Clowns and Kings: Fool and Rule

0
965

By Shane D. Williams
There is a method to the madness.
This week the media was called, and showed up (which is the real news), to a press conference by Delroy Herrera, Sr. All major media houses were represented at this press conference on “The Unions Standoff with Government,” called by an unemployed failed politician. Hot takes with ridiculousness floated out of the conference room shortly after Herrera’s prepared speech started. The audacity of an unemployed man who relies on the salary of his public servant wife was lobbying for a salary cut to the public service was headline news! It caused public outrage, inspired countless memes and dominated social media feeds for more than 24 hours.
At this same time, government released its response to the counterproposal of the joint unions. The government dismissed the unions’ entire savings proposal even saying that their suggestion to cut ministers and senior officials’ luxurious allowance packages wouldn’t be effective because the allowances are, according to Love News’ source, “too small or unimportant to be altered”. Any other day, the public would be in uproar to hear that Cabinet officials feel like thousands of dollars per month for telephone, housing, gas and entertainment allowances is too small to be altered while at the same time pushing for public servants’ salary to be cut – which for most is less than the allowances of Ministers and CEOs. Any other day but not this day. This day belonged to Delroy Herrera Sr., the court jester – the clown – the idiot – the waste man.
You see, there is a method to the madness.
In the first month of this Briceño administration, they hired scores of immediate family members to senior government positions and boards. The public was in uproar at the appointment of Ashcroft loyalists in the key decision making positions of the Ministry of Finance and Foreign Affairs. PM Briceño went on national television and made a fool of himself saying he is forced to hire relatives and close friends because “Belize has limited talent”. This dominated the national conversation for weeks and was also the inspirational source of classic memes and jokes. While the public was focused on the jester who seemed to can’t take his foot out of his mouth, the king was busy making sure his mercenaries were taking charge of Belize’s financial sector with the implanting of his financial advisor as Minister of State of Finance and his employee as CEO in Ministry of Finance all overseeing the acquisition of Scotia Bank thus taking control of the commercial banking sector. The king was busy making sure his mercenaries were taking control of Belize’s foreign policy with the implantation of his chief advocate as Minister of Foreign Affairs and his employee as CEO in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The king was making sure that his advocates push forward legislation that would eventually put Belize on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in debt to him in arbitration awards. Normally these moves would cause public outrage but not in these times. These times belong to Mr. John Briceño, the royal jester – the clown…
There is a method to the madness. Don’t be distracted by the clown. Focus on the king!