N.T.U.C.B. willing to “discuss” with Prime Minister

The National Trade Union Congress of Belize has been having issues with government over a number of pressing national issues. The umbrella organization for the unions late this evening held a press conference at the University of the West Indies. The N.T.U.C.B. had three main issues on its agenda. Regarding the K.H.M.H. Commission of Inquiry, the congress was satisfied with the terms of reference that will guide the commissioners into their investigation about the practices into the procurement of pharmaceutical and medical supplies. Second on the agenda was the Venezuelan Housing Project. The Minister of Housing and Cabinet have rejected the N.T.U.C.B.’s desire to be one of the social partners on the project’s advisory committee. The N.T.U.C.B.’s General Secretary, Javier Roberts, says that there is at least eighteen million reasons why they should be given a place on the committee.

Javier Roberts, Gen. Secretary, N.T.U.C.B.
“We had five main concerns. One, what is the terms of reference for the different regional sub-committees, what is the selection criteria of the grants because initially what was a concern of the national committee. What is the audit process for the project? What are ht guidelines of the project? And fifth, the concern raised by the initial committee has also not been addressed and we also enclosed a copy of that along with our letter. This is how we had closed that correspondence. Should these and any other concerns be satisfactorily clarified then the N.T.U.C.B. will be more than willing to participate in this project. The N.T.U.C.B. views this program as vital in assisting the most needy and welcomes the level of participatory democracy being fostered by the government, but must emphasize that it needs to be a clear and unambiguous process so as to achieve accountability and transparency. We do admit our process was a bit lengthy and in retrospect, we could have shortened that process in order to expedite the nominations. But, nevertheless, we still remain with our position that we want to participate based on the decision criteria we made. In regards to our participation, like I said earlier, we are still willing to participate. The offer is still there. We have requested a meeting with the prime minister to discuss this among other issues and we hope that we do get an opportunity. First of all, the reason why we are still insisting that we want to participate is that there is the twenty million—well, depends on the maths that you do because a million was assigned to Marion Jones and a million was used for flood relief so technically we have eighteen million—and in his interview, the Minister of Housing mentioned that probably by now we could have spent about two point five million. So we cannot understand how the process is too far gone for us to participate and even as the name of the committee indicates, it’s an oversight committee, therefore, you are overseeing what is happening. So you can always go back and review what has happened and you can always have an input on what is to happen and we cannot understand why we are being denied the opportunity to be the watchdog, which the minister himself admits that he considers the N.T.U.C.B. and its affiliates; the watchdog against a government that has a majority in the House of Representatives.”

Jackie Willoughby, President P.S.U.
“As far as the issue of the Venezuelan housing money is concerned, there is absolutely no honesty in the fact that the Trade Union Congress said we do not want to participate. You see when government calls you to the table and they start the discussion, it seems to me that the discussion would say we have talked to the Trade Union Congress but they do not stop to say oh but the congress didn’t agree with how we were doing business. We are speaking about two point five million dollars—that is all that was spent. Eighteen million remains. You do not think that we can still get our calculators, add and check on that eighteen million dollars?”