BELIZE PRIME MINISTER CRIES OUT HE IS DOING HIS BEST - BUT HIS BEST IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

*** The history of Belize will record, and his gravestone will be engraved Here lies former Prime Minister Dean Barrow, BELOVED OF HIS PEOPLE - BUT HIS BEST WAS NOT GOOD ENOUGH! Of course he still has two years in his term, to change that epitaph?



PRIME MINISTER DEAN BARROW, THE BEST BELIZE CAN PRODUCE, BUT STILL NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

There have been a lot of debates on local television about the state of the economy and country of Belize. There are nowadays a lot of smart intellectual and very articulate people in Belize. Higher education has done wonderful things in that realm over the last 25 years.
From the OPPOSITION PUP party hack, Michael Reid ,I get criticism over the current REPORT CARD rating of 70 % of the UDP government in power. He disagrees of course, which is his right.
It is sort of wonderful to be able to freely disagree in Belize these days. There is so much discussion of every subject under the sun. Not like Cuba, Nicaragua, Ecuador, or Venezuela. The days of PM George Price political party persecution are gone apparently. Hopefully forever?
That said; the discussions by the Chamber of Commerce, the Business Perspectives forum television show and the often shown video clip, of our Prime Minister Dean Barrow, in the Parliament house sitting last week, saying he is doing the best he can and will continue to offer his best.
I’m reminded of my own school report cards when a youngster. In which the teacher would write in the comments columns. Raymond has ability, but fails to reach his potential. In this case the Prime Minister Dean Barrow of Belize could get the same comments on his 70% report card. The 70% rating is a good score. The fly in the ointment is that it was not done by “good management and organization”. The problem is; that the 107% National Debt to GDP ratio, which tells us volumes of the problems facing the country and that BARROW’s best, is not good enough. I’m not going to argue about the borrowing of his first two years in office just past. Given political party priorities, his choices of loan borrowing to stimulate the economy and repair infra-structure, within the government bureaucratic apparatus he inherited, might indeed be the best a post colonial educated Caribbean lawyer can do.
I do however; like many a school principal, want sometimes, to pick him up by the scruff of his neck, or by his ears and shake him and say YOU CAN DO BETTER! Considering he is the BEST of the BEST we have in Belize. There is nobody on the horizon to even replace him. Unfortunately, out of that 107% Debt to GDP ratio, and the 76% debt ratio he inherited and the 3% he was allowed by EU rules in additional debt for his first two years in office. There is currently 28% of the 2009 107% Debt to GDP ratio that he has incurred, that says DEAN BARROW as Prime Minister is NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
Since he is the best we have in the country. He himself cried out in despair in the House Sitting that he is doing the BEST HE CAN. What do we as citizens do? Corporal punishment is being outlawed. You can’t just take the Prime Minister and put him over a desk and whip his backside with a thin bamboo cane. Some other way has to be found, to make the man realize his potential and work at it. We the country of Belize and citizens need to find ways to motivate his government. How is the question?
The Chamber of Commerce came up with a couple of good ideas. Something about Barbados institutionalizing POLICY MAKING, with a mix of private sector and politicians perspectives and needs. Certainly the idea of an elected experiment for a SHERIFF in the port town seems worthwhile to try and change our paradigms of governing, which have failed us and continue to fail us, as far out into the future we can forsee, for several generations to come. I mistrust the Chamber of Commerce. They are importer merchandise businessmen viewpoint dominated. I don’t like that, such dominance is not good for Belize as our colonial history has shown. It is obvious to even the most uneducated campesino in rural parts, that we need a new paradigm of governing and controlling size and cost and efficient delivery of bureaucratic services. Would caning PM BARROW over a school desk improve his performance? How do you motivate somebody, or a political party, to change the way we operate as a political system, and bureaucratic governing system, into a self sufficient model? Something we can afford!
GREATER TAXATION is not the answer obviously. What is missing in our PM Barrow’s psychological makeup and education, that makes him balk at changing our paradigms? We know he means well, but his BEST is not good enough, the statistics show. Nor is he working to his maximum potential obviously. So how do we improve our governing model?