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Public Service Minister, Henry Charles Usher, the plan to modernize Belize’s Public Service will focus on building a more efficient and properly managed public service. It will support expenditure controls, workforce planning, digital transformation, data analysis and improvements to human-resource management. The Ministry of the Public Service and Disaster Risk Management will serve as the executing agency. The Minister explained how the financing will be used and what the modernization effort is expected to deliver.
Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Public Service: “This loan motion which I dare say, Mr. Speaker, can be transformational for the Belize public service but it will be transformational if we are able to get the work done and that is why it will take both sides of this honorable house to work together to get this work done. I say that, Mr. Speaker, because this project will have the least impact in terms of this particular administration. This project will take a couple of years to be completed so the results will not be seen until future administrations. And that is why we need to work together. We need to make sure, as the Leader of the Opposition said that the results that we want to achieve achieved are achieved. The civil service modernization project, this represents a significant milestone in the Government of Belize’s efforts to modernize the public service and strengthen human resource management. This project actually started back, or the concept for this project, was actually discussed in 2024, November of 2024 almost two years ago. This project finally came into fruition in 2025 and the proposal was sent to the IDB earlier this year and we’re happy that in June of this year the IDB officially approved this project. It supports the government’s broader public sector modernization efforts and its digital transformation agenda. It focuses on improving public sector efficiency while strengthening fiscal sustainability. More importantly, it is a comprehensive reform initiative that will modernize how the government manages its workforce and delivers public service. Mr Speaker, why is this project needed? This project addresses several long-standing challenges within the public service. Number one, annual expenditures on personnel continue to exceed original budget estimates, placing pressure on government finances. Number two, there are significant variances in compensation among similar job categories affecting consistency and equity. Mr. Speaker, there are many instances that create this anomaly and we don’t have to going to detail today, but we have discussed this with public officers, we have discussed these anomalies with the Public Service Union, with our partners so that we can gain consensus on how to move forward. The third reason why this project is needed, Mr. Speaker, is because there still remains weaknesses in enforcing policies and implementing effective control system. One of those weaknesses identified is that there is not an integrated human resource information system. There is no integrated system, Mr Speaker, and that system is not even linked, and we have to get it linked to the financial management information system so that these two systems, these two digital systems can start communicating with each other and putting in place the necessary guardrails that we need to put in place.”
The IDB loan will be disbursed over five years and carries a twenty-five-year term, including a sixty-six-month grace period before the first principal payment. It will be repaid through thirty-nine semi-annual instalments of approximately two hundred and five thousand US dollars each. Interest will be calculated using a SOFR-based rate. Leader of the Opposition Tracy Panton, however, raised concerns about the Government taking on another loan. While not dismissing the need to modernize the public service, Panton called for greater transparency regarding the project, its expenditure and the results taxpayers should expect.
Tracy Panton, Leader of the Opposition: “Modernization is therefore a principle we support. The issue, however, is whether there are adequate safeguards in place and whether the Belizean people can be assured that this investment will deliver measurable results, whether this investment will deliver value for money, a conversation, a robust conversation we’re now having in the public domain. Mr. Speaker, as I said before, every loan motion that comes before this House, represents an obligation that the Belizean people must repay. That is why parliamentary scrutiny is not, in our view, a procedural exercise. It is a constitutional responsibility.”
The loan motion states that the project should help the Government control personnel costs, improve workforce planning and ensure that public funds are used more efficiently./
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