Former Prime Minister Dean Barrow Summoned by the Commission on Inquiry

Dean Barrow

Monday is going to be a historic day in Belize. The former Prime Minister Dean Barrow has been summoned to appear before the Commission of Inquiry.  It’s the inaugural hearing of the commission that is tasked with investigating the sale of government assets in 2020.  The hearing starts at nine a.m. and will stream live.  The commission is chaired by Senior Counsel Andrew Marshalleck and Luke Martinez of the Public Service Union and Marcello Blake of the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry.  The commissioners will be determining if there were irregularities and criminal behavior concerning the sale of government assets when Barrow was the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.  The inquiry will dig into the sale of assets over a thirteen-month period.  If the commission finds fraud, corruption, mismanagement, waste or abuse, it will identify those responsible and possibly pursue criminal or civil action and/or recover the assets. Along with the former Prime Minister, Financial Secretary Joseph Waight and head of the Vehicle Care Unit Ruperto Vicente have also been summoned. Senator and Chairman of the U.D.P., Michael Peyrefitte, reacted to the news following today’s Senate Meeting in Belmopan.

Michael Peyrefitte

Michael Peyrefitte, Chairman, U.D.P.

“Well he has to show up. A Commissioner of Inquiry has summoned you to appear. You have to appear. He will appear and I am sure that they will probably be sorry that they asked him to appear. I think you all know that the Right Honourable Dean Barrow is more than capable of handling himself. So we look forward to that dog and pony show because I can’t understand why a commission of inquiry you would want to summoned a former prime minister to explain something that you can easily get the records for from the Financial Secretary. If you want to find out what happened in a ministry, the minister is not the person that you summon. The minister is not the person that you ask. There is a management team that is comprised of the minister, the C.E.O. who is the accounting officer, the finance officer and the administrative officer. If you want to find out what happened in the Ministry of Finance the person you summon is the Financial Secretary. He has all the records but what the PUP wants to do is to create a distraction. They are all about creating distractions at this point because they want to change the conversation. They want us to not talk about the people they are firing. They want us to not to talk about the people they are going to fire even, more people that they are going to fire. Salaries are going to be cut for government officers. They cannot figure out a way to grow the economy. They cannot provide for free education and none of the things they said they would do, they can’t do.”