“The tax base has utterly eroded and we are terribly short of money. We are without coin of the realm and it is not possible to collect anything but a trickle.” Dean Barrow, 16th April, 2020

This is what was stated by PM Barrow in one of his COVID-19 pre-recorded addresses to the nation. For those who missed it, when he said “We are without coin of the realm”, it was his smooth way of telling us that the government coffers are “bruk”, we no gat money! Now, had he been at a press conference, where the media could question him, he would not have made such statements, I opine. Further, had it not been for COVID-19, and our dire need to have reserve money to treat this pandemic as an emergency, we would not have had him even admit that we are a “bruk” nation.

However, it needs to be very clear that we did not just get “bruk” overnight, and we surely did not get “bruk” due to COVID-19. On the contrary, we were “bruk” long before this, and we were only surviving on loans after loans. All those infrastructure projects and especially those roads, which we really cannot afford, are done so that we can borrow money and give a handsome contract to a UDP contractor, mostly Imer Hernandez, who before the UDP was no contractor and surely has no qualifications as a civil engineer, or as an architect, or in any area dealing with construction. It is very possible that Hernandez is a massive financier of the party, and would rightly do so, after being awarded all these contracts.

Honestly, it has always been a political strategy in corrupt nations like Belize for political cronies to be awarded contracts and in return to give back a massive portion to the political party to ensure they have sufficient campaign financing to get the party re-elected. This is a win-win situation, since for them to keep getting contracts, the party giving them the big and bloated contracts while in government, must stay in government. So it is a cycle that ensures that the intended political party stays in power.

So you see, the government coffers may be “bruk”, but look around and see how many of the politicians are NOT “bruk”, and surely their key allies, appointed cronies, financiers, and others in their inner circles, are NOT “bruk” either.

What makes a country go “bruk” is simply the mismanagement of our finances by the politicians of the day. While all of it may not be their fault, as it may have started under a previous government administration, the fact that they take power and do not curb the corruption and mismanagement, just makes the situation worse. I have seen Belize’s economic management and governance take a downturn from independence to now, as successive governments refuse to put in place checks and balances to ensure proper financial management and economic growth. The mentality of successive political parties, when they form the government, has been to say “now it is my turn to eat at the trough”.

Workers get the brunt!
It is sad that for the past twelve years, every time there is the annual reading of the budget, the government gives the impression that the economy is in the best standing and gives themselves glowing commendations, yet nothing is said about the huge deficit and monies we owe and, worse yet, nothing is said about the overspending taking place. Of course, I would be a fool to think that in a system of governance that lacks check and balances that the government would police itself and be truthful to the people. It would be even more foolhardy of me to think that they would even pass laws that would create a transparent and accountable system of governance.

Now what is the reality on the ground? Well, the reality starting from the private sector to the public sector is that it is the workers who are taking the brunt of the loss.

If the economy is not booming, then it impacts both the private and public sector. For those in the private sector, without much legalities, they can lay off workers and even renegotiate contracts. This is especially and generally so because most private sector workers are NOT unionized. However, in the public sector, the assumption has always been that a government will NEVER go “bruk”, because no matter what, it is always collecting revenues, especially taxes. So over the years, as it collects taxes, these monies build up our national coffers.

The other assumption in government is that it will abide by rules of good governance and good financial management, since it is exercising power over the monies and resources of the people. However, in Belize our political leaders and their appointed cronies act as if the resources and monies are their personal piggy bank.

The truth is that the usual government reserves that should be held as “savings” or rainy day money are non-existent. The last time I recall there was some health monetary reserves held by government, was during the prime ministership of the Hon. Dr. Manuel Esquivel. Since then we have seen in power, PM Said Musa, who is accused of depleting and mismanaging these funds, followed by PM Dean Barrrow, who clearly has not done any better or any differently, as the balance sheet of our Consolidated Revenue Funds indicates. The culmination of this trend of poor and irresponsible financial management occurred on the 16th April, 2020 when the PM said “wih bruk”, but in his hifalutin language, maybe with the hope that the average person missed the truth! If we were not “bruk” there would be no need to borrow $75 million from Central Bank, but instead we would have been drawing down more than $75 million from our reserves to save the day.

