their words, was a factor.
But, when we asked the PM about it today - not surprisingly - he seemed hardly phased:
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"That's okay. You should come with me when I go to Dangriga, on the 19th I was there and everybody was greeting me very warmly. I am confident in the work we're doing but I think we can talk next year, we have municipal elections. I think that's the best gauge whether people think the PUP, as a government, if we're doing a good job or not."
Courtney Menzies:
"Do you see the, because when he was doing these polls, people were volunteering that they didn't support the acquisition, do you believe that you are losing political influence because this deal is on the table?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Well, first of all, remember that's not something that the government is doing, it's something that BTL is trying to find a way how they could continue to increase revenues and increase profits. But that is separate from the government and that will work its way out so I'm not concerned about it."
