B.N.T.U. and social partners want an investigation into passport scandal

Not much has been heard from the unions on the on the passport scandal since the story broke on September nineteenth, that is until today, when the militant Belize National Teachers Union issued a release. While they did not offer interviews, the B.N.T.U. put on record its utter disdain for the ongoing scandal.  The union says it has sub-zero tolerance when our patrimony is compromised. The B.N.T.U. says that the daily revelations in the passport scandal show that the sovereignty and integrity of our Belizean birthright has been smeared and that the whole issue reeks of corruption. There is one more release that took aim at government today. It came from the social partnerships: the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Council of Churches, the Evangelical Association and the National Trade Union Congress of Belize. The irritant is the Public Accounts Committee which receded to the background due to the passport scandal. The social partners write that they concerned that the PAC in its current composition is not responsive to the need for proper accounting of how the peoples’ money is spent and accounted for. The social partners say that they absolutely cannot support the present unilateral meetings conducted by the PAC. And that their respective senators have attended the hearings merely as observers and it should not be seen as an endorsement. Says the release, (Quote) “We cannot and will not, in any way shape or form, legitimize the government investigating itself.” (Unquote)  They find the process significantly flawed, lacking in credibility as an investigative process and as such (Quote) “they refuse to lend credibility to such a charade.” (Unquote)