Prime Minister Condemns Opposition Leader’s Behavior in Parliament

Shortly after, Prime Minister John Briceno met with the media outside the House Meeting, and spoke on Barrow’s behavior towards the Speaker of the House.  According to the PM, the behavior of the opposition leader is disrespectful and unprecedented.  He also noted that the no-confidence motion was and is a non-issue for him and his administration.

Hon. John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: “That’s a stupid argument and I say that simply because as I said to you all last Friday, look at the numbers. I mean, there are three of them in there. We are 24 right now. There’s absolutely no way this could pass. So it has nothing to protecting. It’s simply about following due process, following the regulations, the standing orders of the House. We cannot allow, or certainly the speaker as she pointed out, she cannot allow that to set a precedent to allow such questions to be asked when it’s in clear contravention of the standing orders. He can rephrase his question and bring it back again if he was over that vote of no confidence there’s absolutely no problem.”

The Privilege Motion was eventually rejected by the Deputy Speaker, but with advice that he can bring a motion that does not contradict the standing orders.  The House then went into its planned session.