The Senate met today in Belmopan to debate the DFC Bill of 2008. For
Senator Godwin Hulse, it’s an important piece of legislation to examine
closely – particularly so for him because he basically did a post mortem
on the last DFC when he chaired the Senate Special Committee’s inquiry
into wrongdoings at the Social Security Board. And while at Friday’s House
Meeting, the Prime Minister sang the praises for the controls built into the
bill, for Hulse, it’s not enough, because there are no penalties imposed
for wrongdoings. In an hour long presentation, he went through the bill point
by point today. One of his biggest concerns was the lack of a provision for
adequate collateral which he said led to serious problems in the past.
Godwin Hulse, Senator
“It fails where the collateral is concerned and the whap that we got
in DFC was purely a collateral whap. Purely and completely and unequivocally
a collateral whap where every single project was uncollateralized and we couldn’t
recover. You can list all of them, down the line, $517 million basically written
off because of poor collateral. That found its way in the superbond, that is
what we are paying back. And so I have a proposal: the proposal is that the
private sector entity or the statutory body which will be the recipient of the
loan shall have the financial ability to make repayments in respect of the loan
and has offered adequate collateral valued conservatively to satisfy the outstanding
balance of the loan and any interest accrued.
Let us not repeat the Novelo’s issue where, ‘oh unu tek all
a mi building, unu only get six or seven million but if unu mi left me with
it fi work I would earn the money and pay back and so and so and personally
I don’t have nothing your honor, even the shirt off mi back deh gaan with
but I have a lovely big bus company with fifty odd bus di run north to south.’
Please man, but we got the thirty million plus interest to pay. That is the
whap I am trying to protect against.”
Hulse also lamented that the regulations governing the board’s
and management’s conduct are not law – which he sees to be a loophole
because for politicians playing fast and loose, regulations are easy to circumvent.
Godwin Hulse,
“These regulations must be law and must find themselves in the act
and this is the only way the Belizean people can be satisfied that in fact they
are going to be safe, finally safe. What we need there Madam President is a
Bit Defender, is a McAfee, is a 1Care – is a serious firewall to block
any Trojan, any worm, and any virus that goes into the DFC. That is what you
need so it zaps it in its bud and so I make the following suggestions. This
is the part, this is the part Madam President that I need in there. Listen carefully,
listen carefully: any director, manager, or officer of the corporation who fails
to carry out in a diligent manner the regulations regarding the lending or disbursing
of the corporation’s fund and by virtue of any willful act of his part
or neglect of his duties causes the corporation to suffer loss, shall be guilty
of an offense and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not less than
the amount of the loss suffered by the corporation including accrued interest
or to a term of imprisonment, listen, not to exceed sixty months or to both
fine and imprisonment. That is the firewall.”
And, for good measure, Hulse also criticized the composition of the
board – particularly the fact that the Chairman is appointed by the Minister
of Finance and the General Manager needs the Minister’s approval for his
appointment. Hulse said that history has shown the Minister needs only a few
friends in the right places to make things happen.
Godwin Hulse,
“The Chairman is going to be a so called private sector person that
the Minister will appoint and the General Manager is also going to be a person
that the Minister shall approve of his appointment. We know Belize, nobody will
brakes the Minister. Me nuh care which Minister, you laugh behind his back and
say all he can do is crack pepitos but he is Mr. Minister and when he says Jack
it is Jack you will get or you will resign, not Jack. So you will get Mr. Glen
Godfrey and Mr. Troy Gabb and a Mr. Fonseca and then Mr. Gabb will put the Board
papers and you will have this barrage of private non-government employees. You
had it under the last board too. You had four private and three government so
that’s nothing novel. You had four and three, they sat right there and
Mr. Troy Gabb put things and the other one put things and Mr. Godfrey sanctioned
it and the Minister says all honky dorey and $517 million dollars we are paying
back. Not good. We should not have the government Ministers controlling the
head of the policy unit and the head of operations. It makes no sense.”
In responding to Senator Hulse – Leader of government business
in the Senate Senator Douglas Singh argued that with five board members from
private bodies including the Bar Association, the Chamber of Commerce and the
Association of Tertiary Level Institutions, the controls are sufficient. He
underscored that the Minister only gets one appointment and that is the chairman.
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