3 weeks ago
18
The National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB) is raising fresh concerns over government contracts linked to members of the Mira family, following reports that the family’s businesses received more than ten million dollars in payments over the past four years.
The issue has drawn public attention because former Minister of State in the Ministry of National Defence and Border Security, Oscar Mira, held responsibility in the ministry during the period when the contracts were being issued. Records now being reviewed show that multiple members of the Mira family were among suppliers receiving payments connected to the ministry. NTUCB President Ella Waight had initially acknowledged that in a small country like Belize, where business and family connections often overlap, it can be difficult to completely avoid contracting someone related to a public official. But Waight says the scale of the payments now being revealed, involving several members of the same family, has changed the discussion. She says the level of greed reflected in the situation is unacceptable and raises serious questions about how public contracts were being managed.
Ella Waight, President, NTUCB: “So when we see the perception, and I will use the word perception because I’m very careful we do not have the results of the investigation yet but it’s perception of nepotism, the perception of not having proper controls, of circumventing processes to have family members through many years, via many years, not just one year but many years getting contracts. It is concerning because we cannot waste the little we have. I am a realist and I will be very clear to say it can…. because Belize is so small. Many of us are related to other people, related to business persons, related to persons who provide services and products. It is a reality that some ministers may be related to persons who receive contracts. That’s just the reality. But it should not be that your family members are the only ones getting contracts. Your family members are getting these contracts year after year after year. That should not be the case. There are other persons in this country who can provide the same service and same products as they would or they could. The proverbial pie is very small. You must ensure that there as much people who benefit from the hard work of this country, meaning they think products that they grow, vegetables, fruits, whatever it may be, animal meat, whatever it may be, that they also benefit from the hard work that they put into their life too. So that is a concern that it is the evidence that has come out is that one family has been benefiting year after year after year and that should not have been the case.”
Waight says the labour movement has repeatedly called for greater transparency and for unions and other independent groups to have a role in oversight when public spending and procurement decisions are being made. She says that kind of participation could help identify concerns earlier and build greater public confidence in the process. But according to Waight, those proposals have not received a response from the authorities.
Ella Waight, President, NTUCB: “Now when it comes to the paying out under the $10,000, as we mentioned before, it may not have been illegal, but it was not right. It was not good accounting practices. It should not have happened. If a contract is for $250,000 and you get that payment in four payments then that should have shown that you got four payments that, you know, to make up that $250,000 not 50 payments of $10,000. It seems like it was a process to not have certain processes happen to not allow for a complete assessment of what was being paid. And that is our concern and that has to change. So what we have heard from the prime minister is of changes that will happen but because of the trust that I think Belizans don’t have in the government service.”
We will have more from the NTUCB in future news reports as the union prepares to celebrate 60 years of unionism./
English (US) ·