UDP Defends Boycott of House Sitting

During the hundred-minute briefing, party executives also defended their decision to boycott Friday’s sitting of the House of Representatives, despite the OSH Bill being on the agenda.  UDP Senator Gabriel Zetina said the absence was deliberate and collectively agreed upon by the party.

Gabriel Zetina, UDP Senator:  “There’s been many, a lot said actually, on parliamentarian boycotting the last house sitting. And this all ties back into the BTL and Smart acquisition. And so I briefly want to address the second matter and the decision that the UDP parliamentarian caucus took to boycott the recent sitting of the House of Representatives was done in protest of the BTL and Smart acquisition. And I want to reassure the Belizean people that no one was coerced and this was not a one man decision, this was a collective decision that parliamentarians did and we all voted on it and it was decided that we should boycott that house sitting. And ultimately, this was not political theatre, it was an act of conscious and act of resistance and an act we felt that we owe to the Belizean people. We cannot go by pretending that everything is fine and dandy while the Birceño administration continues to push the Smart acquisition and who pays for it ? The Belizean people.”

While the opposition chose to be absent from the National Assembly building on Friday, the Opposition Leader Tracy Panton expressed upset at the tardiness of the Prime Minister.  Panton notes that the move was disrespectful and showed poor parliamentary management.

Tracy Panton, UDP Leader: “The UDP parliamentarians will not be treated like cunumunu. You were in the house. Channel 7 went to Belmopan and had to wait until 1:30 so that the Prime Minister of this country could go to another event and they would have had us, the level of disrespect, would have had us sitting there until the Prime Minister and his members decided to show up. Now the Prime Minister was not aware on that morning that he had a commitment at SJC at 10. He knew that before. And I know he knew that before because I knew that before. So the House meeting, if the Prime Minister did not want to show the level of disdain and disrespect he has for members of parliament, would have asked the speaker to convene the House meeting at 1:30.”