Three weeks after the airing of his appearance on the Drink Champs podcast, which has so far racked up 1.4 million views on YouTube, Moses Michael Levi Barrow has been sworn in as Opposition leader in Belize.

It is the second time since the United Democratic Party (UDP) lost the November 2020 general election that Barrow – known in the United States and around the world as the former Bad Boy hip hop artiste, Shyne – has taken the post.

He replaces former education minister Patrick Faber, who resigned amid domestic violence allegations.

“I’m humbled and honoured that I have the distinct privilege to serve as Leader of the Opposition,” said Barrow, who had also replaced Faber in June 2021, months after the election in 2020.

Faber had, in July 2020, taken over as leader of the then governing UDP ahead of the election. With a general election victory the following November, he would have also replaced the retiring Dean Barrow, Shyne Barrow’s father, as prime minister of Belize.

Victory did not occur, however, with the UDP suffering one of the largest losses in its history, securing only five of 19 seats in Parliament.

But in September last year, Faber reclaimed leadership of the party, replacing Shyne as Opposition leader.

Today Shyne said Faber’s resignation as Opposition leader became effective on February 1, adding “we have moved on”.

Late last month, Faber resigned his position as well as that of the leader of the UDP amid a domestic violence row that led to the police issuing a warrant for his arrest.

“It is with a very heavy heart that I stand before you today to signal my departure as Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives and leader of our great United Democratic Party. Both resignations I wish to become effective in a few days, on January 31st, 2022,” Faber said in a statement.

Faber’s fiancé, Dr Shanika Arnold, had made a domestic violence complaint against Faber to the police.

However, after the police indicated they would issue a warrant for Faber’s arrest, Arnold took to social media to indicate that she had formally withdrawn her report and described the situation as a “misunderstanding” that the couple intended to resolve privately.

Shyne Barrow, who had previously served in the position for 84 days, said this time around he believed he had the support of the majority of opposition legislators and that he was awaiting the party’s convention to be held on March 27.

“I do believe so. I have the majority of support in the House of Representatives on the opposition benches. I have the majority of support within the 31 constituencies as we’ve seen with the massive endorsement from the Caucus for Change and we had 53 per cent of the delegates that voted to recall in July of 2021.

“I led that charge and those delegates remember me very well. I have visited with them just as recently as the holidays and before that, I stayed with them and so they believe that they needed new leadership and they believe that now and anyone that will come and to present themselves as that alternative, that opportunity has already passed.”

Barrow has also stated that he intends to seek the leadership of the opposition party, saying he had given Faber a fair chance in the post.

“I gave him a chance… but we saw in the general elections that that is not so, we only won five seats. We saw again in the municipal elections where we only won a mayor and a councillor and again, the writing was on the wall,” he added.