Belize Defense Force Salary Not Cut  

There’s been some buzz lately about possible pay cuts in the Belize Defense Force, but the Ministry of National Defense is clearing the air. They say, flat out, BDF salaries have not been cut. What actually happened was a salary adjustment to fix past administrative errors and make sure everyone’s pay matches the approved 2019 scale. A release from the Ministry of National Defense & Border Security says no one has to pay back any overpayments, and every soldier is now receiving two new monthly allowances, plus a retroactive payment of two thousand, two hundred and fifty dollars. While the ministry says it’s all part of a push to ensure fairness and boost morale across the force, BDF soldiers are up in arms over the salary adjustment. Earlier today, News Five spoke with a soldier on the condition of anonymity. He explained how the adjustment inconveniences him ahead of the new school year.

 

Voice of: BDF Soldier

“First of all, the BDF was informed about certain types of adjustments and based on that, everybody was expecting a certain type of drop, based on the salary. However, coming this fifteenth pay, majority of the BDF, instead of an adjustment, they get a big cut. Like, for example, I’m a service member of almost twenty-one years of service, my salary every two weeks is seventy-eight dollars per day. Now, this payday here I get eight hundred and eighty-three dollars, a drop of three hundred or so for these two weeks pay. Coming ending of the month it will be the same drop. I don’t know how they can explain that to us that it’s an adjustment when actions reflect otherwise.”

 

Isani Cayetano

“What does that three hundred dollar cut mean to you in terms of either being able to take care of your financial responsibilities or what have you?”

 

Voice of: BDF Soldier

“I’m a family man, so this affects me in my financial bills. I pay banks every fifteenth and ending. So this reduction of salary, it doesn’t only hurt me personally, but it hurts my family, especially these coming weeks when school will reopen. Again, three hundred dollars times two, that’s a total of six hundred and eight dollars that will be short of my salary per month. So it really hurts me financially because how will I now tell the bank that, “Oh, my salary get cut.”