P.M. looks at bright side of Miami Court ruling
He received the news on Friday that a U.S. Federal Court in Miami has ordered the Belize Government to return control of Belize Telecommunications Ltd. to Jeffrey Prosser. Today Prime Minister Said Musa–himself an attorney–chose to put a different spin on the decision and continued to maintain that with a little bit of goodwill, everything will work out fine.
Prime Minister Said Musa
?Well I haven?t had a chance to read the order, the judgement properly yet. It was just handed to me. But my reaction from what I?ve seen so far, a quick perusal of it, is that first of all the judge did not and has not addressed her mind to the issue of jurisdiction. And I believe, and I stand to be corrected, but I believe that the Attorney General?s Ministry will have to appeal this decision. At least on the issue of jurisdiction to begin with. Now on the question as I understand it she ruled about the improper appointment of the directors, that can be rectified and I am sure it will be.?
?The point I?m making is, as I understand the ruling, it?s not fatal in any shape. In fact, it goes on to say–as I understand it–that the government has the right to sell the shares because they have not been paid for and the shares do rightly belong to the government now. But I don?t want to get into the merits and demerits of this matter except to say that I believe steps will be taken very shortly to address the issues raised by the judge that should take place tomorrow, Tuesday.?
Jules Vasquez B Channel 7 News
?However at five PM tomorrow Jeff Prosser takes back over B.T.L. by virtue of reappointment of four directors thus reversing and undoing all that you have done on February ninth.?
Said Musa
?Well you are telling me that will happen. I am not conceding that or agreeing with that.?
And while the realities may or may not be up for debate, the Prime Minister believes it is time to move on.
Said Musa
?I don?t think we can wave a magic wand and say fix it. But we are determined to work our way through it, to sort out the problems that we may have, whether it be with the ICC or the Carlisle group. We are going to work our way through this thing and come up hopefully with a satisfactory solution to it all. And I do feel and I feel very committed that Belizeans must have a greater stake. They want it; they have been saying so in the ownership and governance of B.T.L.?
?I am doing what I believe is best for the nation at any given time. Not every time we make a move it will be successful. But I am prepared to accept when I make a mistake, or when I do something that has not worked out and to take steps to rectify and move ahead.
?In this business you can do one of two things, in the business of running a nation. You can become inactive and wait for things to happen or you can take steps to make things happen. Now often times or sometimes, not everything you do will work out the way you intended them. That doesn?t mean that you must persist with passivity, and let events overtake you and the nation. You have to move ahead; you have to keep going. It?s not an easy issue; the whole issue of nation building, there is nothing easy about that. Certainly in this day and age of globalization, pressures coming from all sides. That?s no reason for us to become hopeless, or to loose hope. We have to keep moving ahead.?
In a press release issued just prior to news time, the Attorney General’s Ministry claims that G.O.B. is still the majority owner of B.T.L., is still committed to selling its shares to Belizeans and will not hesitate to unite with minority shareholders to remove the four court-reinstated Prosser directors at a future shareholders meeting. The release adds that Government has filed an urgent application with the Belize Supreme Court seeking a declaration that the U.S. court order is not enforceable as under the Reciprocal Enforcement of Foreign Judgements Act.
