New initiatives announced by Cabinet

Government continues to work toward the implementation of its campaign promises and today announced a number of decisions taken at Tuesday’s session of Cabinet. In a move designed to increase the accountability of ministers, Cabinet approved amendments to the standing orders of the House to grant increased powers to legislative standing committees to oversee activities of the executive branch. These include questions of policy, administration and expenditure. Each standing committee will have at least two opposition members and will have the power to request the presence of persons, papers and records to assist their efforts. Other news from Cabinet includes announcements that Joan Musa, wife of the Prime Minister and director of the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired, has been appointed to chair the National Women’s Commission, while Myrtle Palacio will chair the National Committee for Families and Children. It was also revealed that fifty university level scholarships will soon become available to Belizeans to study in Cuba. And for those people still wondering when the word “VAT” will be removed from the Belizean vocabulary, the Ministry of Finance has let it be known that the tax reform committee has been given two months to come up with its plan for an entirely new tax structure. Good luck.