Want to buy B.T.L. shares? Don?t bring greenbacks

It seemed like a half-hearted effort to begin with… and some bizarre events today strongly suggest that the Government of Belize really does not want Belizeans to own shares in Belize Telecommunications Limited.

Our suspicions were initially aroused when G.O.B. announced that the offer to sell five percent of the company’s shares to Belizeans was limited to those who could pay in U.S. dollars. That didn’t seem quite fair, but the reasoning that the greenbacks were needed to repay Belmopan’s loan to the International Bank of Miami at least seemed plausible.

Next, when they announced the issuing of a prospectus for the shares, the window of only two weeks in which to make your purchase seemed somewhat short–especially since rounding up sufficient U.S. currency can often take some time. But when it was explained that government was under intense pressure to pay its debts quickly, we simply nodded and went looking for the cash.

Which brings us to today when we discovered firsthand that if you’re a Belizean who wants to buy a piece of B.T.L. your hard earned U.S. dollars are no good.

That’s right, today Channel Five’s application to buy the one hundred share minimum was rejected by the Central Bank. The reason? Contrary to what is says on the form, the counter clerk refused to take the two hundred and seventy-one dollars in U.S. currency as payment for the B.T.L. shares, saying that only U.S. cheques would be accepted. We thought that there was some misunderstanding and brought the matter to the attention of the section supervisor at the Central Bank, Hollis Parham.

According to Parham, the only mistake was on the part of the people who drew up the form. He confirmed that the bank would not be taking U.S. currency for B.T.L shares, only U.S. cheques, the reason being the risk of accepting counterfeit notes. And where is a Belizean supposed to find a U.S. cheque? That, said Parham, is not his problem. When asked who made the policy decision to refuse greenbacks, he referred to “higher ups” and suggested we call the Central Bank’s Governor, Sidney Campbell. When we called Campbell at five minutes to two this afternoon we were told he was at lunch… and we’re still waiting for him to return the call.

So where do we stand? Holding two Benjamins, three Jacksons, a Hamilton, and a Washington… and wondering why it is that government seems to be doing all it can to prevent Belizeans from buying into B.T.L.