Today in the House of Representatives, Opposition Leader Francis Fonseca followed up on COLA's lead and demanded that government come clean on all matters relating to the investigations into affairs at the Immigration Department. Fonseca pushed Prime Minister Dean Barrow to make a statement - but to our surprise Barrow said don't expect to see the full report brought to the House while the world cup is on! Here's the exchange:..
Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"We understand that Senator Hulse has particular files in his possession; we understand again from COLA that particular files were taken out from of the Department of Immigration that are a part of this proposed prosecution. They deserve answers Mr. Speaker and on behalf of the people of Belize, we are saying to the Government of Belize, this U.D.P. government; stop the cover up, stop the obstruction and come clean with the people of Belize. Thank you Mr. Speaker."
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize
"The report that I have makes absolutely clear that there is not another UDP minister that the Auditor General is able to point to in connection with any irregularity in the slightest degree. There are things that the Auditor General said in deed based on the report that I saw with respect with what she obviously felt was a lack or cooperation on the part of certain public officers. You give the public officers a chance to comment, a chance to say no ma'am, there was no lack of cooperation. As soon as that final report is available it will be laid on the table here, it will be put to the Senate and we can debate all we want to our hearts content. Just hope it doesn't come before the World Cup is done because we are not having any more meeting until World Cup is finished. I am telling you that from now. So Mr. Speaker (we need to be done by 1pm, Spain and Netherlands) there is no intent to cover up anything. What we were saying is too many cooks spoil the pot. Don't have everybody running about in different directions here... you don't trust the police; you certainly will not trust the ministry in terms of its own internal investigation. Let the Auditor General finish, let the work be completed and then let us deal with it."
"In terms of the notion of a cover up, and the Leader of the Opposition saying that he knows that there are foreign governments that spoke to us and said don't you dare cover up anything - man, to use your favourite expression that's absolute nonsense."
During today's house session, the House sitting was suspended for its usual committee meetings to pass a bill - but while it usually takes a few minutes, it seemed to go much longer and during that time we heard cheering from the members' room when Mexico scored its only goal on Cameroon.
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