U.D.P. Says, “No Accounting for Concert Using Tax Funds!”
The second annual Belize International Music and Food Festival was held over the weekend here in Belize City. The two-day event featuring a laundry list of Belizean and international artists drew massive numbers. Nonetheless, the opposition is not the least bit convinced that the Belize Tourism Board is being transparent regarding its expenditure on this year’s festivity. On Saturday, the United Democratic Party issued a press release demanding an external audit of funds allocated to the festival for the last two years. Among the questions being asked is how much money was deposited into the Belize Tourism Board’s bank account after last year’s festival. Likewise, the U.D.P. is asking how much was spent on this year’s event.
Shyne Barrow
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
“The opposition, UDP, feels very strongly about the lack of accountability when it comes to this Belize International Music and Food Festival. A million dollars is a lot to spend on international artists. You have seen artists, I’m sure you’ve seen the video with the lead singer from the TLC Band complaining, you’ve seen legendary artists such as Ernestine complaining about the treatment of Belizean artists. So don’t take a million dollars of our taxpayers money to wine and dine the foreign artists and then treat our Belizean artists as if they are non-entities. Furthermore, it is important for a government that has formed government based on accountability, based on transparency, to give account of how the monies have been spent so that we, the taxpayers that are funding this Belize International Music and Food Festival can make a determination whether or not our money is being well spent. That money doesn’t belong to Anthony Mahler and his good friend, John Marsden. It doesn’t. That’s not his slush fund. That is our money. The BTB is a quasi-government entity, those are our taxpayers dollars. So we need to see why Costa Maya which was a renowned event, international, bringing in so many different people that was there for quite a long time, we need to see, we need to measure why that was totally canceled and the noose that was given was that, “Oh, well the Belize International Music and Food Festival would bring, would follow up the hotel rooms in San Pedro because it goes dormant around this time.” Well they moved it from San Pedro with no account as to why they moved it from San Pedro to Belize City and Belize City has much less hotel rooms.”
The U.D.P.’s release concluded by reiterating, “it is wasteful to spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars on foreign artists. We believe the proceeds from the concert should go towards national celebrations events like the Queen of the Bay, Battle of St. George’s Caye Day, Carnival, Independence Day and Garifuna Settlement Day. Organizers of these events are in desperate need of financial support”.
