UDP: Briceño Administration’s narrow political agenda has no interest in public assets

Belize: UDP Belize issued a statement on the Commission of Inquiry into the alleged sale of Government assets that seem to confirm the complete lack of authenticity or usefulness of the exercise and exposes the Briceño Administration.

The events that unfolded in this morning’s instalment of the so-called Commission of Inquiry into the alleged sale of Government assets seem to confirm the complete lack of authenticity or usefulness of the exercise and exposes the Briceño Administration as pursuing a narrow political agenda of witch-hunting with absolutely no interest in implementing meaningful reform in the management of public assets.

The Public Service Union representative Luke Martinez was silenced when he dared to call out the current administration for the hypocrisy it is demonstrating by engaging in the sale of numerous Government assets in violation of stipulated public service process and procedure, even as the so-called inquiry this government commissioned into the alleged sale of public assets under the last administration is in progress. 

In the middle of the PSU representative’s statement, the hearing was abruptly shut down. The live broadcast ended, and the live stream permanently removed from the Government of Belize Press Office page.

Having been so glaringly exposed, the government has some urgent questions regarding the inquiry, its true purpose and its cost to Belizeans.

First of all, if members of the so-called commission cannot raise concerns or ask questions about the sale of government assets under this administration, what is the whole exercise’s point to protect the people’s property?

Secondly, what is the cost per hearing of carrying on what is nothing but a witch-hunt targeting the current administration’s political opponents? Specifically, how much is the Government paying the Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry, Andrew Marshalleck, a high-priced Senior Counsel who partly earned his reputation as legal advisor for the PUP?

Finally, how much longer does this administration intend to carry on this costly exercise and continue saddling Belizean taxpayers with such unnecessary expenses at a time when the nation can least afford it, even as teachers and public officers’ salaries are being slashed and their increments were frozen purportedly because of severe budgetary constraints in public finances?

These are the pressing questions about the so-called ongoing Commission of Inquiry that many Belizeans have been asking and have become remarkably more critical in today’s epic exposure.

Inquiring minds want to know, Belizean taxpayers certainly deserve some honest answers, and the United Democratic Party, as the Constitutional Opposition, feels compelled and obligated to ask.

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