Email

Print

During the last two Musa administrations, it was widely perceived that the anti-colonialist bent of the leader himself set the stage for the House of Representatives to move away from much of the parliamentary ceremony copied from British Westminster traditions. But, the more traditionalist UDP brought all those back today – and if felt to us like it was 1984 all over again. 7NEWS was there.

Jules Vasquez Reporting,
The day started at 9:00 with Senators taking the oath of office. Led by President Andrea Gill, Leader of Government Business, Douglas Singh, and government appointees Dr. Deborah Mencias McMillan, Juliet Thimbriel, Pulcheria Teul, Eddie Webster, and Roosevelt Blades followed by the only opposition senator who showed up, Rodwell Ferguson, and then business senator Godwin Hulse, church’s senator Henry Gordon, and labour senator Paul Perriot.

And that was the only thing that happened in the Chamber, the rest was an outdoor event, with supporters, dignitaries and special guests gathered on the stairs of the National Assembly for the purely ceremonial none business session of the House of the Representatives. First the 6 Opposition members came down and then waited for the government side to come down to applause from a friendly crowd. Prime Minister Barrow inspected a guard of honor and then invited the mase bearer Brian ‘Yellowman’ Audinett who had to signal the crowd to stand for new Speaker Emil Arguelles. Members then took the oath of office.

Dean Barrow: ‘I will bear true faith and allegiance to Belize. I will uphold the constitution and the law and I will conscientiously, impartially, and to the best of my ability discharge my duties as a member of the House of Representatives.’

And the first rastaman in the House did it in his own distinctive style.

Edmund Castro: ‘I Edmund ‘Clear the land’ Castro...’

And while the friendly crowd gushed for that flourish, they howled and booed the Leader of the Opposition.

Said Musa: ‘Said Musa do swear (crowd booing) I will bear true faith and allegiance to Belize. I will uphold the constitution and the law and that I will conscientiously, impartially, and to the best of my ability discharge my duties as a member of the House of Representatives and do right to all manner of people without fear or favor, affection or ill-will so help me God.”

John Briceno and Francis Fonseca got much the same treatment but there were no boos for Mark Espat and Cordel Hyde.

Mark Espat: ‘I Mark Espat do swear I will bear true faith and allegiance to Belize…’

Cordel Hyde: ‘I Cordel Hyde do swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to Belize.’

The Governor General as head of state then read the government speech, keying in on the task of renewal.

Sir Colville Young, Governor General
“My government are acutely aware that when the people spoke on the 7th of February they were registering their demand not merely for a changing of the guard but a demand for a fundamental paradigm shift in the way our country is to be governed. It was a demand for national reconstruction based on foundation stones of openness, honesty, and transparency. The Belizean people will be empowered with the right to recall elected representatives and impeach the Prime Minister. The people will have easy access under a revised Freedom of Information Act to information on government contracts, operations, and projects.”

After that the Prime Minister made a brief statement.

Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
“From north to south, east to west, a nation fed up with the plunder of its resources on February 7th declared enough is enough. A people bludgeoned by abuse and lies, jettisoned what must surely qualify as the foulest rule ever inflicted upon independent Belize and that long last blue freedoms trump. Mr. Speaker it was a coalition of the true hearted that won. It was a patriotic unity effort of the worker and the businessman, the teacher and the public officer. It was a joint enterprise of the media and civil society and all persons of good will that did away with the kleptocrats.”

And while Barrow can bask in high approval ratings, a huge House majority and a withered Opposition, there won’t always be adulatory crowds cheering his ever word and now his government has the task of avoiding the pitfalls of its predecessors while delivering on its promises.