Sun. Dec. 11, 2022, Mon. Dec. 12, 2022

Nobody is perfect, and all things considered, from where they have taken our country since coming into office in November of 2020 to where we are today in December of 2022, with practically no effective Opposition watchdog “snarling at their feet” due to being totally occupied with their own internal issues, it would only be fair to say that this current John Briceño-led PUP government, with their PlanBelize slogan, is well deserving of hearty congratulations from a grateful populace. In the absence of an agile and aggressive Opposition, much more of the watchdog task falls on the “fourth estate”, the independent media. But, while the media has its job to do, it is also timely in this festive season of giving, to afford the current administration its due, and say congratulations for doing a very good job so far; and wish that they do even better in the New Year. Big up, the Plan Belize PUP government! But, just a little caution, lest overconfidence leads to slippage.

Our nation’s hopes and dreams of crushing corruption, when the new UDP administration took office in 2008, all seemed to come crashing down by the time they were finally booted from office in 2020, and it was a very dismal picture facing the incoming PUP administration and their PlanBelize manifesto, in which they declared “everybody fi win.” The outgoing UDP prime minister, Dean Barrow, lamented publicly that our economy was in a dire state, Covid-19 still had its clutches on our daily lives and commercial activity, and the humongous Super Bond hovered above our collective heads like an ominous dark cloud inviting in a deluge of tears from impending IMF austerity measures.

But, as the song says, there is always “sunshine behind a clouded sky;” and soon there was increasing hope for a better tomorrow. The dreaded Delta variant eventually gave way to the less virulent Omicron, and the Covid-19 restrictions were gradually lifted, allowing life and the economy to begin returning to normal. Government signed the Blue Bond deal with the Nature Conservancy, and all of a sudden the Super Bond was not “super” anymore. Our public servants valiantly answered the government’s call to sacrifice some of their salaries for a while, and that kept the sharp claws of the IMF from digging into our backs. There were sacrifices all around, for the general citizenry have endured the painfully high fuel prices without resorting to demonstrations and civil disobedience, understanding that it was due to the impact of international events. But their faith was a bit shaken when top level technocrats were first rewarded with reinstatement of their “fat” allowances.

Nevertheless, the strides have been many and noteworthy over the past two years of this PUP administration, and their party organ, The Belize Times, has weekly chronicled the many steps along the way of fulfilling their PlanBelize manifesto. In agriculture, there is the surging cattle industry, a number of small-farmers training and assistance programs, the new Taiwan-assisted sheep and goat production industry, major farm road improvements in the northern sugar belt, and mediation efforts to keep the sugar industry going forward, etc. Just last week they bragged about the Blue Economy ministry co-hosting a “Climate Resilience Forum and Booth Fair” focussing on “enhancing adaptation planning and increasing climate resistance in the coastal zone and fisheries sector.” It’s a long list of accomplishments, too numerous to list here, and they are worthy of appreciation by Belizean citizens.

Neither will we go into great detail on the few stumbles along the way, because, as we said at the start, nobody’s perfect. The campaign pledge, once elected to office “to immediately release the findings of the Senate Select Committee on the hustle at the Department of Immigration,” was soon forgotten. Likewise, there has been some serious foot-dragging on their commitment to “not only implement UNCAC, but … also enact Campaign Finance Legislation.” There had been a pledge that “In the first 100 days, the new PUP government will direct the Office of the Attorney General to draft Campaign Finance legislation which will be subject to national consultations and review before a final bill is tabled and passed into law.” And there are others; but political parties are about winning elections, and we have come to accept that some things are said in the heat of campaigns, even sincerely, but reality sets in and then we see what they can really deliver. And, though times remain hard due to the global economic upheavals, and crime remains a big problem, the current party in government has still delivered much in the way of furthering the development of infrastructure and the economy and improving living conditions for the Belizean people.

But there is one pass that we just cannot afford to give this or any government. Corruption has been the battle cry of citizens for decades now, and both major parties have campaigned on promises to root out corruption as a major plank in their manifestos. Regardless of how many good deeds the government may seem to be doing, Belizeans are wary of any signs that they may be slipping down that terrible road, intentionally or otherwise.

One of our revered and highly respected elders in the citrus arena once cautioned that, “Secrecy is the realm of scoundrels.”

P.M. Briceño was quick to reassure Oceana’s foreign head office of his government’s full commitment to abide by the moratorium on offshore oil exploration, including seismic testing, after Oceana’s Belize vice-president Janelle Chanona had launched a petition to trigger a referendum because she had become seriously concerned about a lack of such commitment during private discussions with the P.M., which he thought should have been kept secret.

There was an uproar of sorts in local media circles this past Friday, and from the various reports it all revolves around the matter of “secrecy” in regards to the Belize companies registry system. There are some big corporate fish swimming in our little shallow financial waters in Belize. And while Belizeans had come to accept the uncomfortable fact that the “offshore” international business companies (IBCs) registered in Belize enjoyed a lot of secrecy where their directors and shareholders are concerned, at least we were comforted in the knowledge that no such secrecy abided with our local business companies.

But now it seems that some agent of this government, in the name of electronic progress and doing things online, has gone and drafted a new “Belize Companies and Corporate Affairs Registry (BCCAR)”, that confers the same secrecy to local companies as the law once did to IBCs only. And that is a problem, a big problem. According to the 7News report on Friday, the directors of three news stations – 7News, Krem TV and Plus TV – “all called for government to remove the secrecy firewall that has now been placed in front of the business registry. On November 28, that was merged with the IBC registry to create the BCCAR – which transposes the secrecy inherent to IBC’s unto the regular companies register.”

If we are serious about anti-corruption in Belize, then what we need is more transparency in government, not less. How else can citizens be assured that elected politicians have no “conflict of interests” with the private “business companies” that government is dealing with? Two lawyer ministers of government, Hon. Kareem Musa and Hon. Francis Fonseca, have already voiced their disapproval of this new arrangement; and so has the National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB) president, Luke Martinez.

Somebody slipped up big time on this one. And we would hope for some decisive corrective action quickly by P.M. Briceño, before this little brush fire becomes a raging inferno, and all the good works of his government get smeared with the dirty rag of suspicion.