CEO Explains Different Meal Arrangements for BDF and Coast Guard

Questions are being raised over meal allowances for members of the Belize Coast Guard after personnel were reportedly informed today that they would not receive a per diem that they believed had been approved for both the Coast Guard and the Belize Defence Force.  According to information reaching Love News, Coast Guard personnel were advised by the Ministry’s Chief Executive Officer, Francis Usher, and Coast Guard Commandant Rear Admiral Gregory Soberanis that the payment would not be made to them.  The information reportedly caused concern among some members, who believed the allowance had been presented as a benefit that would apply across both security forces. They are now seeking clarification on whether the Coast Guard was ever included, what the approved policy actually provides and whether the arrangement applies only to BDF soldiers.  Love News contacted CEO Usher, who explained what is taking place and sought to clarify the difference between the meal arrangements for the two security forces.

Francis Usher, CEO, Ministry of National Defence: “I’m glad you’re giving me the opportunity to clarify it. So when everything, like I said started to bubble over we started to look at different proposals, different options, what we could do. And one of the options was one that is not original to me. I’ll tell you the truth. It’s what most developed countries do with their militaries which is feeding per diem and then the soldiers themselves have the spending power to be able to choose what they want in terms of meals and who is operational or operationally deployed to a remote area is given an MRE. Now, this is a proposal that we started to run the numbers and see if it could work. Then I began to dialogue with the BDF, with the Coast Guard and Admiral Sobrenis said well because of the manner in which we operate for the Coast Guard we are still able to take our fresh rations to deployed locations because we load the boat at Coast Guard base and we offload it at our forward operating base. We don’t need to walk anywhere. We’re not in a remote location. We have access to a kitchen everywhere we go. So fresh rations work for us. In the case of the BDF they were receiving fresh rations but they were also receiving a lot of canned goods. So the MRE option does work for them. So what we did was we bought the amount of MREs needed and then we realized, okay how can we get a good feeding allowance for the soldiers? And we started to run the numbers and we are able to provide the soldiers, now prior to that, the daily entitlement for food was $13.50 per soldier per day. And that’s how we kind of distributed all of the different rations, all of the different ingredients. We were able to get that up to $17 per soldier per day regardless of whether you’re deployed or not and you will receive that. So if you’re on camp you will now have that money available to be able to buy your meals. For the soldiers that work on camps they typically commute so they can eat at home in the morning, eat at home in the evenings and they have the $17 available. Additionally, you work, the typical rotation is 14 days on, 5 days off. So you’re home for at least one week out of every month. Also, if you’re operationally deployed you are still receiving the $17 a day as well as receiving an MRE for the deployment. Now we were able to do that because we’re utilizing the funds that were already approved and available within the recurrent budget for the fresh rations that we’re buying. In the case of the Coast Guard we have to continue to buy the fresh rations so it would have required us to either get a supplemental or budget for it properly the next financial year, which is what we chose to do. The Coast Guard will receive their feeding per diem just that it will be rolled out in April when we budgeted for it properly.”

Reporter: So essentially it’s nothing close to what is being reported. 

Francis Usher, CEO, Ministry of National Defence: “Nothing close. That’s complete mischief. Complete.”

Ceo Usher says that the members of both agencies are being informed of the process in order to prevent the spread of misinformation.