Opposition Leader says moves being made within the PUP to unseat PM Briceno

Last week saw a Cabinet Paper leaked into the public domain pertaining to the Definitive Agreement for Portico Enterprises.  Prime Minister John Briceno has expressed concerns over the leak while former Prime Minister, Dean Barrow has noted, ‘something rots in Denmark’.  Today, the Leader of the Opposition, Shyne Barrow, is saying that Briceno has gained opposition within his Cabinet.  He went even further to say that there is a move to unseat Briceno.

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition: “Well the way I understand that it happened is that same gentleman that wants to be the leader of the PUP, the young gentleman I don’t want to give him any promotion and get him hot and further his attempt coup on Briceno but it came out to expose what Briceno was doing that didn’t come out because they were trying to expose the UDP. If that was the case then the Prime Minister and his Cabinet knew about this definitive agreement a while back and if they were serious about exposing corruption and about not participating in corruption they would have had a Commission of Inquiry. They love Commissions of Inquiry but this was an exposure by those in the Cabinet that are against Briceno and want to bring down the Briceno government. So the way you like to speculate you know poor Sister Tracy the Honorable Member from Alberts may have had something urgent to do on Saturday but you read al the way into that as to why she wasn’t here you know how this game goes and you have been fair and you have said that this is the sign, maybe not the beginning of the end but it is a terrible sign that there is a revolt against Briceno. So it is not a collective Cabinet decision that oh what was done by a lone ranger, a rogue UDP minister had to be exposed, no. You got your hands on the definitive agreement and you definitely deserve the award for investigative journalism because where would we be if you and your other media colleagues that have covered these things when they come to light where would we be as a country if it were not exposed ? I guarantee you if the media did not get their hands on that and expose it it would have went to the House and we would have been debating it and it would have passed the way the Prime Minister wished for it to pass.”

Barrow went further to say that there is no way that Prime Minister Briceno could deny not knowing the contents of the Definitive Agreement.  Any denial, according to Barrow, would be a lie to the Belizean people, and a lie to his members of Cabinet.

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition: “ And I am telling you that the Prime Minister, don’t try to separate them. I know exactly what you’re trying to do. Don’t do that, brother. You have to listen. If I am prepared to accept what a former UDP minister did as a corrupt act. It appears in all its forms and fashions to be a unethical act, a unauthorized act, something that I would never do and something that I would pass legislation to make sure never happens.  You have to bind the Prime Minister with that who went on record to say that that is binding. He read that definitive agreement and even if when he said he didn’t, at that point, that was in March if you are going to tell me that before he presented that paper to Cabinet he didn’t read it then I guess that is more proof that he needs to resign and let us, let us have a vote of confidence in the house and let us find a new government as Dickie Bradley said because if he’s not reading the proposed legislations before he brings them to Cabinet then he’s more of a fool than we all thought. I don’t think that is the case. I believe that he read it. He was trying to pull a fast one. But there are many members, as I’ve told you, many members in that cabinet that want him gone, that want his job. They just do a better job of masking their intrigue and their Shakespearean plots. But the GX is in action. They have been activated.”