The N.P.O. Bill and Its Potential Impacts on Church Managed School

Elena Smith

Senator Elena Smith added to the concerns of Senator Moses Benguche, who represents the churches. She questioned the impact that the N.P.O. Bill will have on schools managed by religious organizations. She explained that a number of these schools rely on fundraisers as a means of accessing the necessary finances for their daily operations. 

Elena Smith, Union Senator

“In terms of our schools we know that our schools go through the ministry whereby the churches apply to operate schools and you do that through the Ministry of Education. I am not aware that there is any correlation between the churches now having to apply as NPOs and those schools will be listed under that application. So, for us while there may be a few schools while there may be a few schools that have been in cooperated you understand they will fall under this bill. But for the schools that are managed by the church how will we fall under this and what will be the implications, because coming from within the school system we understand the issues we have in terms of finances for the school and being able to provide resources for our school to operate.”

Eamon Courtenay

Eamon Courtenay, Government Senator

“Like Senator Hererra, when I listened to the bishop, I Goggled churches and money laundering.  I expected to get a blank page. It was not a blank page, 2021 Cardinals, Bishops, from the Vatican where ht pope lives criminally indicted for money laundering. Next story, none traditional church in Guatemala used to launder the proceeds of drug trafficking. The issue here is not whether a church, school or any NPO is involved in money laundering, financing of terrorism. My mind went back the Sanctuary Bay. Central to Sanctuary Bay was something called Sittee River Wildlife Reserve, a nonprofit, totally unregulated.”

The Bar Association of Belize has published a paper with its review of the NPO Bill. In its examination, the Bar Association notes that there is no provision in the Bill which expressly requires that all N.P.O.’s engaged in activities in Belize be registered under the proposed law. The publication further notes that the Bill instead empowers the new N.P.O. Registrar to effect registrations and to prohibit N.P.O.’s. According to the Bar Association, an N.P.O. which neither solicits nor raises funds from the public in pursuance of its charitable objects may not need to be registered. We will have more for you on this publication.