Before Alexis Rosado resigned from Belize’s ICJ team on Monday, not one elected representative in Prime Minister John Briceño’s male-dominated Cabinet publicly called for his removal. Deputy Prime Minister Cordel Hyde offered a cryptic response when questioned last week, but stopped short of saying Rosado should step aside. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Francis Fonseca continued supporting Rosado’s role despite the serious allegations against him. Today, News Five asked Minister Louis Zabaneh why he did not publicly take an individual position, as Valerie Woods did.
Paul Lopez
“How does it strike you that there was not a single call from any elected male representative to step down, until Speaker Valerie Woods spoke out, and then we saw two powerful women from the Belize Network of NGOS speak out yesterday. You yourself did not speak out in the face of the serious charges that are being levied against him.”
Louis Zabaneh
Louis Zabaneh, Cabinet Minister
“Well you know, the way how we operate in Cabinet, decisions are made in Cabinet and then Prime Minister as the head of Cabinet makes a statement based on that determination. Once that is said, there is no need for me to say anything. So things of that nature, we follow that protocol. It does not mean everyone in Cabinet agrees one way or the other, but once a consensus is arrived at then we move from there with that consensus.”
Paul Lopez
“Do you agree with him stepping aside at this point?”
Louis Zabaneh
“Well I believe at this pont he has made his own decision based on the circumstances and we have to respect what he has already decided.”
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