As PM Barrow said in his 16th April speech: “Business activity has come almost to a halt, people have lost their jobs and livelihood, and revenue sources have dried up. The tax base has utterly eroded and we are terribly short of money.” While this is the result of COVID-19, the fact that we DO NOT have the money to see us through this crisis, is proof enough that we have only been living hand-to-mouth, otherwise the daily revenue stream would have dried up, but our well of reserves would have been bountiful to give us more than a trickle of help… well, we do not even have that trickle!

The public sector must deal with financial cuts!
In the public sector, one of the things that has always been some reassurance is that as long as revenues are coming in, there is money to pay public officers. Of course, one massive strain on the public purse has always been the creation of too many politically appointed posts in government to accommodate the political cronies. See, for those too young to know, in the old days each government department had professional public officers whom we called “Permanent Secretaries.” They were at the head of each department to ensure continuity in the system despite which party comes or goes and to provide guidance on issues of policy and ensure budgetary management of said department.

Sadly, under the PUP they created the post of CEOs and thus removed the Permanent Secretaries, and the UDP had a whole attack against that move. However, when the UDP took office, they never changed back the system and happily also appointed CEO’s, which are really only political operatives seeking a cushioned job, and they are in the system to make politically convenient decisions. Truth!

Now, with this system of CEOs in place, each department worker in the public service is held at ransom if they do not display party loyalty to the government administration of the day and, better yet, they are easily replaced by publicly recommended new workers who gradually and systematically are being used to take over the public service. You see, the CEO, unlike the Permanent Secretary, does not have their backs and is not there to ensure good governance, but to ensure that the party in government gets the best for themselves and uses the system for their political feeding frenzy. This does not mean that there are not genuine professional public officers who want to do things right and by the book and are being frustrated.

However, as is expected in a broken down system, as we now have in the public service governance, the government is in a position to impose its own new rules on the public officers, because not only they do not have the protection of their head of department, who is a political appointee, but their membership in the Public Service Union is compromised. With this infiltration, the PSU is weakened, and often they have had at their helm heavily influenced or connected PARTY political affiliates, who are really in position to frustrate the purpose of the PSU in favour of the government of the day.

Thus, it comes as no surprise that public officers are being asked to bear the financial sacrifice to keep the wage bill down, and while these officers are told that they are negotiating cost-saving measures, it has always been the intent of the government to use the force of the law to subdue them. So many public officers may now owe their job to some politician, so, I can assure you the PSU members will not take any form of industrial action, but will coil their tails between their legs and comply. If they had any spunk to fight, they would have done so when the Mayor of Belmopan, Khalid Belisle, illegally sold their land for their headquarters from under them, and they yielded instead of fighting the legality of the circumstances.

Therefore, it comes to me as no surprise the high-handedness with which government has basically told them, “comply or we will make you comply”. Thus, in a letter dated 6th May, 2020 to the president of the PSU, Gerald Henry, Financial Secretary Joseph Waight wrote them: “If the PSU still rejects the proposals, please be informed that the Minister, [i.e. the PM] intends to proceed as follows. He will seek, after hearing from you, to advise His Excellency the Governor General to amend the Public Service Regulations so as to give the Minister the power to alter salaries, emoluments and increments in order to deal with the current unprecedented situation.”

That is a solid threat issued there. Basically, it means nothing that the PSU thinks matters, since the government and your Prime Minister know they can use the force of law to compel subjugation to his realm! If there was ever, in my view, an abuse of the law-making process and power, this is a classic one, and thus there was never good faith when the PM entered negotiations with the union.

However, if our government had not depleted our coffers and had held money on reserve, we would have had such rainy day funds and there would be no need to place the financial sacrificial burden on the public officers. Now, in light of this, it will be interesting to see if the ministers will now forgo half of their salaries to the end of the year; will give up the luxury vehicles that are fuel guzzlers; will forgo any stipends; will give up their political appointees to cut jobs and salaries, and more. Is the government willing to cut contracts of political appointees and take the public service back to the days when true professional public officers operated the machinery of government without political fear or favours?
Yes, we “bruk”, but it’s because of mismanagement by our politicians when they are in office, and they will never change that system as long as they can continue exploiting us! Stay safe, Belize!