PM Defends Former Miss Universe Belize Amid Procurement Debate
Prime Minister John Briceño is stepping in to defend former Miss Universe Belize Isabella Zabaneh, after her comments at the PUP’s National Party Council meeting in Dangriga sparked public backlash. Zabaneh called for an increase to the ten-thousand-dollar procurement threshold, a position that quickly drew criticism, especially amid ongoing concerns over government spending and oversight. But today, the Prime Minister praised her for speaking up. Briceño said Zabaneh showed courage and voiced what many others may believe but are too afraid to say publicly.
Prime Minister John Briceño
“It is unfortunate. We should encourage women to participate more in events like this and I want to commend her for her courage to say something that everybody knows, but because of the present circumstances everybody is afraid of saying it. Actually under the Central Procurement Unit, that is one of the things we are going to address. Twenty years ago, the budget was less than one billion dollars. Right now it is at one point eight billion dollars and there is so much things the government is buying. The government is buying four, five hundred million dollars of service and goods every year. When you include roads and so it goes up even more. So it becomes almost impossible at ten thousand or below ten thousand and so, what we will be doing under centralized procurement unit is we are going to increase that number. But, unlike now, everting will have to go through one portal, or one window. So every ministry will have to put what they are doing in there. Let’s say the BDF. The BDF wants to be able to, need a million dollars’ worth of food supplies for six months for instance and these are the things we want. So, let’s say they increase the threshold for twenty thousand or thirty thousand. If the ministry decide they will give a company under that threshold, they will be able to give it. But they will also be able to report it through that threshold to the public and say, this company get twenty-thousand and did not have to go to a contract. So, what has happened where you see one company having hundreds and hundreds of payments under ten thousand, it will be impossible for it to happen.”
Isabella Zabaneh has since issued a statement saying that her comment was not made to defend any individual or to influence any ongoing investigation.
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