Players manoeuvre in P.U.P. civil war
On the day after Prime Minster Said Musa?s public commitment to make serious financial reforms and restructure ?the highest levels of government,? the various players and pundits are busy trying to figure out exactly what that means. According to sources within the ?Gang of seven?, that is Ministers Espat, Courtenay, Coye, Smith, Baeza, Hyde and Briceño, their demand for the full removal from cabinet of Finance Minister Ralph Fonseca still stands, as does their threat to resign en masse if this is not done by the end of the month. The P.M. met today in Belmopan with Fonseca and while only the fly on the wall knows exactly what was said, one could imagine that the talk was not pretty. Judging by the action on this morning?s talk shows it looks like the grass roots are being mobilized with the only sure winner being the United Democratic Party, for whom the P.U.P. civil war is an ideal recruiting tool. Unfortunately, for the U.D.P., the next national election is not for another three and a half years–a veritable lifetime in the world of Belizean politics.
Meanwhile, News 5 has at least succeeded in identifying some of the cast of characters who may figure in any probe of alleged financial mismanagement at government owned institutions. In 1998, the board of directors at Social Security consisted of Chairman Erberto May, Deputy Yasin Shoman and members Narda Garcia, who is also the general manager, Martha Williams, Vincent Parks, David Fonseca, Antonio Gonzalez and the financial secretary Joseph Waight who attended as an observer.
The current S.S.B. members are Yasin Shoman as Chairman, Deputy Mike Polonio, Manager Nardia Garcia as a non-voting member, Anselm Gillett, Margaret Nunez, Rick Castillo, Hilly Martinez, Antonio Gonzalez, Ellison Flowers and Horace Patten.
As we reported in yesterday?s newscast, according to Chairman Shoman, the due diligence investigations on the mortgage securitization programme guaranteed by the S.S.B. were done by the foreign purchasers as well as the Development Finance Corporation.
As for the D.F.C., while C.E.O. Troy Gabb was too busy to sit down and discuss details of the corporation?s involvement in the Glenn Godfrey loans, he did finally authorize his secretary to release the names of the D.F.C. board members, past and present. Those members appointed in 1998 were Chairman Glenn Godfrey, Deputy David Courtenay, Bob Bou-Nahra and Belizario Carballo Jr. In addition to those four private sector representatives, three government employees also sat on the board, namely the permanent secretary in the ministry of Economic Development, the P.S. in Agriculture and Fisheries and the Financial Secretary.
Current members of the D.F.C. board are Chairman Omar Espejo, Deputy Edwin Flowers, Gustavo Torres and Enrique Urbina Jr. Government members are the C.E.O. in Agriculture, a representative from the ministry of National Development and the Financial Secretary. According to outside financial experts, the D.F.C. is technically insolvent with a list of bad loans that reads like a page out of J.L.?s “hard pay? stars of the week. The D.F.C. has long had a reputation as the place to go for a politically convenient loan and it is expected that any detailed inquiry into the corporation?s portfolio will find enough skeletons to fill Lord?s Ridge.
