Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Robert Leslie, says the Merlene Bailey-Martinez report is “very lengthy,” and the Prime Minister is, to the best of his knowledge, still perusing it. Only after the Prime Minister is finished digesting the contents will we know the way forward.
Most Belizeans have waited a very long time to read about the findings and recommendations of this important, expensive Commission. To date, the word is disappointment. Justice Herbert Lord presented a 73-page report on “his” conclusions in July. It was published in the morning, and pulled from view in the evening when Mr. Glenn Godfrey and his lawyer, Doctor Elson Kaseke, swooped to court and won an injunction stopping its publication. The same gentlemen, for reasons not yet publicly explained, pounced before the Bailey-Martinez report reached the Prime Minister’s hands, and got it railroaded.
We can only pray that the PM sees “a clear need for the public to be informed of the contents”, as described by the Cabinet Secretary, and decides to challenge those who have foiled the public’s right to know about their business. And if the Prime Minister finds that they (those who guided the DFC during the rocky period in question) have done us wrong? The Prime Minister has the prerogative of handing the Bailey-Martinez report over to the Director of Public Prosecutions, we were told. Maybe then we will find out why worthy gentlemen decided to hide from public view, a public document paid for from wealth derived from hard public toil.
In related news, the Financial Secretary, Mr. Joe Waight, told us that negotiations continue at the Ministerial level to finalize the sale of the UHS. Mr. Waight said that his best knowledge is that two weeks ago the principals who are interested in purchasing the hospital were looking at current operations at the hospital, and trying to put together the financial package to complete the purchase. They “hope” to conclude (the deal) by the end of the month (November), he informed us.
We are duty bound to note that Ministerial level does not include the Ministry of Health, at least not up to a few weeks ago. When we asked Minister of Health, Jose Coye, some time ago, what news he had about the UHS sale, he referred us to the Ministry of Finance.
Hey, gotta cross fingers that a foreign knight with keys to a foreign vault takes the huyu egg from our hands.