Photo: Stuart Leslie – Cabinet Secretary

Leslie chastised both the media and the Opposition for calling the restoration of Cabinet CEOs’ living and entertainment allowances from $750 monthly to $1,500 monthly (the amount that was being paid to CEO’s prior to May 2020) an increase.

by Khaila Gentle

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Oct. 31, 2022

Cabinet Secretary Stuart Leslie is defending the restoration of Cabinet CEOs’ living and entertainment allowance to the $1,500 monthly which was the amount given to those holding a CEO position in the Cabinet prior to it being reduced to $750 in May of 2020 as part of the Barrow administration’s austerity measures. Leslie met with the press on Friday, and told reporters that when the unions agreed to accept a 10% cut in their salaries, the ministers, ministers of state, and their CEOs also agreed to a fifty percent reduction of their entertainment allowances. He explained that the CEOs are contractually entitled to that $1,500 monthly, but upon entering office following the 2020 elections they agreed to continue accepting the reduction in allowances due to the financial situation of the country. And since public officers had their full salaries reinstated this year, Leslie argued, CEOs are entitled to the same.

“This misinformation that CEO’s allowances were doubled or a hundred percent is false, not true,” he added.

As we noted in last Friday’s issue of the AMANDALA, the Public Service Union (PSU) did not receive the news of the reinstatement favourably, and that is because while public officers did have the 10% of their salaries that had been cut, reinstated, their annual increments are still frozen.

When asked about the timeliness of such a reinstatement, Prime Minister Hon. John Briceño told reporters on Thursday that there is empirical evidence showing that the country is currently doing better than ever. This week, the Cabinet Secretary made a similar point:

“This team, this government, this administration, reversed unemployment from thirty-something percent to nine percent … This administration restored confidence, so now business is growing and the economy is back to the point where, not within three years as was promised but within one year, the public officers’ 10% salary reduction was given back to them. Is it that the CEOs should not be given their restored allowances at the same time?” he said.

In a press release issued on Thursday, the United Democratic Party criticized the Government’s decision to increase allowances at this time, calling it an act of disrespect towards public officers and the Belizean people. And on Friday, during a press conference, the Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Moses “Shyne” Barrow, reprimanded the Government even further. He said that the Prime Minister is “misleading the people” by saying CEOs are simply getting back what they were entitled to, and he also called out the Government for poor prioritization.

“Where is the priority of the Government? It shouldn’t be for CEOs who are already making $80,000. I have to confess, I am not happy with the fact that a CEO makes more than the Leader of the Opposition or members of the House of Representatives,” he said.

Unlike members of the House of Representatives, CEOs, however, do not receive a pension after completing their terms of service.

Cabinet Secretary Stuart Leslie further defended the reinstatement by saying that CEOs, in addition to not getting any increments, have not received any salary increase since 2018.

“It is not as if CEOs are getting something more, because think about what I said earlier—2018 was the last time that CEOs got any salary increase, any increase in allowance or anything, 2018. Most jobs, anywhere you go, every year, people get increases. Public officers are saying right now, we want our annual increase. CEOs don’t get any increase in anything. They have to go to the table and negotiate to get any increase, so if you’re talking about cost of living and so on, what we are earning right now, is what the government believes a CEO is worth in 2018. Think of how the world has changed between 2018 and 2020,” he said.

He also compared the salaries of Government CEOs, $76,000 annually, to those of other CEOs, stating “the former chairman of BTB sued the government, her annual salary was $250,000 without benefits … Right now as we speak, the salary for the CEO of BTL is, I think, close to half a million dollars, now including benefits; the salary for the CEO of BEL I think is in the avenue of $300,000, if I’m not mistaken. The president of UB, the Chief Magistrate, earns more. All of these people earn more than a CEO.”

While the average Belizean makes far less than any of those figures and also has to grapple with the rising cost of living without any form of allowance or benefit, the Cabinet Secretary says that most people don’t have to run a company or manage a 1.1-billion-dollar economy.