Yesterday the Government and the Churches announced a breakthrough on the proposed ninth amendment: The Churches would support the ninth amendment and the government would remove some of the so called ouster clauses that have been attracting so much controversey.
But, the opposition - nbot surprisingly - is not impressed. Today, opposition leader John Briceno held an informal media breakfast - followed by a formal quesiton and answer session. He said that the trimming of the wording still does not change things enough.
He started, though, by lamenting that the opoosition members of the Consitution and Foreign Affiars Committee were not invited to the meetings with the church leaders:...
Hon. Johnny Briceño, PUP - Leader of the Opposition
"I want to make it absolutely clear that I was not invited. I was not privy to that meeting and I am a member of that committee. Secondly; in the changes that they are talking about - as it is they are saying that they are removing certain sections. But in the press conference the Prime Minister is saying that they are going to probably make some other additions that we have not seen and if that is going to be the case then I think that there needs to be a reset of the button. The 90 day process since you are going to be changing what you are proposing. You have propose July 24th and now you are going to be chaging the bill that you are going to be presented to the Belizean public. I believe thatr we need to start the countdown to 90 days all over again and so thats my answer to your question on that issue."
"Even with the changes that they are proposing with section 2 where the Prime Minister now is adding a news section and when you look at that and the constitution - basically what is happening is that parliament is still going to be supreme over the constitution. There is still going to be supremacy over the constitution when you look at keeping section 2 and the section that was remove from section 69. So still hasent done much, so we believe that the Prime Minister what he has been doing was some cosmetic changes to be able to try to alay the concerns or the fears of the Belizean people and in this case the Council of Churches. But I am confident that as Belizeans start to study it closer attorneys and even you journalists - you are going to see that there has been no fundamental changes nor fundamantal shift in the governments' policy or its attempt in what they try to do with the Ninth Amendment."
The next public ocnsultation of the Commitee is set for tomorrow at the Corozal Civic Center where the changes to the language of the amendment will be announced at the start of the meeting….
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