Government will end sale of passports

It was buried deep in a press release from Cabinet, but any confusion was quickly dispelled when the Belize Times hit the streets a few minutes later. After over fifteen years in the passport business the Government of Belize is finally going to call it quits. According to the official newspaper of the People’s United Party, the government, following the advice of the Political Reform Commission, will seek a constitutional amendment to eliminate an earlier amendment, which paved the way for economic citizenship in 1985. Both PUP and UDP governments have used the sale of passports as a way to earn hard currency revenue and the programme is believed to earn between five to ten million Belize dollars per year. The downside has been that these passports have sometimes been purchased by various crooks, con men and fleeing felons, occasionally causing embarrassment to the nation. At one time Prime Minister Said Musa promised a public referendum on the issue, but according to the Times, rather than waste energy on a debate, the outcome of which is not in doubt, government decided to just abolish the programme. No date has been announced for the termination, but the end of this financial year is a likely target. There are approximately ten authorised immigration consultants licensed to engage in the passport trade. It is hoped that the admirable decision to stop the practice will not be marred by a last minute rush to raise some quick cash and in so doing, relax standards that were never very strict to begin with.