3 weeks ago
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Prime Minister John Briceño has described the procurement practices now under scrutiny at the Ministry of National Defence and Border Security as a case that goes against the principles of good governance. Briceño made the comments while addressing the People’s United Party National Party Council in Dangriga on Saturday. The Prime Minister was referring to the Mira procurement matter, which has raised questions over payments and invoices linked to suppliers who are all family members of former Minister Oscar Mira. While he did not dwell extensively on the issue during his address, Briceño acknowledged that the concerns surrounding the procurement process are serious. He told party members that he is confident his administration acted swiftly after the matter came to light, including by ordering an audit and making changes within the ministry.
John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: “Now I know for the past few weeks we have seen and we’ve heard of many things that seem contrary to our values and so far the problems at the BDF concerning the procurement of goods are not in line with the commitment to good governance. But because we remain committed to zero tolerance and corruption we have acted. Unlike Dean Barrow, remember when Penner was giving out all of those nationalities and passports ? Remember Citizen Kim who was in a jail in, was it South Korea or Taiwan, he was in a jail all the way over there and this man gave a passport to this, Penner, and what did Dean Barrow do ? He did nothing. Actually he gave this man , he rewarded him with thousands of acres of land in Mountain Pine Ridge. We could remember John Saldivar. Everybody knew what was happening with John Saldivar and it’s only when the Americans stepped in that he decided to act on John Saldivar. Let’s not even start to talk about Gaspar Vega and lands in this country. That Bowen and Bowen came out with a special beer they called it LandShark. I heard they were naming it Land Shark after Gaspar Vega because this man was trying to take all of the land. That is the difference between the UDP and the PUP. We are going to act because we are always going to stand on the side of the Belizean people.”
The audit into the Ministry of Defence procurement remains ongoing and is going far back to 2015 when John Saldivar was the Ministry of Defence
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