“Hogwash”: PSU President Rejects Claims of Habitual Opposition

It’s not every day that the Public Service Union finds itself on the same side as the Briceño administration, and that has caught some attention. PSU President Dean Flowers has thrown his support behind the government’s latest decision on transfers, prompting critics to question whether his usual opposition to policy changes is more habit than principle. Is he simply against change for the sake of opposing it? Flowers isn’t buying it. He calls that claim “hogwash,” and he’s pushing back. We hear from the union leader as he responds to the criticism and explains where he really stands.

 

Dean Flowers, President, Public Service Union

“Any right-thinking Belizean and any Belizean that is able to listen and comprehend and interpret knows that is “hogwash” and not true. From day one when we approached the Belizean people and say that we are raising alarm where is SARA is concerned it has always been based on transparency and one that has been requesting justification. We have never stepped forward to oppose for oppose sake. WE have always said to the Prime Minister and the Director General and Financial Secretary, show us how we got here, what analysis was done that justifies you are able to unable to accomplish what you intend to accomplish in SARA that you are unable to accomplish with the current Tax Department. Where NeoPeople is concerned, I am saying to you, that the individuals who were part and parcel of that grant from Taiwan to set up CITO, who have made CITO ISO certified are saying to us that they have the infrastructure, capacity and capability to manage government’s data, including their human resource data. We do not need to pay three million dollars a year of taxpayers’ dollars a year for that to be done by a third party.”

 

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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