The marathon session of the House of Representatives on Friday included a laundry list of bills and important motions, as well as bickering among members of the Opposition.
by Marco Lopez
BELMOPAN, Wed. Oct. 23, 2024
A number of important motions and a slew of bills took center stage at last Friday’s sitting of the House of Representatives. Among the motions passed was a US$20-million-dollar loan motion to capitalize the Development Finance Corporation with a Caribbean Development Bank loan, a motion to Expand the Marine Biodiversity Space in line with milestone objectives of the Blue Bond Agreement, and another motion appointing an Acting Auditor General for just four months.
USD$20 Mil CDB Loan
One of the first orders of the day was the motion to get parliamentary approval for a US$20 million loan from the Caribbean Development Bank to capitalize the Belize Development Finance Corporation (DFC). The loan is to be used to provide credit to finance MSMEs, student loans, low-income housing, and energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
Belizean taxpayers are the guarantors of this loan, which is to be repaid in sixty-eight (68) equal instalments commencing five years after the signing of the agreement.
Nine million dollars is to be allocated for education loans, according to the presentation by Prime Minister John Briceño.
“With this loan, then we can make money available through the DFC which is cheaper, and the students will have a longer-term period to be able to pay it back, as opposed to going strictly to a commercial bank,” PM Briceño said.
Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Moses “Shyne” Barrow, however, noted that loans oftentimes do not go to those most in need of the assistance.
“Who will qualify for the 9 million dollars? The people that need education assistance, the students that need educational assistance, they do not have any land for collateral; their parents cannot cosign for the facility,” Hon. Barrow said.
“For the productive sector, for small businesses, we want to set aside 18 million Belize dollars; for residential mortgages, 9 million dollars; for education, 9 million dollars; for renewable energy and energy efficiency, 4 million dollars,” PM Briceño said.
He shared that over the past 4 years, the government has loaned BZD$120 million through the DFC, and “the portfolio quality is at its best ever, with non-performing loans percentage being reduced from 26% in 2020 to 9% in 2024.”
Expansion of Marine Protected Zones
Three well-known Marine reserves have been expanded to increase the dimensions of Belize’s total protected ocean space and the medium biodiversity zones. This motion passed in the Lower House last Friday is in furtherance of Milestone 4 of the Belize Blue Bond for Ocean Conservation.
This agreement obliges the government to expand its Biodiversity Protection Zones up to 25% no later than three years after the signing of the agreement, which was entered into on November 4, 2022.
To date, the country has legally designated 20.05%, or 669,046 hectares, of its total ocean space as Biodiversity Protection Zones.
Last Friday, the government of Belize approved the expansion of Belize’s Total Ocean Space under protection and the Designation of its Medium Bio-Diversity Protection Zones covering 25% of its waters.
Bacalar Chico Marine Reserve, Lighthouse Reef Atoll Marine Reserve, and Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve have all been expanded to accommodate wider medium biodiversity zones, high protection zones, and general use zones.
During this year, the Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute, along with the Ministry of Blue Economy and Civil Aviation, organized consultation sessions across the country with stakeholders. Fisherfolk complained that they were underrepresented at these sessions.
Acting Auditor General appointed
Ms. Maria Rodriguez will serve as the Acting Auditor General for a period of four (4) months, starting September 1, 2024. She holds over following the departure of Mrs. Dorothy Bradley, the former Auditor General, who held the post since 2011. Bradley retired in December 2021, but was brought back by the government to serve while they looked for her replacement.
That replacement has still not been found, but according to PM Briceño, they are currently advertising the post again.
In the interim, the Deputy Auditor General, Ms. Maria Rodriguez, will serve as the head of the office.
Panton removed as Chair of JPAC
The Joint Public Accounts Committee is widely viewed as the most important oversight body for public spending. Since 2021, when this Joint Committee was formed, the area representative for the Albert Division, Hon. Tracy Panton, held the chairpersonship. During last week’s sitting of the Lower House, however, she was removed as chair of the committee, which includes members of both the lower and upper houses.
This decision was made by Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Moses ‘Shyne” Barrow, who decided to replace both Panton and Collet area representative, Patrick Faber, on all the House committees on which they sat.
“It is an attack on democracy. It is a travesty and a black eye delivered by one man. I said in my presentation that we are elected to sit in the House to be a voice for the voiceless; and when you remove a part of the socioeconomic framework that includes coming up with laws and making decisions in the interest of the Belizean people, you know what happens. In effect, you silence the Belizean people who don’t have a voice. There is no place for a dictatorship in a democracy; and what we witnessed moments ago is a clear indication of dictatorship if we allow this to prevail. The records are here at the National Assembly, and I urge you to ask for it. I have had fourteen meetings of JPAC, more than any administration has ever held on both sides of the political divide,” Hon. Panton said during her response to this action.
General Revenue Appropriation Bill 2024/2025
The government introduced a bill to secure an additional $106.3 million for the fiscal year 2024/2025. The General Revenue Supplementary Appropriation Bill 2024/2025 is the first for this fiscal year and designates most of this allocation for payment for Capital Two expenses for the remainder of the year.
The bulk of these funds, according to the Prime Minister’s presentation, will go toward infrastructure development – a total of $42 million.
GOB/ SSB Deed Settlement
The Government of Belize will enter into an agreement with the Social Security Board (SSB) to settle and set off debt obligations arising from the compulsory acquisition of Belize Telemedia Communications Limited from the Ashcroft Alliance.
A former Ashcroft company, Sunshine Holdings LTD, borrowed $10 million from the SSB fund to purchase shares in BTL. In 2009 when the government compulsorily acquired the company, it did not make provision for the deduction of the loan amount to SSB. In subsequent court rulings, the Caribbean Court of Justice said GOB had no right to deduct the funds.
The Ashcroft Alliance effectively collected the compensation for BTL shares owned by Sunshine Holdings LTD, but was not obliged to repay the loan, since the company was not owned by the government.
Since then, interest has multiplied the quantum of the loan up to $30 million dollars as of June 2024. Neither Sunshine nor the Government has settled any of the liabilities to date.
“We have no legal obligation to pay, but we believe that we have a moral obligation to protect the workers’ money,” PM Briceño said during the House meeting.
PM Briceño said that the government will fully assume the Sunshine debt, a total of $30, 863,632.21, and set off the cost against debt owed to the Government by the SSB, which totals $16,852,109.46 cents. The remaining $14 million dollars will be paid to the SSB using treasury notes.
“We are giving them a 5-year note of 4 million, with an interest rate of 3 percent per annum, and a 10-year note of 10 million with an interest rate of 3 % per annum,” PM Briceño said.
Mandatory age of marriage increased
The mandatory age of marriage is now 18 years old. The Minister of Families and Children said during her presentation on the Bill that no child should be subject to enter into a signed contract.
This amended bill increases the age of marriage from 16 years old with parental consent, to 18 years old mandatorily. This means that parents and guardians are no longer able to approve the marriage of minors who are 16 or 17 years old.
Last year, at the Youth Parliament session, the young parliamentarians sent a resounding message that it is high time this practice comes to an end.
The full sitting can be found on the Government of Belize Press Office page on Facebook.