UDP Labels Upcoming Motorcycle Training Fee “A Hustle”

The United Democratic Party says the Ministry of Transport’s new and upcoming mandatory motorcycle training is unfair to working Belizeans. The two-week course is set to begin in January 2026, with a cost of up to three hundred dollars.

“This will materially impact our citizens, and it provides no guarantee that the highways will be safer,” said Tracy Panton, Leader of the Opposition and Party Leader of the UDP, at the party’s new executive team’s first press conference.

“We cannot support any opportunity where the working class continue to bear the biggest burden in terms of cost of living and new taxes and new fees,” Panton added.

Panton says the policy is misguided. She says enforcement should be the priority. “It is a hustle, if I can be blunt,” she said.

The mandate follows a rise in fatal motorcycle accidents. Fifty riders were killed in 2024. In November, Transport Minister Dr Louis Zabaneh defended the cost. He said $300 is less than the price of a funeral.

Before the UDP held its press conference, Transport CEO Chester Williams took to social media today to also defend the upcoming training. Williams argued that inaction has cost too many young lives, stating, “It’s so ironic to see how some of us think. We have become a country of nothing. We see things happening that is killing our children, and we stand on the side and do nothing but complain.”

He said years of rising fatalities demand stronger action. “For so many years we witnessed our future bleeding out on our highways, and what did we do? We go on social media and say RIP. Do we feel like this is enough?”

“Think of the benefits it will bring, how much lives it can save,” Williams added.