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LOO Briceno Asks Where’s The Clinic For San Pedro
Thu, March 23, 2017
And while that would be categorized under just straight sparring, our next clips are from the Opposition Leader's official response to the Prime Minister's budget. He pointed out that the long promised upgrade San Pedro Clinic got no mention in the budget:...

Hon. John Briceno, Leader of the Opposition
"In the last two budgets we were told about funding for the upgrade of the San Pedro Health Center to make it a full service 24-hour facility. This project first appeared in the 2015 budget; in fact it was on page 16. It was introduced a second time in the 2016 budget on page 18. This year it is gone, conspicuously absent from the 2017 budget. Is this because the task has been accomplished?"

"Well obviously not, San Pedranos can attest to the fact that they have the same inadequate facility. This was highlighted recently with the unfortunate passing of young Ms. Jordanie Olivera."



Hon. Briceno Says National Bank Tanking

And Briceno also used his response to key in on the National Bank which he says is racking up losses.



Johnny Talking Like Tosh?

And - having the luxury of being in opposition - Briceno also took the marijuana issue head on. The Barrow administration seems to have more or less chickened out on it, but multiple PUP speakers went all Peter Tosh on the issue and said "legalize it":

Hon. John Briceno, Leader of the Opposition
"It is time for us to stop locking up our young people for a stick of weed. The time has come for us decriminalize marijuana smoking and prepare the necessary research to move to legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes and in small quantities."






Hon. Hyde Singles Out UDP's Special Contractors

And PUP Deputy Leader Cordel Hyde used his hour long address to key in on some of the UDP Government's preferred contractors:

Hon. Cordel Hyde- PUP Area Rep, Lake I
"IE, which is owned by the Arguelles brothers, has gotten contract after contract after contract from BIL. They built Battlefield park, they built Memorial park, they built BTL park, they built Falcon field in San Ignacio, they built the football field in San Pedro, they are building the Multipurpose center in Toledo and they got the mother of all contracts the Belize City Center for almost $35 or more million dollars; $42 million; without bidding…you hear? Now, the last time I heard about a contract this big was about 20 years ago- that was the Central Bank building, again, under the UDP. You would think that the people at BIL would want to maintain some distance between themselves and the owners of IE, just for optics purposes, but all weh BIl do this year dah lef their Belmopan offices and move right unto the Matalon building da Belize City weh owned by IE. Forget optics they no care weh uno think you know. They wah do weh deh wah do anyways. Then there is the matter of the Lake Independence Boulevard- that contract was given to a company named RGB Construction Company Ltd; RGB stands for Rommel G. Burgess. Now, while IE is a favorite of BIL, RGB is a favorite of the Belize city council. No matter how RGB Construction Company Ltd screw up cementing streets they get more work. The more jobs they screw up the more jobs they get. They screwed up Holy Immanuel Boulevard in Lake Independence breda; holes this big. They screw up Chetumal Street and they still get more work. They just done Teacher's Street behind Westlandivar, wah bunch ah other streets I can't even remember all dih name, da so much street deh get. After all the jobs weh RGB screw up, you woulda think they coulda neva get wah contract from central government right? But they did. They got the big contract from central government to ready mix and deck out the Lake I Boulevard. In total from 2014 to now, government has spent almost $12 million dollars on that Lake I Boulevard and bridge project. In the case of RGB, I suspect their contract was to hot mix the boulevard but that has turned into a hot mess. They paid the company to hot mix it and as anybody knows who uses that road, the contractors have spent the last year and a half trying to fix up that colossal mess. According to the budget estimates that colossal mess up cost the tax payers of Belize $1.7 million dollars in the last financial year alone."



Wilfred's Words Against Cordel

The UDP Representative for Pickstock followed the PUP's Cordel Hyde and he basically said, how dare you talk about immigration or lands corruption:

Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"I find it incredible that in fact the member would touch the issue of corruption, particularly as it relates to visas and to land. The book on corruption in relation to visas and passports was written by the PUP. All of them that are now wealthy got their wealth though the sale of passports and visas. And to call for a senate inquiry and listen to the senate inquiry and to have the "oohs" and "awes", these people are pass masters. They have made millions of dollars off it and none of them has been brought to book."

"Also too Mr. Speaker, in relation to land - they use to have a demonstration about save the barracks. Well go and find out who own Marina Towers at the barracks."



A Festival Flurry

And that's all we have for you tonight. We leave you on an up-note with highlites of the adorable preschoolers festival of the arts. These are Tuesday night's performances. Enjoy. And join Courtney Weatherburne here tomorrow.









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