Philip “Fawda” Henry, the outspoken Grade II Enforcement Officer of the Belize City Council indicted by his superiors for an interview he did with 7 News at the recent Caribbean Shores United Democratic Party Convention—in which he lambasted a councilor aspiring for national politics and said, in effect, that the Council has not been doing its job in taking care of the City—was fired on Friday, on the eve of the New Year.
Henry—a known UDP who was hired as an open vote worker after the UDP took office in the City—said that he has consequently declared war against the UDP-led Council; and that come 2012, the date of the next municipal elections, he will run against them either as an independent candidate or with the Opposition People’s United Party.
In an interview with Amandala Friday afternoon, Henry blamed Belize City mayor, Zenaida Moya-Flowers, who he alleges “shubbed the knife in my back” when she paid him off on dismissal with a $1,400 cheque—payment for 29 days’ accrued vacation.
“I have no love for you—my love has gone…” Henry, who had also been a UDP campaigner, said of Moya-Flowers.
Candice Burke, City Administrator, told Amandala Monday, “…the decision to terminate Mister Henry was a decision that came from the disciplinary committee.”
Burke told us that the committee was constituted of the Human Resources Director, Sharlene Rudon, who Henry had told us chaired the committee; as well as CitCo Legal Advisor Howard Ramclam, Traffic Supervisor Kevin Jenkins, and Financial Controller Patrick Tillett.
The dismissal letter, captioned dismissal pursuant to the Belize Constitution (Open Vote Workers) Regulations, Cap. 4 of the Subsidiary Laws of Belize, cites the Tuesday, December 21, 2010, disciplinary action committee hearing, and the December 16, 2010 letter, calling Henry to the hearing and simultaneously setting out the reasons for his reprimand.
“Based on the outcome of the hearing, the Committee has found that you have wantonly and repeatedly breached Personnel Policy, despite clear directives to you to refrain from doing so,” said the letter, signed by Rudon. “Apart from being contrary to Personnel Policy, your actions have clearly brought the Council into ill-repute and had the effect of bringing dishonor to the Council.”
The letter continued saying, “We note with disappointment that even after the hearing and before a decision was made, you persisted in violating Council directives with impunity and further abandoned your post for three days without approval or explanation.”
Henry was dismissed forthwith. He had to immediately turn in his Council ID and Traffic motorcycle.
Carlos Perdomo, the man who Henry had supported in the UDP Convention against CitCo councilor Roger Espejo, told Amandala Monday: “I was surprised that [Henry] was terminated, but I understand it is far more than being out there; that it was not in his support for me but in discussions about City Council business… Whatever he said that day, in revealing council issues was a culmination of other things that he had accumulating.”
Perdomo said that he appreciated that Henry supported him, but in our interview, he did not defend Henry’s actions.
Henry told us Friday that he was doing his regular day job when Jenkins, his supervisor, approached him and asked him to come to a meeting with the Belize City Council. He told us that he had expected to be fired.
Just before this, said Henry, he had gone to Channel 7 to give an interview on the loaning of CitCo monies to him and other CitCo employees at exorbitant rates of interest—15% for a three-month loan, amounting to a rate of 60% per annum.
“I was spoken to by Sharlene Rudon in a very decent manner, and she said, ‘It is not me. I have nothing to do with it; it came from up higher,’” Henry added.
He blames Mayor Moya-Flowers—a woman to whose call he said he had responded, during weekdays and on Saturdays and Sundays, even if it meant going out in the rain.
“So I want the City to know that you can do your best for someone and they can turn against you,” said Henry.
The interview that has caused Henry’s troubles took place at the December 5, 2010, UDP Convention for Caribbean Shores, when he told 7 News:
“People have been suffering for a long time through the Belize City Council: The drains and the streets are not getting done. Like I say, you have to be on the inside to know.
“My good friend Roger works there; he is a councilor there and the work at City Council is not getting done, Jules, let’s be real. The only person working there is ‘Fawda,’ myself getting the streets and things done for the people.”
That’s only a part of Henry’s public chastisement.
Amandala asked Burke today to specify exactly what in the commentary was insulting to the Council.
Generally, the fact that he is the only person working, she responded.
He said it was a joke, we told Burke.
“He has a habit of ignoring polices set,” she responded, saying that it was based on that pattern of behavior that Henry was terminated.
Henry insisted Friday, however, that he “was saying the right thing for the benefit of the Belizean people.”
He said that he was not working on that Sunday, and he was not there answering questions for councilors.
“All I was saying was the truth: The city needs to be cleaned,” he insisted in our interview.
Henry said that he has been responsible for the removal of thousands of derelict vehicles from the streets of Belize City. Meanwhile, he said councilors do other jobs outside the Council and collect their cheques from City Hall at the end of the month.
“They are focusing on trying to get richer and richer,” he commented.
“How can you get rich off a council that continuously says it has no money?” we asked.
“The facts are there. Didn’t I show you the facts? If the auditor is there lending people money like it’s a loan shark…”
Amandala tried to reach Tillett, CitCo’s financial controller, to ask him about the allegations of usurious lending by CitCo to its staff; however, on both occasions on which we tried to reach Tillett today, we were told that while Tillett was at the office, he was not, at the time, available to answer our call.
“In 2012,” said Henry, “make a clean decision: Sweep [City Hall] out and carry a pastor in there to pray for that building or demolish it, because it is not working for the people.”
Henry then mentioned something to us about him “running.” When we probed further, he said: “I am talking running for politics, and if I would run, I would either run for the People’s United Party or independent.”
He told us categorically that on the 2012 slate, “my name will be there.”
As to allegations made by Henry that CitCo had tried to stifle his constitutional right to express himself freely, Burke told Amandala that they are not trying to infringe on anybody’s freedom of speech, but at the same time, Mr. Henry was employee of the Council.
“We can’t have employees speaking in a way that is bringing the Council into ill repute,” she said.
Burke told us that the first time she heard Henry say he would run for politics was when he was interviewed by the media. “I never heard that before,” she said.
As to the petition with nearly 200 signatures which Henry presented to us, in defense of his 7 News interview, Burke informed us: “He never presented that here.”