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Cabinet says it is looking to strengthen Belize’s public procurement framework. This week, it directed that a comprehensive overhaul of the country’s procurement regulations be fast-tracked in the wake of growing scrutiny over government payment practices. Cabinet announced that it examined the existing Government Procurement Rules and concluded that the ongoing review of the Procurement Rules, along with the Financial Orders of 1965 and the Stores Orders of 1968, must now be accelerated. As a result, Cabinet has instructed that new draft Procurement Rules be presented for its consideration within the next three months. The decision comes against the backdrop of the controversy surrounding Minister Oscar Mira, following revelations that millions of dollars in government contracts and payments were awarded to businesses connected to his siblings and other relatives. The matter has also raised questions about payment patterns that appeared to bypass established financial oversight thresholds. Earlier this week, Financial Secretary Joseph Waight acknowledged that officials had identified concerning trends in the manner payments were processed. While emphasizing that the payment system was intentionally designed to promote accountability and transparency, Waight said the transactions uncovered during the review were not consistent with how the system was intended to operate.
Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary: “It appears from what we see that there was a deliberate effort to fragment payments, break them down to below. But I’ll wait to see what the audit reveals. But sure enough, certainly it doesn’t look good. In my view, I think what happened is that either somebody dropped a ball, fell asleep, or worse they are moving together on it. Every ministry has an accounting section, some have big ones like health for instance or you know, we have a small one at the ministry of finance because we make a few payments a day, maybe a dozen or so. We’re not in that, but some ministries have a lot and therefore there’s quite a bit of volume. And then of course on top of the finance officer you have the accounting officer and the accounting officer should really take time and look at how the money is flowing through the system. If you see a whole lot of payments going through it should have raised an alarm and should have raised an eyebrow. It looks as if there was some willful intention to dodge, it looks to me. I’ll wait to see what the audit says but on the surface it doesn’t look correct.”
Cabinet’s directive gives officials three months to complete the draft reforms before they are returned for final consideration./
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