As you would remember, we tried last week Thursday night to find out from both sides why the meeting lasted for over 4 hours. Neither side was willing to do that, but when the Prime Minister received their letter announcing that they intend "to pursue all necessary action", it was like the gloves came off.
In his almost 10-minute address, the Prime Minister was not restrained when he disclosed how at times in the extended meeting, he became frustrated by the teachers, who refused to give any ground. We also got an opportunity to ask Palacio about a few of those criticisms. Here again are both sides of this subject:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister of Belize
"Their first demand was for a Senate Inquiry, but they were not satisfied when Government agreed to this. Rather, they started quarrelling with the composition of the Senate Select Committee that Government was support. In order to accommodate them even further, I accepted that Government would have 2 rather than 3 Senators, on that committee. They had first said this was okay, but then, insisted on coming back to the matter, after we had moved on. They then rejected what we had already agreed, and demanded, instead, that the Opposition have equality with the Government, on that Select Committee, notwithstanding that the Senate Standing Orders provide otherwise. This inflexible attitude governed the entirety of the meeting, and there was nothing I could do to get through. This is the backstory which causes me to repeat that the BNTU leadership is being unreasonable. They are utterly unjustified in holding parents to ransom, even when as much as 75% of their political demands have been met."
Luke Palacio - National President
"Did he not come out of the meeting saying that it was a productive meeting, and then now, he's saying that we're intolerable? He never said that to us then. We laid our positions to him right there in the meetings, where we were not agreeing with some of the things he was proposing, and so, I don't know that that now means that we are intolerable. Because, we need to understand, that it seems that unless it is the Prime Minister's way, then it is no way, and we as Belizeans need to understand, we have the power. The power of the people is greater than the people in power."
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow
"This administration decisively won free and fair elections less than a year ago. Our mandate is to govern, and we must do so fairly, and effectively. We will continue with just that, trying to set right whatever has gone wrong, and listening to people, including the BNTU. But, our democratic duty to proceed with governance, and good governance, is one entrusted to us by a sovereign electorate. It cannot be usurped by any one entity."
Luke Palacio
"This piecemeal appeasing of this group, as oppose to not appeasing another group, so that you can get them on your side, that needs to stop. Because once that problem, or that appeasement is done, then, you cannot, or should not comment negatively about the other things. We are saying collectively, those eight points speaks to good governance, speaks to accountability, and speaks to transparency, speaks to a better Belize, and that is where we stand."
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