The UHS Debt is Finally Tackled in Parliament

Dean Barrow

A special sitting of the House of Representatives took place in Belmopan today on an issue that has been thorny and divisive.  Prime Minister Dean Barrow, as Minister of Finance, presented the Appropriation Bill to pay a ninety-five million-dollar compensation award for the Universal Health Services debt. The loan ballooned to over ninety-five million dollars after being heard by different courts for several years including the Caribbean Court of Justice.  The debate was long, heated and passionate at times.  The result of the vote was a first since a motion presented by the PM was voted down by his majority side.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“Madam Speaker, the amount proposed by way of this supplementary appropriations bill, as appears in the schedule, is ninety-five million, six hundred and thirty-three thousand, three hundred and eighty-three dollars and thirty-five cents and the note explains that this represents, this figure represents funds required to pay an arbitral award of January fifteenth, 2013, rendered by the London Court of International Arbitration relating to a promissory note issued by the Government of Belize in favor of the Belize Bank Limited which debt was certified under Section Twenty-five of the Crown Proceedings Act by the registrar of the Caribbean Court of Justice on July sixth, 2018 as due to the Belize Bank Limited from the Attorney General of Belize.”