PM Briceño Weighs in on Delayed Benefits for Retired Public Officers

Prime Minister John Briceño

On Friday, we told you about the twenty retired Belize Defense Force soldiers who claim that they have been attempting to receive their gratuity and pension for several months to no avail.  Doroteo Ical, one of those retired soldiers who served for twenty-two years, told reporters that he has been receiving the turnaround treatment from various government departments. He demanded an explanation. In the House, Prime Minister John Briceño empathized with those soldiers and every public officer facing the same issue. He also voiced his frustration with the lack of due diligence in the system.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“I think that it is wrong that government workers retire and it takes a very longtime for them to collect their benefits. And, the reason why is because of the bureaucracy, they file, they are not properly prepared. It is incomplete and then they have them up and down with the file and they can’t get it properly done. We set up a subcommittee in Cabinet to be able to look at those issues so we can address it. We said we need to hold those people responsible that don’t prepare those files properly. Many times a government employee moves from ministry to ministry and sometimes they don’t pass over the file. The Ministry of Public Service said they send a notice one year in advance for the AOs to prepare the files of the people that are going to be retired. And, when with that hold year they don’t have it ready. It really gets me upset when people send me message say Prime Minister I done retire, I nuh the work, I need this money to pay the bank. I ask treasury and they say the paper was incomplete and they have to go from ministry to ministry the try finish the people deh file.”