Senator Bradley: Services Have to Be Worth the Money

Darrell Bradley

Senator Bradley also noted several areas where he believes G.O.B. is not getting value for money in the new budget, especially since the wage bill has actually increased, rather than gone down, by thirty million dollars.

Darrell Bradley, U.D.P. Senator

“I went through the Prime Minister’s Budget speech in detail and I noticed certain things highlighted in there that are very sobering in terms of our fiscal position. In a portion of the budget speech, the Prime Minister, Hon. John Briceño made the point quite plainly that of the budget, seven hundred and four million dollars or sixty-two percent of the budget or sixty-two cents out of every dollar spent is spent on wages and pensions. I see my learned friend, Senator Coye, writing and I stand to be corrected because I’m not a math man as he is, but in terms of the Budget speech I saw that reference. It was a reference in the same section that spoke about the expenditure for goods and services – three hundred and eighty-four million dollars. And the speech mentioned the comment that there was only a small amount remaining, roughly one hundred and thirty-four million for capital investments. That struck me, as a person reading this budget speech, for me to appreciate, notwithstanding any political party – the PUP or UDP – as a Belizean, in terms of our fiscal realities, that we spend a significant amount of the National Budget and probably rightly so, on the wage bill and on pensions. So I think it is incumbent on us to appreciate that, for us to appreciate the impact of that and for us to recognize that there has to then be a huge priority on getting value for that money. Government has to prioritize public sector reform. We have to look at areas where individual Belizeans get value for that significant chunk of the National Budget. That’s a significant part of our spending. It has been that way for a period of time. I note in terms of that section of the Budget speech, the Prime Minister mentioned increases over the last administration and this administration in terms of what would have gone on and what he would have inherited. I only want to point out here that when one looks at the numbers since the last election, and I stand to be corrected, the wage bill has gone up about thirty million dollars. We continue to have a concern raised by our social partners, particularly the unions, about the impact of contract officers and the impact of that on the wage bill.”