Greenwood (still president) responds to critics
In physics we are taught that every action produces an equal and opposite reaction. That law of science can also be applied to other fields of endeavour, like tourism… as News 5’s Janelle Chanona discovered this morning.
Tom Greenwood, President, B.C.I.A.
“My name is Tom Greenwood. I am still the President of the Belize Cruise Ship Industry Association.”
Tom Greenwood is seeing red…
Tom Greenwood
“This is not a human situation, this is heartless. All moral and social consciousness gone.”
…All this after his fellow board members made a move earlier this week to remove him as head of the Belize Cruise Ship Industry Association. This morning, the tour operator held a press conference in Belize City to categorically state that the board decision was absolutely unconstitutional.
Tom Greenwood
“The constitution has nothing in it that will allow the board of the Belize Cruise Ship Industry Association to make a decision based on a vote among the board members to oust the President…The motion came from Mr. Stanley Longsworth and it was seconded by Mr. David Gegg.”
“This rift will never go away. The betrayal of our general membership is something none of us can live with. I would like to call here and now because of what has happened here, for the immediate resignation of these two members of the board; immediate resignation.”
According to a release dated Wednesday July seventeenth, issued by eleven other board members of the Belize Cruise Ship Industry Association, Greenwood was ousted by a unanimous vote of no confidence because he “undertook unilateral actions without consultation and the consent of the Board.” Allegations Greenwood denies.
Tom Greenwood
“I told the general membership, look we need to do something, what do you suggest. General membership said, we are demanding an immediate meeting, so we did that. And it was at that meeting, with the presence of board members, that a letter was accepted and sent on to the authorities. The right moves were made.”
Ramon Cervantes, Member, B.C.I.A.
“The letter did have the support of almost all the members with the exception of about seven or eight members. So I can’t see that Mr. Greenwood, after all in the final line, acted unilaterally, when in fact the vote was taken. We wanted the letter to go in its present form to the Tourism Board for onward transmission to Cabinet.”
A situation that developed after the Vice President of the B.C.I.A., David Gegg, imported a large catamaran, with rumours of several more to follow. Greenwood led the charge against the imported vessel, maintaining it would cripple local operators.
And then looking a lot like one of our local politicians just before elections, Greenwood produced copies of several documents he says proves board members of the B.C.I.A. are up to no good.
Tom Greenwood
“A genuine copy of a letter from the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association, logo on the left, words on the right and then down on the bottom the various cruise lines, signed by it’s President Michelle Paige. This is beyond a shadow of a doubt a nicely doctored letterhead with only the F.C.C.A. logo. I sent that to the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association and I spoke to somebody there. They are up in arms because they have no record of this, written by a man who was at the time working with F.C.C.A. as Creative Outreach Director, Mr. Matt Zemonth, who I happen to know was working with Mr. David Gegg at the time.”
“Cruise Solutions will extend further discounts to Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises, once new equipment, brackets, boats, and buses, come online this year. I don’t need to read the rest. What I wanted to get to was, brackets, boats and buses, dated July twenty-second 2002, over a year ago. We were talking about members of my board arranging with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line for the importation of buses into this country. Did these people speak to the general assembly? No.”
“I have learned that there is an effort to bring ninety vans and cars into the country to take over the taxi business. I have learned from credible sources that a down payment has been made on the Belize Tourism Village by R.C.C.L. and that the purchase should be complete by sometime next month.”
But competition comes with the tide and bawling about hard times, loans and mortgages is certainly no defence. Even to this Greenwood has an answer.
Tom Greenwood
“It is us at the head table who told these gentlemen to do it, because we had they schedules, they were there. Go ahead and do it, we’re gonna support you, we’re going to work on it, not to worry. And it was worked well so far.”
“The other side of the coin is if investment is to come, then tell us what it’s all about. Come to us and say, look, this agency or that agency or those individuals want to bring in so and so, we put it before you, they want to participate with you and all that, how can we work this out. This was not done. This was a slam-dunk situation in which the voters thought they were totally safe, in which they knew, having been told the first time go from open boats to covered boats, and having been told, we will inform you when we need bigger and better; never done, never done at all.”
A special emergency meeting was scheduled to start at six this evening at St. Mary’s Hall in Belize City. Reporting for News 5, I am Janelle Chanona.
Increasingly lost in the tender controversy is the question of Belize’s long term viability and growth as a cruise ship destination in a highly competitive global environment.
