Opposition Slams PM Over Secretive Budna Investigation

As the Budna report continues to raise even more eyebrows, the Opposition says if Cabinet isn’t working on real reforms, then all this talk of transparency is just smoke and mirrors. Tracy Taegar-Panton claims the report even suggests gagging police officers from speaking to the media, and that’s just one of the recommendations. So, if that’s what made it into the summary, what else is being kept under wraps? And why is Cabinet acting like judge and jury behind closed doors?

 

Tracy Taegar-Panton, Leader of the Opposition

“If it is that Cabinet is not now discussing how they are going to put in the right regulatory framework for this to occur, we know this is all just hogwash. The report also says, according to the prime minister that, or recommends that we should restrict, we’re going to put a gag order on officers from speaking to the independent media. If these two recommendations alone made it into this preliminary summary, this preliminary report, what else is being hidden? As I said, there are a lot more questions than answers. As Belizeans, we deserve the entire report, not selective snippets filtered through Cabinet. It seems that Cabinet is acting as its own kangaroo court, reviewing evidence in secret, deciding who is implicate and who may not be implicated and worse, seeking to protect its own.”