SCALES OF JUSTICE “Who will tell the people I am wrong?” By anthony sylvestre In Season 2 Episode 5 of the HBO mini-series ROME, the young Caesar (Octavian), having emerged victorious over Mark Antony in the battle for control of Rome, convenes a meeting of the Senate (the equivalent of our National Assembly). At the meeting, he proposes a motion which will ensure that he will consolidate power and become the absolute ruler of Rome. It is a motion which the members of the Senate is naturally displeased with, for it evinces once and for all, that Octavian’s campaign to “save Rome” was a sham and a pretext, used merely as a ploy to win over the people. Octavian though is shrewd. He anticipates opposition and so, even before any Senator is inclined to show opposition, he strikes. He asks them, who will tell his soldiers that the motion is wrong. At this point, soldiers storm into the Senate Chamber with their swords ready to be un-sheated. “Who,” Octavian repeats, “will speak against the motion?” At this point, the Senate becomes quiet. There is not one voice of dissent. The style of rule of the man who is our prime minister is similar to the character Caesar Octavian. For after having been caught with his hands in the proverbial cookie jar (this refers to when a person takes something without first asking permission); after having committed flagrant breaches of the Finance and Audit (Reform) Act of 2005 and thus a criminal offence, the Prime Minister of Belize, in response to his critics (in particular the Opposition) will now try to intimidate all into submission. Barrow has called a House Meeting for Tuesday the 18th November, 2014, at which time he will move the second reading of a Petro-Caribe Loan Motion. Unless you have sleeping under a rock for the past month, you would have become well attuned of this “petro-caribe” loan that everyone is talking about. It relates to a loan agreement that Dean Barrow in secrecy and without authority entered into with Venezuela in September of 2012. No one, except for him and those close to him, know the terms and conditions of this loan agreement. In early October, he tabled the Petro-Caribe Loan Motion in the House. It was at this time that Belizeans were being told of the mindboggling depths of this loan agreement. In the loan motion it was revealed that between fiscal years 2012-2013, 2013-2014, and up to August, 2014 of fiscal year 2014-2015, the Government of Belize collected BZ $36,062,772; BZ $152,662,031; BZ $39,889908.00 totaling BZ $228,614,711.00. That is a whole lot of money- almost quarter of a billion dollars. And as has been said before, no one, except for Barrow and those close to him, knew of this. And even more sinister, he has been spending this money without authority, approval and accounting for it. These actions have been in direct contravention of the Finance and Audit (Reform) Act of 2005; a law which was passed back in April of 2005 (at the Unions, Civil Society and the Chamber of Commerce insistence) to provide for better regulating of public revenue and expenditure. The Act at section 7(2) firstly states that a loan above 10 million shall only be validly entered into by way of a resolution of the National Assembly authorizing the Government of Belize to borrow the money. This wasn’t done. Further, no one knows who signed the loan agreement documents, but it has to be hazard that it was either the Prime Minister as Minister of Finance, or the Financial Secretary. Secondly, section 7(8) of the Act further required that within three months of the Government receiving monies borrowed, it was to publish in the Gazette the date of the loan, the amount of the loan, the parties to the loan, the purpose of the loan, and the terms and conditions of the loan. This again has never been done and thus the reason no one, except for Barrow and those around him, knew any details of the loan or the amount that has been collected, until it was first revealed on the 2nd October, 2014 (25 months after the Government has borrowed and start spending the monies). There therefore have been complete breaches of these sections of the Act and a complete betrayal of the intent and spirit of these laws when Barrow and his Government entered into a loan agreement which had (up to August, 2014) indebted the country in the sum of at least BZ $228,614,711.00 (since interest has not been calculated). But here’s the thing. A further section in the Act (section 24), makes it a criminal offence for any person to contravene the Finance and Audit (Reform) Act. This means, that Barrow or whoever signed the Petro Caribe loan agreement in September, 2012, and all those persons who have been facilitating the spending of the “petro-caribe” monies up to date (which certainly will include Barrow as Minister of Finance and the Financial Secretary), are guilty of a criminal offence. For they have/are facilitating the unauthorized spending of public monies in contravention of section 7(2) of the Finance and Audit (Reform) Act. But so too would all those Ministers of Government who have been using the “petro-caribe” monies in their constituencies. This is a very, very serious matter. The Commissioner of Police and Director of Public Prosecution (who are responsible for the investigation and prosecution of crimes respectively) need to do their job here. The Commissioner of Police in March of this year in the Penner criminal matter was reminded by the Chief Justice that he has a duty to investigate all crimes and that he cannot cherry pick which crime he will and will not investigate. Once there is credible information regarding the commission of a criminal offence, the Commissioner and the Police Department must act. So, faced with this obvious legal predicament then, Barrow is seeking to pass a motion in the House on the 18th November to ratify the unauthorized borrowing and spending that has already occurred. That of course, cannot cure the crimes that would have been committed. And further, so as to push back his critics, and possibly the Commissioner of Police and Director of Public Prosecution, Barrow is summoning up all his supporters to attend the House Meeting on the 18th November, 2014 to show solidarity and support for him, no doubt using some of the same petro-caribe monies to pay and bus his supporters to Belmopan. And like Octavian Caesar, it is expected that at the House Meeting on the 18th November, Barrow will use that stage to intimidate all of Belize and say: “Who will tell all these people I am wrong?” These are extremely dangerous times for Belize. When a Prime Minister breaks the laws of the land, knows that he is liable to criminal prosecution and seeks to use intimidation to beat back his critics who expose his wrongs that country is officially a dictatorship. This is where Belize is just about in November, 2014: no justice; no right or wrong, just the way of Dean Barrow. Belizeans, we must act now to save our country lest there will be none soon.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 23:17:30 +0000
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