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The board of SATIIM, the Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management met today with Prime Minister Dean Barrow and Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar Vega. That means that Prime Minister Dean Barrow and SATIIM’s Executive Director Greg Choq had a face to face. They’ve been at odds recently and ahead of today’s meeting – yesterday Choq went on the offensive.

Keith Swift Reporting,
These are the books - reports and plans which SATIIM says are proof that it has complied with its co-management agreement with government for the Sarstoon Temash National Park.

Greg Choq, Executive Director- SATIIM
“The challenge that has been put on the table by the Ministry as a reason for the manoeuvres that they have engaged in is that we have not been in compliance and what we have here today basically is to provide evidence that we have meticulously fulfilled every obligation of our country.

The charge that we have not complied with the basic requirements of our contract or even the laws under which we are incorporated is bogus at best. Since the incorporation of SATIIM we have complied with the terms of our management agreement and the laws of Belize, including the NGO Act and the Companies Act Chapter 250. We further have been submitting these reports to the Ministry of Human Development and the Registry. Inside the annual report you will find certificates and letters from these government agencies affirming that SATIIM is in good standing.

I cannot comprehend why the Forest Department insists that we have sent only one letter to them. There must be total confusion at the department and I urge the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister to seriously look at the situation in the interest of the country.”

And that despite that salvo, Choq says it’s nothing personal – just business which is why he hopes government will seriously look at re-signing the management agreement.

Greg Choq,
“The Prime Minister has made public statements that, I am trying to recall the statement he has made on Wave Radio when I called in to engage a discussion with him, that he sees no other organization positioned to do the kind of work SATIIM has done under the condition that we’ve been asked to engage in these activities. We feel that we leave it to the people of this country, we leave it to the government to look at the work we have done and see if it merits them honouring those works that we have done.”

The contract expired in April of 2008 but Choq says his rangers continue to police the park. But more than that – he told the audience of roughly 100 Mayans from the 5 villages that surround the park that - the end of the contract won’t mean the end of SATIIM.

Greg Choq,
“It won’t affect the financial status of the organization. As I said, a lot of the communities that we are working with have, a lot of the programs that we have been involved with, have concentrated on the community development aspect. The issue of conservation or park management is that you can get 100 rangers to patrol the boundaries of the park but if you don’t have the kind of income to sustain their presence then the community that lives around the park will always infringe on those resources.

We don’t think that the cancellation of the management agreement is in fact going to demise the existence of SATIIM. The question of whether it will affect, I think that the communities that reside around the park have an interest, they would like to see the area managed. So I would like to leave it to the government, the Ministries.”

So how did the meeting between the PM, his deputy, and Choq go? Well despite the tough talk yesterday, this evening Choq told us it was quote “constructive and positive.” In fact it was so positive that Choq says there is a timetable of about two weeks for a provisional agreement for management of the park. The meeting included representatives from the Department of Environment and the Forestry Department.