Sunday, June 29, 2025
This past weekend was an eventful and critical one in the relationship between a number of labor unions and the Government of Belize under the PUP administration of Prime Minister John Briceño, an administration that was just over three months ago given a second consecutive overwhelming mandate by the Belizean people, albeit in the absence of a viable Opposition party, which is still in shambles. Yet, however popular any government might be when elections are held, the fact of the matter is that “bread and butter” issues can soon turn the tide of that popularity, and in a democracy it is then the choice of voters to either bear out the difficulties until the next election cycle comes around, or actively agitate with their elected representatives to see the changes they would like to experience. Of course, a viable Opposition can sometimes entertain hopes that the situation could become so dire, and the popularity of the current administration so diminished, that they could possibly envision a legitimate call for a national referendum through strong agitation and even civil disturbances; but that could only be achieved if the people are that angry and energized to go that route. And, despite the strong advocacy of the union representatives, a mature and conciliatory response from the government may be sufficient to arrive at enough of a compromise, that the nation can move forward with a positive outlook for all. But the exercise would still be a reminder to government, that you can never be too close or connected with our people, and the more informed and enlightened is the electorate about the progressive endeavors and programs the government is embarking on in the name of the people, the better the chances for a good outcome; and if the outcome is disappointing or even a disaster, the people will then be less harsh with, or unforgiving of, their leaders. In that vein, then, it would be good if our government would spend a little more time and resources engaging Belizeans in a discussion to better enlighten them on moves afoot in the area of development programs and initiatives being advanced through the proposed “public-private-partnership” approach, especially where involving “foreign direct investment”.
Barely a week following all the drama and excitement of the March 12 general elections, when attention was focused on the results and especially the performance of the very-divided United Democratic Party (UDP), little attention was given to a government press release dated March 17 and titled, “IFC to Advise Belize on Solar PPP Project to Boost Energy Security and Affordability”. Now, Belizeans are all wary about blackouts, and we are conscious of the limitations of BEL and the need to enhance our national energy generation capacity to keep costs down for consumers. But we are also inclined to be skeptical of any private takeover of any of our vital utilities; we’ve been that way before with water, electricity and telecommunications; and once bitten, twice shy. Even now, despite finally retaking ownership of our BTL over a decade ago, due to unforeseen legal technicalities and fine print details in the contract, GoB is still fending off lawsuits from the previous owner of BTL, who had wriggled control of it from GoB after a midnight legal maneuver through which the “golden share” was lost and the company name changed from Belize Telecommunications Limited to Belize Telemedia Limited. The late national hero, Philip Goldson called it, “The Midnight Act”. According to the GoB press release, “IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is supporting the Government of Belize in attracting a private investor to build a utility-scale solar plant aimed at improving the country’s energy security and affordability” in what will be “Belize’s first public-private partnership (PPP) in the energy sector.” IFC will help to “implement an open and competitive tender to identify an operator to construct the plant with photovoltaic panels with a capacity of 50 to 80 megawatts (MW) by 2027”. Not only is the project aligned with our country’s “ambition to boost its solar capacity from less than 1 MW to an impressive 180 MW by 2042”; but it is also “expected to draw private sector investments, which will subsequently foster job creation for the local workforce.”
Well, when you talk about foreign investments and jobs, our political leaders tend to swoon; and there is where we become a little concerned. Tell us more, please, GoB? We don’t want to be caught in a trap again, like we were with BTL, where it was a virtual war for citizens to get “voice over internet” released by the private owner, until we took back our BTL for the Belizean people.
Some Belizeans well remember the tragic consequences of the privatization craze that infected our government around the turn of the century. However, there has hardly been any public discussion about this new, potentially very big project, where it is the interest of Belizeans to see that as a people we get the best deal, as opposed to one in which a private foreign or local “investor” comes off the big winner, and we the people receive only the crumbs. Tell us more, GoB.
Just last week, this “public-private-partnership” talk took off again, and it always sounds nice. Most big endeavors/projects need big financing, too big for one individual or entity to muster; and a partnership sounds like a good idea. But the deal must be well done, fairly, so that there is not a quarrel later on. And if our government will be a partner, as it should in any venture involving our natural resources or essential utilities, then it is the people’s right to be well informed and allowed some input into the discussion, before we are told that it is already a “done deal”.
It was not mentioned in the 10 points listed in the brief for Cabinet’s June 24th meeting, but page 9 in the Reporter newspaper for Sunday, June 29, revealed that “the World Bank Group (WBG), comprising the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC)” had just completed “a high-level mission to Belize” on June 20, during which they had “focused on boosting Belize’s logistics capabilities to support the nation’s economic development” (all well and good), and a “major outcome of the mission was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Government of Belize and IFC”. Now, this is where the situation gets a bit dicey. It goes on to say that, “The agreement sets the stage for the development of a pipeline of investable Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), aimed at driving infrastructure and sectoral growth across the country.” Wow! Tell us more!
The underlining is ours, and some might say we are conspiracy theorists or trying to look a gift horse in the mouth; but this does sound like a big deal, with big possibilities for Belize. But “the devil is in the details,” and the Belizean people could end up on the losing end of the deal, while the financial sharks go smiling all the way to the bank.
Perhaps we are being overly cautious; and perhaps it may be because the name IFC brings back memories of a still unexplained debacle almost two decades ago, when IFC called in the shots and sent Belize’s then biggest employer aside from Government, the Nova shrimp farm group, into receivership immediately following its 2006 record production year. We already see the potential hurdles envisioned by our local bus operators. All we are asking is that each of these PPP proposals be adequately aired and discussed with the intelligent Belizean people before our government experts go ahead and sign the bottom line in their name.