BELMOPAN, Fri. Oct. 29, 2021 — On Thursday, October 28, during a special sitting of the Senate, a raft of legislation was approved which effectively removed the post of Director of Health Services, hitherto held by Dr. Marvin Manzanero, and created two new posts within the Ministry of Health and Wellness. On Tuesday, the motion was introduced within the House of Representatives and was met with heavy criticism from the Opposition (UDP) members of the House. The same occurred within the Senate, where Opposition Senator Michael Peyrefitte called the good doctor’s removal unjustifiable.
“We all know what this is. You don’t have a good reason to dismiss or fire the Director of Health Services. You can’t justify removing him, you can’t justify your accusations against him, so what do you do? Since you can’t eliminate him, you find a way to eliminate his post and then you eliminate him,” Senator Peyrefitte asserted.
He went on to point out, “If this government did not want to work with Dr. Manzanero, they need only tell him and sit down with him and have enough respect to say, ‘Dr. Manza, we don’t want you in that post anymore. We have our own person that we want to put there.’ And you had a clumsy situation with Dr. Diaz when she went there, and it was unstable. So two good doctors you put in uncomfortable positions, people who are professionals, people who will have nothing to do with any political wrangling. So you pass these legislations to get rid of the post, but then there are certain situations now that you have to explain.”
“You’re going to have two people in charge of what one person was doing. Now you have a Director of Hospitals and there is a Principal Health Inspector. Two people. Our question is, who will be these two people? Where will they come from? Will they be qualified to hold those posts? Will they be promoted from within the ranks to hold those posts? Where will they come from?” Senator Peyrefitte questioned.
The various motions removing the DHS and replacing that office with the Director of Hospital Services and Principal Health Inspector posts were bundled with a motion to add a union member from the NTUCB to the board of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Due to his inability to vote separately on that latter motion (to appoint an NTUCB member to the KHMH board), the senator from the NTUCB, Luke Martinez, ultimately abstained from voting, since a yes vote would have been an endorsement of Dr. Manzanero’s removal, and a No vote, would have been a vote against the addition of a union member to the KHMH board.
“What is happening here is not public sector reform, it’s moving towards a continuous decay of the public sector, Madam President. Of course, the National Trade Union Congress is not going to throw away the baby along with the bathwater, and we cannot support most of, all of these, most of, these bills, but we can certainly support the amendment to the KHMH Hospital Authority Bill which includes the representation of a union member. But Madam President, we cannot support the rest of the legislation, Madam President,” Senator Martinez said.
Martinez, who is the president of the NTUCB, agreed with the remarks made by the president of the Public Service Union (PSU), Dean Flowers, during a local morning talk show following the revelation of these changes. Besides decrying the spending of additional public funds to cover the salaries of two additional directors, he said that the Public Service Regulations should have been sufficient to resolve any issue with Dr. Manzanero or any shortcomings in the office of the DHS.
“The President of the Public Service Union made some very strong points in his presentation on Open Your Eyes earlier this week, Madam President. If the government is having an issue with a public officer, we have the Public Service Regulations — take it there. Don’t bring it to Parliament to amend a whole series of legislation, Madam President. We’ve heard the arguments about signature, and I think that has been a continuous argument. There are two deputies for the Director of Health Services, Madam President. If signature is the problem, that could be resolved.” Senator Martinez said.
Senator Osmany Salas, who represents the country’s NGO’s, also commented during the Senate meeting that he believes the situation is being “horribly mishandled”.
“I think that any fair-minded person will agree that this whole situation with the DHS and this slew of legislations has been horribly mishandled. I think any fair-minded person will agree. Look, I also have to say, and in consultation with experts in the health field, senior nurses, retired doctors and others, because I have reached out to several people. There are major problems with leadership issues in the health sector. I have spoken to some good friends of mine that work at the Northern Regional Hospital, and they are very concerned about the lack of leadership. They are very concerned that things could fall apart very easily. Now I think we will all agree that the Director of Health Service’s position has been a heavyweight position. I did not realize how heavyweight it or top heavy with all these responsibilities under one person and if this had been handled differently, we could have had a sober discussion about what we need to improve the situation. Now I have to agree with my colleagues who have spoken before me, that, you know we can’t take this any other way but to see this as an attempt to legally remove the current DHS and bypass the constitutionally appointed role of the Public Services Commission.” Senator Salas said.
These legislations were voted on twice. Senator Courtenay rose to put the question to the Senate, and as Senate president Carolyn Sandiford was about to proceed, Senator Luke Martinez rose to call for a division. The division was not allowed in that first instance, and the question was voted on, but when Senator Martinez rose again, he requested that the bills be voted on, in exclusion of the KHMH amendment to allow for a union member on the hospital’s board.
Senator Courtenay submitted that the bills were read, debated, and voted on as a package and as such should not be separated at that late stage.
At the end of voting, 3 senators abstained: Sen. Alvin Benguche, Sen. Luke Marinez, and Sen. Osmany Salas. There were 6 yes votes and 4 no votes, inclusive of business senator Kevin Herrera.
The position of the DHS has now been legally discarded, and the appointment of two additional directors within the MOHW is to be announced soon.