U.D.P. Questions PM’s Role in Budna Saga

Has the government crossed the line? The Opposition says yes, accusing the Prime Minister and his Cabinet of overstepping their authority in the Joseph Budna case. Tracy Taegar-Panton argues that what should be in the hands of the DPP is instead being kept behind closed doors, raising serious questions about transparency, separation of powers, and whether an ‘independent investigation’ is even possible in Belize.

 

Tracy Taegar-Panton, Leader of the Opposition

“The prime minister and his cabinet have clearly overstepped their authority. Our laws provide clear mechanisms for oversight. Any serious criminal matter, and make no mistake, this is a criminal investigation involving security forces, must go to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The question is, why has this not been done? Why is the case file, the preliminary report, the surveillance videos, have not been handed over, and why is it that the cabinet insists on violating the very fundamental principle of our democracy that deals with the separation of powers, between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary? And then, there’s this issue of selective disclosure. Unacceptable. The government has admitted that the inquiry report exists. According to PM Briceno, this preliminary report was discussed in his cabinet briefing yesterday. The report, as the prime minister has indicated, calls for a quote-unquote independent investigation. Now let me say, there’s no such thing as an independent investigation in this country and there is no such legislative framework to facilitate this notion of an independent investigation.”