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The PUP Fix To the Petrocaribe Law
posted (June 30, 2015)
Since Friday, we've been telling you how the PUP walked out of the biggest House Meeting on the calendar year yet. They were supposed to debate the amendments to the Petrocaribe Loans Act, but then, the Speaker had Senator Patrick Andrews ejected. The PUP followed behind, and with them went all the research and preparation made to challenge the Government in a proper debate.

So now, the PUP has to resort to a media manufactured discussion to inform the general public on what their position is, something which the Prime Minister refers to as a cheap knock-off. Still, we must oblige the Opposition on their agenda, since they make up portion of the Elected Representatives in the House. So there's one more excerpt we must share with you, the viewers. It involves the Leader of the Opposition's revelation of a Petrocaribe Revenue Management Bill, a document drafted as their fix to the problem that Petrocaribe access creates. Here's that explanation from Francis Fonseca:

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"A team of legal advisors headed by Senior Counsel Andrew Marshalleck, has examine this very important issue of the Petrocaribe loans act and have come up with a draft "Petrocaribe revenue Management Fund Bill 2015." This bill is not drafted from scratch. It is fashioned from Belize's Petroleum Revenue Management Fund act, which in turn was based on recommendations from the Commonwealth Secretariat Petroleum advisors to Belize. Our draft bill proposes the introduction of Petrocaribe revenue management fund provisions on the use of the fund, provisions dealing with annual as well as exceptional withdrawals from the fund an independent oversight board drawn from a list of esteem local organizations and transparency and public access to information."

"Our proposed bill is therefore based on the product designed for Belize and which is already in effect and has been demonstrated to work in other territories. We reiterate that we fully endorse acceptance of the Petrocaribe funds, but we insist that there must be transparency, accountability and compliance with law in the use of these funds."

It remains to be seen what forum or opportunity the Opposition will use to present this draft to the UDP Government.

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