Budhrani, a favourite of Minister Patrick Faber, was appointed NICH president three months ago

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Aug. 30, 2018– The word allegedly coming out of Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting was that the president of the National Institute of Culture and History (NICH), Sapna Budhrani, had been suspended, reportedly pending the outcome of an external audit.

We say “allegedly” because Cabinet has inexplicably refused to validate media reports that in fact, it has indeed suspended a favorite of Education Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber, Sapna Budhrani.

After serious allegations surfaced against Budhrani, Faber came out swinging in her corner, telling the media “… I will continue to have that kind of confidence in her leadership and again the comments made by the Musical Ambassador were rather unfortunate. Miss Budhrani does not operate on her own; there is an active board at NICH where she is given advice and in fact the president is answerable to the minister. So whatever they’re accusing Miss Budhrani of, they really should be accusing me of.”

This morning the entire NICH board, minus one member who is out of the country, met at the Marion Jones Sports Complex for a press conference to respond to the allegations swirling around Budhrani and her tenure as NICH president, in wake of a damning internal audit report which highlights missing money, excessive spending on fuel, and other irregularities, some of which allegedly have occurred on Budhrani’s watch.

Budhrani has been NICH’s administrator and has subsequently been its president for three months.

Amandala attempted to get an official word out of Belmopan today regarding the status of Budhrani, but our attempts were futile. We left a message asking the Cabinet Secretary to provide us an official update, but up to press time, we heard nothing from the Cabinet Secretary.

We also attempted to get an official word from the Ministry of Education, under which NICH falls, and again, our efforts were futile.

Attending the press briefing was the NICH board of directors and the directors of the various NICH departments.

All members of the NICH board attended the press briefing except Lelia Peyrefitte, who is out of the country. Board members present were Aldo Vasquez, Philip Willoughby, Yvette Torres, Roosevelt Blades, and Steve Perrera.

The NICH department heads present were Dr. John Morris, Institute of Archeology; Nigel Encalada, Social and Cultural Research; Alexis Salazar, Museum of Belize and House of Culture; and Herbert Vernon, Institute of Creative Arts.

Board member Estevan Perrera offered the welcome remarks and said that the NICH board decided on holding the press conference in light of the reports circulating in the media regarding NICH and its president.

Perrera stressed that the audit report which highlights the shortcomings of Budhrani’s administration at NICH was “a draft audit,” that it has not been approved by the NICH board of directors, and that the audit report “has errors and it is incomplete.”

Perrera said that the NICH president enjoys the support of the board of directors.

Edwin Alvarado, NICH Associate Director of Finance, to whom the internal audit memorandum was emailed, gave a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation at the NICH press briefing.

However, his presentation did not address the allegations made against Budhrani. Instead, he gave a global financial overview of NICH operations, which suggested that all is well with the finance of the statutory body.

In the question-and-answer session, each media house was limited to two questions, most of which were answered by Blades, who is also the campaign manager for Minister Faber.

The internal auditor, Roberto Matus, was thrown under the bus by Budhrani as being “unqualified as an auditor.”

Matus’ audit pointed to fuel purchases that exceeded the budgeted amount by over $60,000, but Alvarado said Matus had used the wrong formula in his calculations, and said that in fact, they were under-budget by some $5,000.

At the press briefing this morning, Budhrani told the media that she has not gotten anything in writing from Cabinet about being suspended.

“I am the president of NICH,” she responded, when asked about her present status at NICH. “Whether or not I am on suspension, I am the president of NICH,” Budhrani stressed.

Budhrani also explained that the late model Honda SUV that was bought for her use as NICH president was bought in Chetumal because no vehicle was available in Belize for the almost $70,000 that was budgeted for buying the vehicle.

Budhrani has come under scrutiny in recent weeks since Music Ambassador Shyne Barrow, a son of Prime Minister Dean Barrow, called her out for ineffective management of the statutory body.

Following on the heels of Barrow’s statements about Budhrani, the Christian Workers Union (CWU), which represents some employees of NICH, issued a press release in support of the Music Ambassador’s assertions, and this included Budhrani’s failure to respond to communications in a timely manner.

Budhrani’s communications shortcomings, however, may be just the tip of the iceberg in a storm that is blowing around her brief tenure at NICH.

An internal audit of NICH that was done by Matus, listed a number of questionable actions on the part of Budhrani, who was named prominently in internal memorandums that were leaked to the media.

The audit report listed a number of occurrences that required the consistent input of a manager with a hands-on approach to addressing matters. On Budhrani’s watch, for example, there have been reports of the theft of musical instruments from the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts. The instruments were donated to the National Youth Orchestra of Belize by the Korean Embassy, but the thefts were never reported to the NICH Finance Department, which has no listing of the items in its inventory of NICH assets.

In addition, the audit report uncovered the apparent misuse of NICH fuel cards by Budhrani. Budhrani allegedly filled the gas tank of her vehicle one night, and the following morning, filled the tank of another vehicle. None of the vehicles’ license plates or mileage appears on the card.

The audit report also highlights more than one instance when money collected for NICH has gone missing.

Notwithstanding the troubles swirling around Budhrani, Minister of Education, Youth and Culture, Hon. Patrick Faber, went out on a limb in support of her, expressing his full support and confidence in her.

“I often do my best, always do my best to ensure that we have accountability and good capable leadership, and I continue to say that I have utmost confidence in Sapna Budhrani’s leadership there,” Hon Faber remarked, as recently as last Thursday, August 23.