PSU Challenges PM’s Consultation Claims on Controversial Bill

The government and the Public Service Union are telling two very different stories about consultations on the Revenue Authority Bill. Prime Minister John Briceño says the PSU had ample opportunity to help shape the legislation. But PSU President Dean Flowers says meaningful engagement ended after a disappointing meeting on May nineteenth, and the government never established the steering committee it had promised. Tonight, the union is setting the record straight.

 

Dean Flowers, President, PSU

“We have submitted, as I said, a detail position paper on SARA, what is should look like and what it should entail. They called us to the meeting in May, and like the sister said, nobody could have answered any questions in that meeting, because everybody washed their hands off the bill. The bill was never given to us. So let me use this as a teaching moment for the prime minister, the Financial Secretary, the Director General or somebody that gave you advise misled you and was not truthful to you. A PowerPoint presentation was presented and I think our press release on Thursday explicitly gave the timeline of what really occurred since this matter arose. We established the project steering committee. At that meeting they brought the draft TOR for the committee that was supposed to engage in that consultation. We have not had a singular meeting since that meeting. The committee has not met. We have not agreed on the TOR. We have not agreed on the terms of reference for the committee.”

 

Paul Lopez

“Is that to say that even brining the bill to the House is premature?”

 

Dean Flowers

“It is premature. These people are behaving like dictators.”

 

PSU Protested Controversial Bill, But Did Lawmakers Listen?

 

Despite strong objections from the Public Service Union, the bill cleared another major hurdle. Lawmakers debated and passed it in the National Assembly, setting the stage for another round of scrutiny in the Senate. Here is a look at how the debate unfolded.

 

Tracy Panton, Leader of the Opposition

“The problem begins with the advisory board. Section 55 states clearly that the board shall provide policy advise and recommendations but shall not exercise any executive operational supervisory decision-making authority over the authority, the Ceo or any chief officer. So, this seems ambiguous to us.”

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“Why we have the board as an advisory board is because we don’t want to be appointing people who will then tell the CEO who to tax and who not to tax and how to tax and go after this one and lave that one, it is my family. That is important. Tax is so fundamental to people. All of us are afraid of the tax department even though you are doing things right, you still have this fear for them. So we are assuring the Belizean people, especially the business community that we are seeking to get the politics out of it, as much as we possibly can.”

 

The Public Service Union says it will lobby independent senators and the opposition to block the bill and if it does go through, the union says it will mobilize its members. In a release issued today, the PSU encouraged Government to consider the concerns raised and to ensure that the final legislation establishes a Revenue Authority that is accountable, transparent, professionally governed, and protected by appropriate checks and balances. We will continue to follow.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

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