Predecessor Should Have Slowed Down

Bernard Wagner

Since being sworn into office on March fourteenth, Mayor Wagner has been reviewing all existing agreements between CitCo and private contractors, a majority of those deals being described as products of campaigning.  He contends that the ethical course of action that his forerunner should have taken was to avoid embarking upon capital projects in the final months of his tenure.

Bernard Wagner, Belize City Mayor

“Clearly we were not happy in the way those contracts came about.  We continue to stress that in the eleventh hour there’s no need to undertake huge capital projects just for electioneering, just for winning elections.  It should always be, I believe that our leadership and our leader should always be about ensuring that any decision that they make is a prudent decision and it is within budget.  I am certain, and after looking at the budget for the council, those projects undertaken in the last three months, those contracts negotiated in the last three months, leading up to the election were not a part of the budget, were not a part of the plan, but it was concocted as a political scheme to ensure that they were re-elected to office.  Obviously, that did not work and we are left with those contracts.  Clearly, we have to reassess the terms of those contracts and we have to reassess if we are getting value for money.  That is always important and so those contracts currently are still on the books.  They were signed contracts, we will not renege on those contracts, but we need to reassess the terms of those contracts and we need to ensure that we get value for money.  That is important for my council.”