Credit union act, land sale debated in House
A plethora of political points were put on the table during today’s meeting of the House of Representatives. News Five’s Janelle Chanona has the roundup from Belmopan.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
Among the highlights on the orders of the day were Opposition members’ questions to Ministers, which ranged from the oil industry to the latest in the buyout of Universal Health Services.
Dean Barrow, Leader of Opposition
“Will the Prime Minister say, as he had long ago promised, government has found a private sector person or entity to buy Universal Health Services Hospital and assume responsibility for its debt to the Belize Bank.”
Prime Minister Said Musa
“Madam Speaker, government is well advanced in its negotiations with a private sector group to take over the Universal Health Services Hospital and assume responsibility for its debt to the Belize Bank. We are confident that this matter will be finalized before the end of this year.”
Dean Barrow
“Will the Minister of Natural Resources say whether ZMT and BCH have signed the new p.s.a’s with the new rates that government said it would impose.”
Florencio Marin, Minister of Natural Resources
“Madam Speaker, the answer is no. The ministry’s legal department completed the paper work this very week. By next week we should be able to sign”
But things quickly got hot when the Prime Minister presented a motion seeking approval to sell three thousand acres of land on Ambergris Caye to the same South Korean investors who were interested in the Bacalar Chico Reserve.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“And whereas Caribbean Developers Belize Limited, a company organized and existing under the laws of Belize, herein after referred to as the company has expressed an interest in purchasing some three thousand acres of the same land for tourism related projects and has represented to the government that together with its development partners the company possesses the necessary resources and financial capability to achieve the said objectives and whereas after a careful consideration of all the offers received over the years for the development of north Ambergris, the offer made by the company is considered to be the most attractive and favourable to Belize.”
Dean Barrow
“This is absolutely and utterly unsatisfactory. It’s an insult to the intelligence of members of the House, certainly members on this side; I don’t know if those over there are sheep, and it is also an insult to the people of Belize.”
“How dare the Prime Minister come to House like that especially, I am saying again in this climate of suspicion where he and his Minister of Natural Resources have been presiding over the wholesale give away of national land to cronies including reserve national lands. How in that climate, two or three months before and election, when in any event serious questions have to be asked about the legitimacy of their wanting to sell three thousand acres of land in the first place. I don’t know if these people don’t realize it, you are a lame duck administration, you are on your way out.”
Prime Minister Said Musa
“If there is mistrust on their part, and there seems to be, they can always see the agreement for sale when it’s signed with the description clearly spelt out. In other words Madam Speaker the law requires us to get at the approval of this honourable House, that’s the way it is worded, before we agree to sell, before we can finalize the sale. That is the law and that is what we are complying with today.”
“The point, Madam Speaker, is this that we are talking here about less than one seventh of the land that was acquired by the government. Now we are hearing that it’s premium location when in the past when Social Security was buying this, I think it was three thousand acres or there about, they on the very same issue, very same land because it’s all one big parcel of land were saying its’ all swamp. They went on the television calling it swamp land and the fact of the matter we all know that it is mangrove land, yes. There is no beach frontage involved in this sale.”
The debate would eventually come to the day’s first divisional vote…
…and in approval at a sale price of twelve million dollars.
The second bill that caused contention was amendments to the Credit Unions Act.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“Madam Speaker, I rise to introduce a bill for an act to amend the Credit Unions Act, Chapter 314 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2003 to provide for better administration of credit unions.”
While the Government contended that the changes were to better regulate the credit unions, the Opposition alleged that the law was being changed to suit the ruling party’s interests in the country’s second largest credit union. The bill would go through all three readings today and also included a divisional vote.
Elizabeth Zabaneh, Speaker of the House
“There are fifteen Is, there are seven no’s and there are seven people absent who were not able to voice there vote so in this case I believe the Is have it.”
But the Opposition wasn’t backing down from their take on the issue.
Dean Barrow
“This is not a bill, the principle object of which is to regulate the credit union movement in this country in the national interest. This is a bill that has been brought to this House with one specific purpose, to frustrate the membership of the Saint Francis Xavier Credit Union and to put Mr. Vicente Canul firmly in his place.”
“This credit union is a credit union that’s farmers – they’ve wrecked the D.F.C. – so it is has always been a kind of mainstay in the north but it is of special importance theses days when there is no other line of credit accessible to small people who can’t deal with the bank. But they are in one fail swoop insuring that unless Canul and the members of the supervisory committee and the general membership are brought to heel, unless Canul and the members of the supervisory committee and the general membership bow down and worship before them they will have the Registrar say that the current situation is such as to potentially jeopardize the stability of the credit union and have him appoint an administrator and that administrator need not be from the league. Under the law that they are passing Mr. Campbell, the Governor of the Central Bank, can appoint whom he please; it may be in the league, it may be somebody else. And if we know this government when deh done tek over the people deh credit union deh probably wah appoint some crony do be administrator. Deh wah get after the people deh forty add million dollars in assets and the six million dollars in the bank. You are sick! You come here, you di violate the constitution, you are opposing yourself to will of the people when your government is on its last legs, when it’s a last gasp government. Respect the people of…Madam Speaker there is going to be trouble in Corozal, there is going to be trouble in Corozal. These people have indicated they are not going to stand idly by and allow this thing to happen.”
Vildo Marin, Area Rep., Corozal Bay
“We must put some kind of stability in the Saint Francis Credit Union. As it is today there is no stability. Many people that I know, many of my constituents have approached me to say that they will take out their savings that they have. And I have been encouraging them and I want to use this forum to encourage members who have money saved in the credit union not to take out their monies from their savings; to keep it there because we need to keep the credit union growing strong.”
While the Government would eventually decide to leave out the compulsory membership in the credit union league, the P.M. maintained there was no truth to any conspiracy theory.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“The Leader of Opposition, being a roby rouser that he is, is going so far as to suggest that there is a conspiracy afoot here; that the government wants to get its hand on the peoples money in Saint Francis Credit Union, that is what he is saying. Madam Speaker this is the level of dirty politics that we have come to in this country, such blatant hate-filled, ill-conceived, deceptive type of politics. That is the politics you may practice Leader of the Opposition, I am not interested in that kind of politics. We gonna beat you anyway…[crowd shouting “call the election”]…we gonna call it, have no fear we gonna call it. Obviously Madam Speaker the whole tenure and thrust of this bill the government or no member on this side of the House has anything to gain from it politically or otherwise.”
The other bill to be passed in the House today was for greater protection of domestic violence victims.
Reporting for News Five, I am Janelle Chanona.
