San Pedro Daily
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Ambergris Caye, Belize 7/7/07 Belize's only Daily- Seven Days a Week |
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PM
Musa says DFC Commission has “failed to produce”
Prime
Minister Said
Musa appointed
the Commission of Inquiry into the Development Finance Corporation
(DFC) in March 2005, and after overcoming much resistance from the very
management of the DFC in opening its books to the Commission, the
Commission was finally able to proceed, coming public with its first
hearing in August 2006. These sessions have done much to inform the
general public on the inner workings of the DFC, and the nature of some
major transactions that were made using millions of dollars in public
funds. But since March—when the legal challenges to the Commission by
some of these borrowers heightened—the hearings have migrated away from
the public domain and become confined behind closed doors, while two
major borrowers who have been summoned have yet to testify.
The end
result has been
mounting
questions from a curious public about what has been happening with the
Commission: why there have been no more public hearings and when
something definitive will come out of it.
On
Wednesday, a caller
to the Love
FM morning show asked Prime Minister Said Musa about the Commission’s
progress. The Prime Minister charged, in his response, that “they’ve
failed to produce” and that there is a political game being played in
which the Commission will be dragged out to the very date of elections.
Musa
said that the
public hearings are finished, and he cannot understand why the DFC
Commission has not produced a report.
He
asserted that he has
the power
to end the inquiry, but he will not do so because Belizeans want to
know what, if anything, went wrong with the DFC, and where it went
wrong.
The
Prime Minister has
repeatedly
urged the Commission to bring things to a close; however, the
Commission has begged for more time, arguing that it wants to do as
thorough a job as possible.
Via a
statutory
instrument dated
last December, the Prime Minister had ordered the DFC Commission to
wrap up by January 23, 2006.
On
November 10, 2005,
Musa had
written to the Commission asking them to wrap up in a month. At the
time, the former chairman, David Price was hospitalized.
Price
died in December
2005, just
before the PM’s S.I. appointing the remaining commissioners – Merlene
Bailey-Martinez and Justice Herbert Lord – as co-chairs. That same S.I.
told the Commission to end its work by Jan. 23.
At press
time, we have
been unable
to get a comment from the Commission on the Prime Minister’s
statements; however, we have been advised that we should expect an
update from the secretariat shortly.
If the
Commission were
to wrap up
its work now, it would have to do without testimonies from Novelos
Holdings Ltd., which had borrowed $30 million from the DFC, and Dr.
Victor Lizarraga, the main principal of UHS, for which the DFC had
approved up to $28 million in financing. The Commission still intends
to hear from both these parties, as they believe their testimonies are
integral to the understanding of the DFC’s financial dealings with them.
There have been threats
from some
of the parties involved with the DFC loans that even after the
Commission files its final report, the work of the Commission will be
challenged in the court room. Already, the Novelos have filed a legal
challenge against the Commission, more specifically, challenging the
appointment and report of forensic auditor, Mark Hulse. Hulse was
appointed early
December
2006; he submitted his report in February of this year, and the
Commission does intend to include his audit in their final report.
Read More NOTICES/LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
I
do
not believe in curfews, they frankly are too draconian. The problem is
not the
kid playing in front of the house or even the one running to the store
to buy
Boledo or fry chicken for their parent. Kids are not committing crimes
just
because they are out on the street. Kids congregate and therefore
policing of
kids is easier than policing of adult criminals. When was the last time
you saw
a single kid hanging out waiting to commit mischief?
There is a law on the books today that the police and politicians use to handle protests that can just as easily be used to arrest congregated kids. The law stipulates, if I remember correctly, that no more than three people can gather as a group in a public area without a gathering/protest permit. That does not punish all for the sake of a few and does not take away the privileges of any beyond what currently exists. And even better, it can be applied during the day as well. How many of us spent our youth on the streets? Were we all criminals? What percentage would you say was committing crime? We sit and reminisce about our culture and then we try to sanitize the environment for our kids to a point where it becomes so bland that they then look for the adrenaline rush of doing wrong. Children need to be a part of something – religion, sports, club, family – something. I agree that the most important element in the control of crimes by underage individuals is the parents. So the solution somehow lies with the parents. If I understand correctly, the Belize Police Department intends to solve this issue by arresting underage people who are out past 8:00 pm. Then they will fine the parent. What does that accomplish? Which parent will they fine? The biological mom or dad - or the sister, aunt, or grandmother they live with? In the case of 16 and 17 year olds some no longer live with a parent or guardian, who is arrested and fined then? Frankly, I have all but given up on a generation and look towards helping those who are underage. We must accept that parents of some of today’s youth have failed and there is no changing that. So we must step in and educate those kids who are lacking. Playing horseshoe or bowling will not cut it in today’s youth world. However, more rigorous sports still work as does anything competitive, including hip-hop performances and dance competitions. Provide an environment where the kids can dance, can sing, can perform to their music, their plays, their global culture – supervised and drug and alcohol free. Create sporting events for different age groups and award prizes. Of course we’ll need the venues but that is relatively cheap in the grand scheme of Belize government finance. Again, have these facilities supervised by sports coordinators/sponsors/counselors/social directors. Make the kids belong to something besides the pseudo Crips gangs they emulate from TV. The worst step is to continue what they see is happening in the US and create an us-versus-them scenario of curfews. See the world from the eyes of Belize’s youth and you see a crazy, conflicting, blend of hopelessness, despair, and desperation. Talk to Belize’s youth and you hear their subtle cries for hope. Give them hope, give them opportunity, give them solutions – don’t punish them for their parents’ failures. Jorge Varela varela@btl.net THOUGHT
OF THE DAY
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