Who Footed the Bill During Jose Mai’s Leave?
José Mai is back in the National Assembly, but questions surrounding his months-long medical leave have followed him through the doors. Reports allege that the former Agriculture Minister continued advising the government on sugar industry matters and retained the use of a government vehicle while away from office. Now, Opposition Leader Tracy Taegar-Panton is demanding answers. She says Belizeans deserve a full public account of any investigations into alleged wrongdoing and insists that public officials placed on administrative leave should not continue receiving taxpayer-funded benefits without proper transparency, oversight and accountability.
Tracy Taegar-Panton
Tracy Taeger-Panton, Leader, United Democratic Party
“The people of Belize are tired of this kind of flippant disregard for not holding those who need to be held to account, to account. It is imperative that those of us who sit at the policy level, but though also those of us who are citizens of this country say to this administration, we will not accept the fact that we continue to protect those who are accused of wrongdoing without a full report to this nation as to what, your findings have been. And there is no way we can accept that public resources continue to be used to bolster those who have been placed on administrative leave, removed from the executive because of allegations of wrongdoing.”
Mai claims that while he retained a government-issued vehicle during his leave, he used it sparingly, insisting he does not abuse public resources.
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.