B.E.L. C.E.O. at Chamber of Commerce mixer on state of company

But what is the future of B.E.L.’s top executive? C.E.O. Lynn Young has been presenting the B.E.L. case and on Thursday night, he addressed the private sector. It was a closed business mixer for members of the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry.  According to Young, the ongoing energy crisis has been triggered by a severe lack of foresight. Young further stated that if the Barrow Administration proceeds with the compulsory acquisition of B.E.L., its executives are prepared to move on.

Lynn Young, Chief Executive Officer, B.E.L.

Lynn Young

“My thing about all of this is that, you know, there is just too much myopia and, you know, we’re all Belizeans and it pains to see what’s happening but you have to start.  We have to start.  I think it starts too by more of us stepping out.  Somebody asked me why didn’t I do this long ago?  [Well] because we really want, I really wanted to give this thing a chance to work.  I really felt that I could try to find a way to make things work.  My first instinct is always to find win-win solutions and face saving solutions because, and again I told the prime minister, if you’re going to take this thing from Fortis do it in a way that is going to be sustainable.  Don’t let’s have a Prosser and an Ashcroft and every time it moves the people of Belize pay in taxes or in higher rates.  Do it in a way that’s honorable and it’s going to be sustainable because if you do it the wrong way it’s going to get unraveled.  We all know that’s going to happen, you know, and the last thing I want to see is the company get destroyed because of some kind of back and forth and up and down in court and people getting despondent.  I have to leave because if you’re going to have a hostile takeover of a company then the correct thing for the executives to do is to leave and give the new owner the opportunity to appoint the people they want.  You have to do that because you’re going to be put in a compromised position.  I’m going to be conflicted where the new owners will want me to help them fight the old owners.  These guys did me nothing wrong but on the other hand I don’t want to see a utility go down the drain either.  So I have to get out of the picture, right, and our executives in the company have all decided that they think they need to get out of the picture too and if the government wants to rehire them they will reconsider it.”