And while the Compol may end up needing his own platform for a response to the response, today was reserved for the Leader of the Opposition.
As we told you the State of the Nation speeches is the government's way of getting ahead of the usual political sniping that has come to define 21st speeches, and giving way to patriotism.
Today Barrow said he doesn't buy it. He believes the reason for this format change is because the PM wouldn't be able to withstand facing off with the Leader of the Opposition.
He added that while he has no problem with this setup, he'd prefer if Briceno was honest about it.
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"Prime Minister is such dishonest person. It's hard to be cordial with him and find common ground with him because he lies profusely. Everyone knows that John Briceno, as the leader of the opposition, was one of the worst terrorists of Independence Day. He would go- it would be the Independence Day massacre when he would go and attack Dean Barrow. It was terrible. And you, the media, those of you like Marisol, you have been there, you're senior, you remember that? He never gave in a statesman speech or any patriotic speech. So to pretend as if my speeches were anything different, what he can't do, he can't win that battle. So he has put up the white flag and say, you know what? I can't take it, please. However, I do concede that there is a time and place for everything, and it is long overdue, that certain days be de politicized."
"But this state of the nation was important to give the overview of the many failings of the new administration, in contrast to the lies that he told."
And like we mentioned earlier, Barrow's speech was twice as long as Briceno's. The media asked him if that was on purpose.
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"No, I think his speech was quintessential John Briceno - 30 year, status quo, safe, light, you know, superficial, nothing in depth. Nothing groundbreaking. Again, when you talk about the tax, raising the threshold, what he needs to talk about is tax compliance. What he needs to talk about is collecting taxes from all of those people that are evading taxes. I'm talking about million dollar corporations. What they need to do is talk about the tax disparity where as I said, working class Belizeans are paying 25% tax. Well, certain special Belizeans are paying 6% and 3%. And you have, these corporations that are price gouging, that are exploiting Belizean people, evading taxes. That is what we need to look at."
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