At the top of the newscast, we told you all about the splintering within the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association, which could lead to the break up of this body which has served the north for 5 decades. A lot of misgivings about the current crossroads the Sugar Industry finds itself at is based on the role of the Sugar Industry Control Board. Can they or can't they order the commencement of the cane season? Today in Orange Walk, Fred Ortega insisted that they must:..
Alfredo Ortega - Director, BSCFA Orange Walk Branch
"All what we need to do and in this case the sugar industry act was made to guide the sugar industry as a whole. So, I don't see now that things that are within the act that can give that opportunity or that balance where one group can find a way out when they are cornered in certain position. Now he will come out and say that that is not good, that that doesn't reflect anything for him. I think that is not a good response for the law abiding citizens."
And so as the BSCFA faces an existential crisis, can government do anything legislatively to save it? Today the Prime Minister bristled at the suggestion:..
Jules Vasquez
"However a critic might say that your government has shown in the past that it is willing to legislate or change the constitution to change the landscape of certain industries to make it...."
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"We are not in a position now to change the constitution in any event. We don't have the requisite majority in the House. Whether we want to or not, we don't have the requisite majority. So please don't pursue what in my mind is an idle line of inquiry."
But tonight, there's no idleness in the sugar industry - there are moves to splinter the decades old BSCFA and by tomorrow we should have a clearer picture in what direction things are going.
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