3 persons, all political appointees of Vega, dismissed from ministry
In this newscast, we have reported on a number of cases involving land hustles and questionable land deals facilitated by various players in the Lands Department. We’ll have another such story in the next few days. But tonight, we can say that three persons, all political appointees who are related and linked to the Deputy Prime Minister, were sent home today. While we have not been able to confirm, we are reliably informed that Baroni Hernandez, the deputy registrar of lands; Nestor Hernandez the Assistant Commissioner of lands and Darlene Badron, the national estate officer, were dismissed today from the Ministry. Last October, Prime Minister Dean Barrow told Belizeans in the California area that the Ministry of Natural Resources was a hotbed of corruption. The P.M. was at a fundraiser in Los Angeles with Belizean Americans when he made the comments about the Lands Department.
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“I believe that the lands department unfortunately is another hotbed of corruption. The administration has tried to do something about the officers who through dishonesty rather than incompetence—perhaps in some instances, it is a combination of both—end up in a situation where…and I was down in the village of Santa Familia over last week; the village is a part of the constituency that the minister that we’ve had to fire represents. And so I was out there doing some canvassing. And there is this huge problem of exactly the dimensions that the lady has described where one man has worked the land; has crop on it, but others were given papers to that land…papers signed by the minister. But based upon an assessment done by a lands officer who put in writing that the land was fair-clear when he visited the spot and it was obvious that there were crops on it. There is only one reason why he falsified the report. So ma’am, I don’t know of your particular circumstances and I certainly can’t tell you that the generalized problem has been solved.”
We will have more on this in Wednesday’s newscast.
this is not new information, this doesnot come as a surprise but the change was long over due, to be honest I commend the PM although this was given as an ultimatum to Gibson, or his gluts would have been kicked out and Saldivar being shifted back to public service and aragon appointed as senate then later as min. of nat sec.
>There is only one reason why he falsified the report.
He works for me! duh!
Unfortunately for these three, they are not part of the 40, the untouchables.
Sorry, somebody has to be sacrificed to keep the criminal government operating. Re-apply for other GOB jobs that are available, your criminal credentials are solid and no convictions.
Be positive on the job loss: no arrests and no prison time. All is forgiven, this is for show, got to look like we are tough on crime. Mendez got away, so we will bust some unlucky fool for an ounce of weed and put them away for ten years.
It’s about time….what about the bigger guns? A simple check on which other political lackeys are hanging out at the Lands Dept will lead to the smoking guns!!!!
The finances of these people need to be investigated. These people have huge bank accounts and assets that as public officers they couldn’t have gotten without corruption.