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Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"I must first of all point out that the 2 stations; Channel 5 and Channel 7, whose reports I saw are guilty either of malice or the greatest possible incompetence. They both said that the freezing of the accounts of the Orange Walk Town Council by the Belize Bank occurred in consequence of an overdraft that the Council has at the Belize Bank which overdraft was guaranteed by the Government of Belize. That is absolutely not the case."

"I would have hope that by now our media would have tried to develop the kind of sense of responsibility that would have obliged them to either do their homework or to make a simple call to the Ministry of Finance."

"The position is that as I said the government gave no such guarantee, otherwise Mr. Speaker this was an overdraft contracted by the Town Council on the basis in deed of Government's no objection to the Council making this arrangement which the Council did on its own with the Belize Bank."

"It appears that form the time the new administration took office and Mr. Kevin Bernard became the Mayor, the facility was not serviced at least with respect to any principal payments. The Mayor and the Town Council as I understand it were written to over and over by the Belize Bank. They choose to ignore the representations made by the Belize Bank. Ultimately the Bank converted the overdraft into a non performing loan. The Mayor and the Town Council still refuse to do anything about trying to reduce the principal of that loan or try to make arrangements with the Belize Bank, acting in my view in an entirely high-handed and irresponsible manner. I will tell you and the House Mr. Speaker that government is not prepared to assist that Town Council except we can get from the Town Council a proper statement of accounts so that we can see whether or not they are managing their resources properly. Whether or not they are spending money wisely and whether or not they are in fact being transparent with respect to the financial affairs of the Council."

"There is no point in their complaining that this was a debt that they inherited. All incoming administrations whether at the municipal or at the central government level when they come into office inherit debts. That is no excuse to say that I will turn my back on these debts because I didn't contract them. If we had taken that position when we came into office what would have happened with respect to the super bond?"

Hon. John Briceno
"Let me start with the good news Mr. Speaker. I want to inform this Honorable House and this nation that the payroll will be met. The workers of Orange walk Town Council are going to be paid today Mr. Speaker."

"The Town Council was not broke, they had over $42,000 in the bank and this is the money that Belize Bank I believe in my view illegally decided to try to take away from the people of Orange Walk Town."

"Mr. Speaker, I want to appeal to the Prime Minister to work along with the Mayor of Orange Walk Town. We have a good and hardworking Mayor. We have an honest Mayor. We have a Mayor that is getting the things done in Orange walk Town, but we need the help of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance."

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"I am telling you sir, that if the Mayor can show me that in fact he is spending the monies wisely and that his administration is entirely transparent and above board, I am dispose to help. He hasn't started off very well because of course the cry was this morning was that central government has to help them because they cannot pay their people, but at the end of the day they already pay their people. So what is it? You were setting us up to try get money by crying wolf?"

The Orange Walk town council is contemplating its options, whether it should take the Belize Bank to court or make arrangements to consolidate and settle its debt, and moves its banking business elsewhere.