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PUP Senior Deputies Espat And Hyde Blaze Out With Pro-Nationalization Statement
posted (July 1, 2011)
On Monday the government goes back to the house to re-nationalise Telemedia and it appears the opposition is divided on whether it supports or opposes the legislation.

So far this week, we've told you about a moderate, very general statement from the party itself. And then yesterday there was a strong pro- Ashcroft Alliance statement from the PUP's Southern And Western Caucuses.

Well, today Senior Deputy Leader of the Party Mark Espat and Cordel Hyde sent out a surprisingly strong statement in favour of the government's nationalization. That's a major departure from the party's present and historic position, and we'll quote from it at length.

It says, "The decision by the Government to re-nationalize Belize Telemedia Ltd. is in the overriding national interest of Belize and its citizens."

After that bold opening, it continues to warn, quote: "This time, though, the Government must get it right; the nation, and particularly the BTL employees, as well as the climate for business and investment cannot afford another bungling of the process. The public is losing its patience, business losing its buoyancy."

And then in another departure from the party line, Espat and Hyde assess blame for the entire BTL debacle at the feet of their own PUP predecessors, namely the Price Administration of 1989 to 1993. The release says:

"Had the rule of BTL by-laws not been subverted by the previous owners in the initial instance, no investor would have exceeded a 25% shareholding, while Social Security, on behalf of the workers, and the thousands of individual Belizean shareholders would have continued to collect generous dividends." And more than just supporting the government's re-nationalization Espat and Hyde suggest that the government work with the employees and publicly owned utilities in general. The release states:

"the Government must give special priority to….BTL employees, including shares for the workers in the company. And the Government should amend the Belize Constitution so that the major utilities including water, electricity and telephone are majority owned and controlled by the Government and people of Belize."

From there, Espat and Hyde turn their attention to the campaign by the Ashcroft Alliance and its affiliates who make trips to Washington to lobby International Financial Institutions against the Government of Belize. They call it: "A myopic and subversive campaign, at home and abroad, to torture the Belizean economy and its body politic into submission…" And after dispensing of so many of their party's sacred cows, the pair end with an obligatory opposition flourish, lamenting that:

"In so many other ways, this administration has fallen short of reasonable expectations, above all in the areas of jobs, crime, social intervention and infrastructural investment." As we said it is a strong and exceptional statement going into Monday's house Meeting. But we note it is not the first for these area representatives, who have a consistent record of bucking their party on weighty matters - often when those matters involve some compromise with the Ashcroft alliance.

Perhaps the best example of this is the memorable June 2005 speech in the House by Espat when he referred to Lord Ashcroft as the Puppet Master. For context, we reprise a portion of that speech - when the issue then, as it is now was the control of BTL by the Ashcroft Alliance:

"For 15 years now the Carlisle Group of companies, led by Mr. Michael Ashcroft and sporting various disguises such as the Belize Bank, the Belize Holdings and more recently, Mercury Investments, Pillow Talk and E-Com, has pursued a scorched earth campaign to gain control of Belize's most profitable public company - BTL. Throughout this conspiracy to control and suck dry BTL and its Belizean consumers, it would appear that this government has been an all too willing accomplice. As it has appeared to the Belizean people, that I speak to, the relationship between the conspirator and his accomplice is a 'Master-Puppet' relationship.

The events of the past two years, starting when the government signed a secret memorandum of understanding to buyout the Carlisle 52% shareholding of BTL in October 2003, have proven beyond a reasonable doubt, just how costly and how wrong this incestuous relationship has been. It has damaged beyond description our Party's grassroots credentials, our government's credibility and our country's reputation. The so-called investment climate at home and abroad has been sullied. This is a sad story, a tragedy… "

But don't expect to see a repeat performance at Monday's house meeting, even after today's unprecedented release, Espat, we are told, will be out of the country on personal business.

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