New CEO for Home Affairs to Be Announced Soon

The Ministry of Home Affairs is expected to get a new Chief Executive Officer shortly, according to Minister Oscar Mira, who confirmed that Prime Minister John Briceño is preparing to make the official appointment. Mira spoke to CTV3 on Thursday.

For now, National Security CEO Francis Usher continues to act as CEO in the ministry, but that role appears set to change. Minister Mira said discussions with the Prime Minister have already taken place and a recommendation has been submitted.

“Yes, I have discussed it with him and we have come to an agreement. I think that the CEO will be named very shortly,” Mira said. “We do need to go through all the administrative issues that happen when an appointment is made. It is our recommendation that I have given to him, but at the end of the day the Prime Minister appoints, and he decides who the CEOs will be. It is a PM appointment.”

Mira added that the Prime Minister is “looking very favourably” at the recommendation presented, and that “all the background work has been done… Everything has been completed, and it is now for the Prime Minister to make that announcement.”

Information reaching our newsroom is that Rear Admiral Elton Bennett, Commandant of the Belize Coast Guard, has been shortlisted along with six other candidates.

Usher currently serves as acting CEO, but it remains unclear at what point former CEO Sharole Saldivar exited the post. Her departure may have coincided with Mira’s assumption of leadership at the ministry.