Flowers to PM: ”Oversight Has Become Political’
Public Service Union President Dean Flowers has accused three of Belize’s top financial watchdogs of enforcing laws on everyone but themselves in a lengthy statement.
According to Flowers, Financial Secretary Joseph Waight has ignored the Fiscal Transparency and Responsibility Regulations, Statutory Instrument No. 95 of 2010, despite the law requiring government to publish reports on revenue, expenditure and debt twice each year. He claims the last report was released in 2014.
“He has been at the centre of all of what has gone wrong as it relates to the poor financial management of this country under successive administrations,” Flowers told News 5. “I honestly don’t recall or remember a time that he would have stepped forward and challenged these political decisions, which continues to indebt the Belizean people.“
He also singled out Contractor General Maria Arthurs, who lectured ministers on procurement compliance at a special Cabinet meeting this week. He questioned why she has not acted on a formal PSU complaint alleging procurement splitting in connection with payments to relatives of former Minister of State for Defence Oscar Mira. Those payments were broken into pieces under the $10,000 threshold.
“She disrespectfully ignores that complaint without even acknowledging it or saying that by the powers vested in me as Contractor General, I will conduct an inquiry,” Flowers said. “If she chooses not to investigate, then say that and give us an explanation why you believe that this is not something for you to investigate when an official complaint in accordance with the act has been filed to you.”
Flowers also accused Auditor General Maria Rodriguez of failing to respond after the Belize Agricultural Health Authority (BAHA) and the Border Management Agency allegedly blocked her staff from conducting routine cash surveys by claiming they were “not government entities.”
“It is really shameful,” Flowers added. “Our oversight bodies must be appointed solely by either the Senate or a social partner that ensures independence and people that are not politically influenced and politically intimidated because of the need for a renewal of their contracts.”