Will B.D.F. Soldiers Take a Salary Cut After Being “Overpaid”?
Mike Peyrefitte
The Belize Defense Force is celebrating its forty-sixth anniversary on Friday, but the military organization is doing so with the likelihood that salaries for the men and women who serve in the security services may be decreased going forward. That’s because there seems to be a confusion regarding what should have been a salary adjustment that saw the increase of wages for B.D.F. soldiers. The Ministry of Finance has reportedly flagged the raise as an error; however, the former Minister of National Security under the Barrow administration, told reporters that the adjustment was made in an effort to bring the salaries of the soldiers up to par with their counterparts in the Belize Police Department and the Belize Coast Guard.
Mike Peyrefitte, Former Minister of National Security
“Well I don’t know because then the paymaster for the BDF said very clearly that the pays were correct and that it was an increase in the salary that we approved in 2019, because the attempt was to begin a process where you have the Belize Defense Force, the police department and the coast guard be on par, since they are members of the security services. So we did approve that, then the Ministry of Finance in this government came out and said, “Oh, that was a miscalculation. We made a mistake.” That wasn’t a matter of a mistake, we approved that. So why is it that you want to take away monies from them and what could possibly be the increase? You look at these delegations that travel to Dubai and to basically having a Cabinet meeting in Miami and you are telling me that with all the money that is being spent on certain things, you cannot just leave the [Belize] Defense [Force] soldiers with the increase that they got? Even if you made a mistake, just leave the people [with it.] Haven’t they earned it? They are one of the least paid people in the security services. They patrol the border, they are in the jungle all day and all night. So what, even if you did overpay them, even if you did come to that conclusion, what is the harm in just leaving that and moving on and making sure that at least they are on par. You don’t decrease other people’s pay because what I am hearing now is that they are going to decrease their pay, not just want it back but decrease their pay to make up for the excess that they supposedly got. Why would they need to do that, just leave it alone.”
