At the top of the newscast, we showed you representatives from BGYEA and the Trade Unions who stood in solidarity with COLA this morning at the Elvin Penner hearing in Belmopan. As a part of the Rod of Correction movement, COLA has the support of the 10 other pressure groups.
But when the Prime Minister was asked about his opinion of the ROC, he wasn't the least impressed. He said that the pressure groups can't stir unrest against his Government because there is no crisis as they would have the public believe.
Luke Palacio, BNTU's national president, was asked about the prime minister's comments, and he says that ROC chooses its battles carefully:
Luke Palacio, President, Belize National Teachers Union
"That's the Prime Minister's position that nothing is going on with ROC, but as far as we are concerned, this organization was born out of the fact that a number of our social partners, a number of our civil society organizations are experiencing the same thing that COLA is experiencing….the matter of the disrespect, the matter of the abuse that continues to happen and so we are saying that yes, we are beginning a movement. It is a movement that has no political partisan axe to grind. It has to do with national issues. As it relates to this particular case, we need to understand a very important thing here that this has to do with our national patrimony. You will also recall that the Belize National Teachers Union in particular and the Trade Union congress of Belize were among the first organizations that had called for a thorough and proper investigation into this passport scandal and we insisted that justice must be done. So we are not out here because of what has happened to COLA today…we are out here because there are a number of national issues. And as it relates to the Rod of Correction we are moving, but again, we have to move objectively so that when we achieve what we are supposed to be achieving that we will be successful."
Email
Print