Shortly after acknowledging the Speaker’s concerns that the Area Reps were violating the social distancing best-practices with this House Meeting, the Prime Minister jumped straight into the important House business that prompted the sitting. His only extended remarks for the day was an announcement that he and the other ministers of government are taking a pay cut. He added that these deducted salaries would become part of the 25 million-dollar relief fund that is being set up for the tourism stakeholders who are hurting because all international travel around the world has stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here are those remarks:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister
"There are still no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our country. We appear to be the last one standing, certainly in Central America, and some people say in the entire hemisphere. We want to keep it that way, and accordingly, the leader of the Opposition and I have convened a meeting of the oversight committee for tomorrow. We would have done it today, except we needed to get through the budget, especially since it is going to contain the additional allocation for the 25 million dollars that we are borrowing in order to charter the relief fund. I merely wanted to say, Madam Speaker, that Belizeans ought to expect - without pre-empting the decisions that the oversight committee will make tomorrow - Belizeans certainly ought to expect a ramping up of the measures that we have already signalled, as we make a desperate effort to keep Belize free from COVID-19. Madam Speaker, we’re all being called upon to make sacrifices at this time. And accordingly, as a small gesture, but every little bit will help, even a widow’s might, I want to announce that all ministers have agreed to forego 1-month’s salary, having that amount go instead to the fund that’s going to be chartered for the relief effort. In my own cases, I will take no further salaries and allowances from the Government for the rest of the period during which we’re dealing with this emergency. I want to call on CEO’s of statutory bodies, on the chair of the Boards of Directors of statutory bodies on, on the CEOs and Chairs of the majority government-owned utility companies - that is BEL, BTL, and BWSL - to join with others in offering a gesture of sacrifice, whether they would agree to take some monthly cut in salary, or whether they want to do an all-at-once thing, I certainly believe that as critical leaders, they ought to join in trying to set an example and indicating to the people who will be especially squeezed, the people at the margins, that we are certainly prepared to do our little bit to assist."
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