Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"It is now a requirement of law that we come to the House every quarter to report on all spending under Petrocaribe for the quarter that would have proceeded the meeting and we also have to forecast for the quarter to come. When we go to the House for the three months in view what the proposed spending will be."

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"The bottom-line with the Petrocaribe loan motion is - we are not interested in any amendments. The resounding cry and call from the Belizean people. It was come from the Chamber of Commerce, it has come from the National Trade Union Congress of Belize, it has come from APAMO - all of these entities have called for the repeal of this act. This Petrocaribe loans act. Not amendment. Not fixing it. Repealing it. This is law that cannot be fixed. It is a law that must go, it must be repealed."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Their argument has always been that you need prior approval to borrow under Petrocaribe. I've indicated there can be no compromise there. That's a core issue that simply is not resolvable. If that's the correct word. I repeat that this is a special arrangement that cannot permit of prior approval and that's why in the act which caused them so much grief. We did away with any requirement for that under the Finance and Audit Act. We cannot apologized, because that's the only way to take the program forward."

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"We are prepared to offer as we were today, to offer proper suggestions and recommendations for what can be put in place to replace this Petrocaribe loans act and the Hon. Julius Espat has been part of a team that has led that discussion. Senior Counsel Andrew Marshalleck has in fact drafted legislation which we are prepared to proposed, to replace that Petrocaribe loans act."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"That is an impossibility. I am telling you that is an impossibility. We have had (Mr. Marshalleck is a good lawyer) far better legal minds than Marshalleck look at this thing and so that simply cannot happen. Whatever they come up with, we will look at. But I insist to people that's not really their end game. They want to stop this thing."

Hon. Julius Espat - PUP Cayo South
"It is not third term he will get, it is jail term he will get and that's what we are facing. We are facing because the prime minister has passed a law and now amending the law to protect himself from criminal charges, because he, more than anybody else understands what will happen. Jules, it will happen. It might not happen today, but it will happen. His tie will go to court, because he has done something that is illegal and you know what is beautiful about it? He is the same person that created an amendment to that law for it to be criminal."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"That's absolute nonsense, because as far as I am concern as a lawyer, there was no breached. If you look at the Finance and Audit Act and the amendments that we passed to bring in the criminal penalties, I know what we were writing. That could never cover a situation in which there is this argument whether this thing was a loan or not. How would that affect me personally? As Minister of Finance, I preside over the government - that was not on. There is no way any charge could have been brought. So that is foolishness. What they want to do is to get away from the fact that the purpose of the retrospectivity is to save the program. Not to save Dean Barrow skin, because that is not an issue at all and if we even were to lose the next election and there had not been the passage of the law, I would have dared them to try to come after me. I would have rubbish them and sued them for every penny they would have been worth."