Mayor Moya explains S.S.B. arrears, cheques to her brother
When we caught up with the mayor today, we asked her about the report that City Hall has defaulted on Social Security contributions on behalf of City Council employees to the Social Security Board.
Marion Ali
“There is an allegation as well that the Council has not paid, I think it’s over three hundred thousand dollars to the Social Security Board on behalf of its employees. Is that true? If so, why?”
Zenaida Moya, Belize City Mayor
“I’m not aware of that. I know I sign cheques to the Social Security Board so I’m not aware of that.”
Marion Ali
“You were never in debt with the—the council has never been in debt to Social Security for employees contributions?”
Zenaida Moya
“I told you, whenever payments are to be made it is the duty of the Finance Department to ensure that those payments are made. I know that I have been signing cheques towards the Social Security Board.”
Marion Ali
“The last one was recently?”
Zenaida Moya
“Yes, very recently.”
Marion Ali
“So the council is not in debt?”
Zenaida Moya
“Again, you can ask any further questions to our Director of Financial Services. But as far as I am aware, I have been signing cheques to go to the Social Security Board.”
Moya says funds should come from Government to the Ministry of Works shortly for more infrastructural works, including street repair, drainage and garbage collection.
And with elections just around the corner, both political machineries have stepped up on their campaigns and there is no shortage of political blows to throw around. The latest involves the issue of forty-six cheques issued by the mayor, including various to her brother’s trucking company, SM Construction, and made out to her sister-in-law Sharon Wade. Today News Five sat down with Moya who acknowledged the payments were made but said they were nothing new.
Zenaida Moya, Belize City Mayor
“There is no new cheques. These are the same amounts, these are the same cheques that were, according to what they have, and I haven’t counted the cheques. What I can tell you are figures.”
Marion Ali
“I have thirty-six here in my possession and they claim that it’s far more than thirty-six.”
Zenaida Moya
“Okay, well I have not gone over how many cheques. As far as we know, we pay for material and we pay for services, rental of equipment from many different individuals. How many cheques are being paid to these individuals, is something besides the point because when sometimes you’ll be paying three thousand dollars or five thousand dollars, or two thousand dollars or eight thousand dollars to one individual, to other individuals we’d be paying way more than that.”
Marion Ali
“These cheques have been made out everyday or every other day. It’s nothing strange?”
Zenaida Moya
“No, it’s nothing strange. Why? There’s nothing strange about it. One, when it comes to the providing of materials, around that time we had a lot of streets that needed to be fixed. And it will show you that when it comes to cheques, it has been very consistent. From we got into office we have been doing works. From we got into office and I have the dates, I have the amounts, I have the individuals, I have the companies who we have utilized services from and we have been very consistent in works.”
“In some instances we were paying for materials at a particular cost. I spoke to him and told him that we needed a better price. He knocked it down by a hundred dollars a load when it came to particular materials, which I felt was very good. Rental of equipment, he knocked it down for us because I said you know what please make sure that the council—because I’m already struggling to deal with certain services and payments, so at least help us by giving us discounts. And I must say he was one of them that was very good. Ultimately, we had a lot of people providing services for, however. And whilst those particular cheques were pulled out, for the record, just some of the companies that were providing materials for the council; you had Roddler Construction, you had Helen Castro, Body Enterprises Ltd, you had materials coming from Habet and Habet, Thomas Gomez Junior, you had Better Solutions, you had Miguel Depaz in terms of rental of equipment, you had Valley Ranch, you had Salvador Habet, of course you had other things; belie Aggregates Ltd. When it comes to additional materials you had Pine Lumber, you had Berges Trucking, you had other companies. You had different truckers like Mr. Charles Leslie, you had Mr. Domingo Sutherland I believe was also hauling materials and you also had Samuel Goldburn also hauling materials. But why, for example, they were hauling materials and not and not collecting directly? Because it was my brother who had the credit with Belize Aggregates. He was the one who had the credit with Forte Company. So, in fact, because he had the credit, he was the one who would just go there and say okay unnu just go deh and unnu haul di material. So when it comes to the amounts, you have to look at the dynamics of all of it. We’ve ha different persons providing services but some persons, unfortunately, they’re smaller companies and they can only do so much so you help them along.”
“The point is in terms of services; nothing further should come up to haunt me. I am doing it like I’ve always done before; different persons, as long as they can provide services, we will get them to provide services. As long as they are dependable, we will utilize them. That’s about it and we will continue on. Yes, we will ensure that the different works that we have promised the residents that we will do, we will ensure that it gets done.”
Marion Ali
“And you’re not overpaying for the job?”
Zenaida Moya
“No, we’re not overpaying for the job. As a matter of fact, anybody who knows me knows that I am someone who will always ask you to go lower on your price. Anybody who knows me will know that I will say please give me a discount on that. We are known for that.”
Outgoing councillor, Mark King, threw the first salvo last year in the pre-convention campaign. The mayor told News Five today that she will be releasing audited financials this week.
