Some Belizeans took exception when the editorial page described the present Briceño government as possibly the hardest working one we’ve ever had; certainly, there can be no complaints with this government being described as a very busy group, very busy. Looking at some of their more notable recent activities, just in the past month they took back the Boledo, and got favorable reviews for that although they clearly underestimated the logistical requirements to get a new system up and running; they agreed to a visionary $90million loan for a new university hospital in Belmopan, which some don’t think is a priority at this time; and they got hit in the nose with a lawsuit from the corporate giant ASR/BSI after they had introduced new regulations to nudge the company to the table with the sugarcane farmers.
Ih noh done deh. A Cabinet discussion last week on a cruise port agreement that was signed by UDP minister Erwin Contreras just days before the general elections of 2020 was reported on by local media, first by Channel 7News which reportedly got the story via a leak. This “Definitive Agreement”, which paves the way for the proposed Port of Magical Belize (also known as Portico Enterprise Ltd.), has been condemned in many quarters as being both foul and illegal; and while there have been calls for a full investigation of Mr. Contreras, there have also been questions about the PUP government entertaining it.
Wherever there are dealings of any financial magnitude, and this is a big one, several hundred million dollars, it behooves us to know where the Ashcroft Alliance is, because that group controls more than 50% of our banking system. The other players to note, outside of the principal of Portico, Mr. David Gegg, are, of course, the present government, PUP, and a powerful wing of the UDP which calls itself the “Caucus for Change.”
Smart money said that the Alliance’s Waterloo (Waterloo Investment Holdings Ltd.) cruise port proposal at Port of Belize Ltd. (PBL) would have had clear sailing under the PUP because family members of the PM are reportedly substantial shareholders in Smart, the Ashcroft Alliance’s telecommunications company, and the Alliance is believed to have “invested” heavily in the PUP’s 2020 political campaign. The PUP would have been expected to be receptive to the Waterloo cruise port proposal anyway, because definitely in the short term some jobs would have been created, and every government is concerned with having its people employed.
Waterloo crashed because the environmental experts deemed it a potential environmental disaster. The Alliance, so used to having its way in Belize, still can’t grasp how our country could turn back a $400million project because of environmental concerns. They have accused some of our environmental experts of being unscrupulous, they have spewed dirty water on a Tribunal the government set up to hear their appeal of the decision by the Department of the Environment to reject their proposal, and in a last gasp have taken the matter to court.
The Alliance is miffed with the PUP, for it not working hard enough to make the group have its way, as it is so used to. But how could they (the PUP), after they had signed on to the Blue Bond, and the PM was feted in some of the world’s brightest cities for Belize being number one, for protecting our marine space which has earned World Heritage status from UNESCO.
Erwin Contreras is a ranking member of the UDP’s “Caucus for Change” which features a number of individuals who have been smeared as characters who have been involved in shady dealings. The leader of the Caucus, John Saldivar, was elected in a UDP convention to lead the party into the 2020 general election, but within days of that election he was forced to step down. He has since been declared a corrupt person by the US government.
The former PM, Dean Barrow, and the former Attorney General (AG), Michael Peyrefitte have both declared that they had no part in the Definitive Agreement. But the party (UDP) did have serious discussions about it. Apparently, D. Barrow and M. Peyrefitte didn’t see the possibilities at Portico, but the caucus did, and the proof is that their prominent member, E. Contreras, signed it. They weren’t about being altruistic, setting the table for a new government. The UDP had high hopes of forming the 2020-2025 government. In their effort to secure a 4th consecutive term in office, the party corrupted a number of government departments. Practically every job given out was effectively a political appointment, and almost every piece of land given out was a political plum.
It’s fascinating all around. The present leader of the UDP, Hon. Shyne Barrow, has vocalized his support for Waterloo, and joined his voice with those of the former PM and AG in condemnation of the foul Definitive Agreement. Neither the signatory of the agreement nor his colleagues in the caucus have given a word of explanation to the Belizean people. Understandably, the former leader of the UDP, Hon. Patrick Faber, who lost his place because of anger problems, and has just recently been welcomed back to the party, has kept a low profile on the matter.
Few in Belize would hesitate to declare the Definitive Agreement a foul deed, a massive giveaway. But the PUP government says it can work with it, it is working on it, and when they are finished the revised agreement will go to the National Assembly for full airing. Initially accepting the flawed “Definitive Agreement”, signed by a minister in the previous government, as binding probably won’t add to the present government’s legal concerns. As mentioned, the Alliance is taking the government to court. The Alliance has effectively accused the GoB of leading Waterloo on, in respect to the investment the group prepared, and the DOE stands accused of bias, of applying “different and more stringent standards to the applications made by PBL than those which had been applied to other, comparable, applications for environmental approval, including especially the applications made by two greenfield developments: Port of Magical Belize and Stake Bank.”
Facts have to be faced. The fact is that our environmental experts don’t see Portico presenting the same environmental concerns that Waterloo cruise port does. There are Belizeans who don’t believe we should be in the race to berth the world’s largest cruise ships, both key in Portico’s and Waterloo’s port proposals, but if we are going after those monsters, our experts have determined that dredging a channel of acceptable depth is less risky at Portico’s site. In respect to Belize as “nature’s best kept secret,” Portico is way ahead of Waterloo too. At “their” port, cruise guests will sail into Belize and the first thing they see will be wetlands and the Northern Lagoon.
Portico is not a done deal. It will be less attractive to developers after the obscene perks have been taken away. But, there are other developers, and the present government seems to believe in its potential. There is still the matter about oversaturation of our tourism product. The cruise port facility at Stake Bank is well underway, and there are reservations about two cruise ports in, near to Belize City. But our very busy government seems to not share that concern.