Barrow’s BIL; $60 Million pumped into state owned private company?
Francis Fonseca
BIL is the acronym for the Belize Infrastructure Company Limited which is a recently established state owned company operating from the Ministry of Works. The company will carry out sixty million dollars of infrastructural projects; work that should be carried out by the Ministry of Works. The articles of association show that senior officials are shareholders and directors on the BIL board. Leader of the Opposition, Francis Fonseca, sounded alarm bells about BIL at today’s budget debate.
Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
“This brings me Mister Speaker back to BIL, Belize Infrastructure Company Limited, which the honorable member for Queen Square described in his budget presentation as a newly formed, newly registered, wholly government of Belize owned private company; the special purpose vehicle that will create jobs, stimulate demand, purchase private sector material and supplies and generally raise that tide that will float all Belizean boats. Now as I said earlier Mr. Speaker, it is fairly easy to dismiss this company as more hot air; consistent with five years of empty rhetoric. But I think to do so would be a mistake. We should all, all Belizeans, take note of BIL. I want to sound the alarm bells. I want to be the first to sound the alarm bells. I expect this to be a U.D.P. hustle vehicle that will seek to avoid the rules and regulations of government. Why Mister Speaker and the Social and Economic Partners we met with ask this question as well. Why is this private company necessary to carry out the work of government? Will this company be competing with the private sector? Who will it be purchasing materials and supplies from? Who will manage this company? Will the Contractor General and the Auditor General have oversight of this company? Mister Speaker these are important questions. Will it be subject to the finance and audit reform act? Mister Speaker, we must see the Belize Infrastructure Company Limited for what it is the latest in a long line of U.D.P. political gimmicks. And you know Mr. Speaker I took a look at the articles of association and memorandum of association of the company and you know the chairman of this company, I don’t know if he is still the Minister of Works or now he is just the chairman of Belize Infrastructure Company Limited. But he is the chairman of the board of directors, Honorable Rene Montero, director and chairman. Will you be running the Minister of Works or will you pay responsible for this company? Why do we need a private company for works that the Ministry of Works should be able to and can carry out? And they are injecting sixty million dollars, as we understand it, into this private company chaired by the Minister of Works. The co-chair is the honorable Herman Longsworth, the member for Albert; he’s the co chair.”
The company will also be lending and investing monies and seemingly making profits which can be shared with directors most of whom are already in the employ of the government.
Belize Infrastructure Kompany, Limited (BILK)
it is pronounced Ka-Ching, that is all you need to know.
when is someone going to start a recall petition on this insane asylum?
or is everone been bought, too scared, or don’t give a damn?
Seems very corrupt. What does the President think?
Where did the $60-million taxpayer money come from? What public account was raided?
I don’t agree often with Fonseca, but he’s right in calling it a hustle vehicle.
Government never manages “investments” profitably, it’s always better to leave the money in the citizens’ pockets, and let them invest. Private citizens have the motivation to work hard, because if they lose, it is their own money they lose, and if they profit, they keep the profit. Government never works hard because they can always steal more taxpayer money.
This GOB needs to fall, and soon. I hope some civic organizations and churches will open their eyes to what is happening, and start to organize some strikes and protests. I’d rather see it come down from civil disobedience than violence or a military coup. One way or another, it needs to change before too much more is stolen from the people of Belize. Then let’s hold the thieves accountable before the people they cheated.
In the Caymans the Governor General recently forced a change of a corrupt government, maybe we should look into that process for the Jewel.
@Bear: I, myself, couldn’t have said it better. Now I would just have to amplify that the crimes committed by the politicians of this administration must be punished with no statute of limitations. These politicians must be tried and hanged just like the corrupt politicians in the 1798 French Revolution. The new government must roll back all taxes, encourage and implement investments for true Belizeans and not only the foreigners like the Asians, the Mennonites, Arabs, and other greedy entities. We need Belizean banks; we need Belizeans heading up our Judiciary System, the Magistracy Court, the UB system, the education system, the agriculture system, and all other systems and institutions. There is no reason why Belizeans should be unemployed in any sectors of the economy; and we must rebuild and implement a new economic system and disregard the feckless , non-dynamic “Horizon 2030” thoughtless, convoluted recommendations. So mote it be !
This BIL smells fishy to me from the start…simply from the fact that they mention $60 million to be put in this “private company” at this years budget presentation you well know its tax payers money they going to use. They aren’t gonna invest that 60 million tax payer dollars into that company they are gonna just pocket it…because a true investment entails a return…an if its 60 million tax payer dollars gonna be put into a private company, where is the return on that investment to taxpayers????….seems like all the big heads are gonna get their pockets lined with cash using hard working tax payer dollars…whats in it for the people of Belize???..seems like only a selected few will gain on this deal…nepotism an cronyism without shame…
In your face midday- robbery. This is classic Barrow/UDP play-book. Case in point, the outsourcing of government legal work to private attorneys. This is what u call “legal corruption”. Barrow is truly a narcissist. He !@#$%^ and bawls about the hustlings of Said Musa but he is the same damn thing! In the USA, the US Justice Department would have moved in a long time ago. Barrow and Musa would be in jail where they belong. Michael Young, Anwar, Lois, Dennis, Ralph, and Rodwell would get to wear orange as well. This is the legacy of lawyer-politicans in Belize. They have been nothing but destructive. Save some super-bond money so as to create space to cart off some of it for themselves. Shame! Shame! Shame!
I agree with Bear, we are the idiots who allow it to happen. As I usually preach: Where the hell are civil society organizations? Oh, catering to their own needs. Shame on them all.
Excellent points, Joe Blank.
That’s it in a nutshell…as plain as day for those who are willing to see it for what its worth.