The Development Finance Corporation, it went from its perch atop the
commanding heights of the economy to the abysmal depths of insolvency, while
being forced to also endure the ignominy of a commission of inquiry. But while
the politicized mismanagement brought the management and operation of the DFC
into disrepute and disarray, no one argues that Belize needs a Development Bank.
And the Caribbean Development Bank agreed. That’s why it agreed to provide
25 million dollars as seed funding for a new, re-born DFC.
Now that’s not much considering that in just a single day in
its inglorious past, the DFC disregarded all controls and disbursed 30 million
dollars to the Novelo’s group. But that won’t happen with this new
DFC, first because it doesn’t have that kind of money and second because
the control of the Board of Directors no longer rests with government appointed
directors. Both sides of the House agreed with the new model today at the House
of Representatives when the DFC Bill of 2008 was presented.
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
“And we have all felt keenly, very keenly since then the absence of
a micro-credit, small and micro-credit development financing window. The Caribbean
Development Bank which has agreed to provide an initial $20 million. It is not
much Mr. Speaker when we think of the way in which the last administration gave
their friends $30 million one day. It is not much but this will seed the restart
of the DFC and CDB has agreed but they concur with us in feeling that a restarted
DFC must have the kind of legislative guarantees that will ensure that it does
not go back down the road to perdition.
What the Bill is doing is to in particular provide for a strengthened Board
of Directors for the DFC so that the Minister will appoint but in the majority,
those appointees will actually be the 
appointees of various independent organizations.
The majority of the Board will be these appointees of the independent organizations
and therefore the control of the board will vest in these independent entities.”
Hon. Johnny Briceno, PUP Leader
“I think maybe it is time for the government to consider, and not
only for the DFC but for all other important statutory bodies, in also allowing
the Opposition to name a member on the board because also the opposition, and
even when they were on this side of the House they still represented quite a
large number of people; almost 40% of the voters. So I think we’ve come
to the time where maybe the Prime Minister and the government should consider
also inviting the opposition on the board. But certainly Mr. Speaker I want
to congratulate the government in presenting this bill and I certainly will
be supporting this.”
Hon. Dean Barrow,
“You still don’t get it. How on earth can you ask to have a
representative of the People’s United Party placed on the DFC Board? And
it is not just that given that you were the ones responsible for the DFC’s
destruction that nobody in his right mind would ever contemplate putting you
on the revived board, it is that as you know the whole idea is to de-politicize
the DFC board because of the way you completely politicized it and wrecked it.
How dare you ask for a political appointment on the board. It shows you haven’t
gotten it. I don’t know when you will ever get it.”
The DFC Board is made up of nine persons, five of them are independent
appointments form the Chamber of Commerce, The Bar Association, the Association
of Chartered Accountants, the Association of Tertiary Level Institutions, and
the Credit Union League. The three public officers are the Financial secretary,
and the CEOs in the Ministry of Economic Development and Agriculture. The Minister
of Finance will also appoint the chairperson. And to bolsters the $25 million
in seed funding, government has also intended that it intends to ask Social
Security to invest in DFC operations with a projected return greater than that
which their fixed deposits are earning in the commercial banks.
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