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There was a Senate Meeting in Belmopan to follow up on last week's business in the House of Representatives, which included the passing of the budget for the next fiscal year, known as the General Revenue Appropriation Bill for 2020/2021.

You'll remember that during last week Thursday's House meeting, there was no debate, which was a rare - if not unprecedented - occurrence. The ruling Government and the Opposition decided that in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country has no time for political bickering on the floor of the House of Representatives. Viewers are also aware that this Bill also allowed the Barrow Government to seek parliamentary approval to get access to the first 25 million dollars in relief funds for all those Belizeans in the tourism sector who are out of a job because of the COVID-19.

We understood that the Senate would be conducted in the same way as the House, where the substantive debate would be suspended for exigency reasons. But, the Opposition Senators didn't follow the plan as we understood it. After a minor confusion on whether they would be allowed to debate the budget, the Opposition Senators gave robust presentations, which then prompted responses from the social partners, and finally, the Government Senators. 

Here's a small excerpt of that back and forth in the House's Upper Chambers today:

Dr. Luis Zabaneh - PUP Senator
"We see the appropriations, Mr. President. We have about 46.6% that's allocated in the Education budget to pre-primary and primary education, about 30.1% to secondary, and about 10.1% to tertiary. That adds up to around 86% of the total $279,909,626 that's allocated to education. In fact, the largest portion of the entire budget. We have over the years, been allocating a lot of money, Mr. President, to education, because we recognize the importance of education to our development. However, when we look at the bill itself, at the document detailing how the monies are to be spent - and I will focus these 3 areas - we note that we start out talking about the objective in each of the areas. It talks about the actual expenditure, then it looks at the staffing requirements that have been issued out in the past couple of years, and that is planned for the next two years. And it talks about performance information. If we look at primary enrollment, we see that enrollment in primary has actually been falling. In 2017/2018, there were 66,465 students in the primary system. By the following year, it had fallen to 65,993. Additionally, it is projected that it will remain lower than in 2017/2018 at 66,000. That's a very serious statistic, Mr. President because it is speaking to all our young Belizean, primary school-aged Belizeans, who at a very minimum, we're trying to get through the primary sector. Without that, they have very little or no chance of getting a job any at all, and their trajectory peak, not making it even to the secondary level, and likely joining the many who are unemployed, possibly on the streets doing nothing. So this trajectory is something that must be arrested. With the millions of dollars that we're spending, it is absolutely important that we hold our officials responsible in the sector for the accessibility of our young people."

"The 52% net enrollment at the secondary level is one of the lowest in the region, and the world. It means that literally half of our children, who are between ages 12 and 16, half - so if we have 22,000 in the system right now, we're talking about another 20,000 kids of the age 13, 14, 15, 16, who are not in secondary school. And for 280 million dollars, we are not able to bring in another 20,000 students who belong in secondary school, this is atrocious, Mr. President. We must be able to do better."

Hon. Isabel Bennett - PUP Senator
"The Ministry of Health budget, strategic management and administration, there are some big figures there. I don't even know that I want to call the figures, in order not to create an error. When I look at primary care services, to go back a bit, 2017/2018 there was - under Capital 2 expenditure, there was zero. Under the 2018/2019 actual budget, there was zero. That's primary health care. Unless I am not understanding how to read the budget, Mr. President. The estimate for 2019/2020 was a measly $85,000. But waitâ€Â¦ the projected budget for this year, I still don't understand when we're only investing $50,000 on 103 in primary health care. If we had a solid primary health care system, if the investment was being placed under this particular aspect of the Ministry of Health, we would have a much more solid foundation right now, having to deal with COVID-19. My colleagues on the ground right now, nurses, doctors, pharmacists would have as many protective person gears that they need to actually attend to the issues right now."

Hon. Michel Chebat - Lead PUP Senator
"For the past 12 years, the Government has failed to make a meaningful investment in the productive sector and apparently has no plan to change that course of action. In 2019/2020, it collected $78,211.11 on taxes from exports. In 2020, in this current fiscal year coming, it is projecting revenues amounting to $80,166, and that is on page 12 of the estimates. And so, what this shows, Mr. President, is that there is no meaningful interest in the projective sector. Look at the consequences we are faced with today. Over the past 12 years, the Government has focused its energies on tourism, primarily. And that sector accounted for almost 40% of the economy. Today, there are no cruise ships. No planes are flying, massive cancelation of overnight bookings. Hundreds in this sector are left almost overnight without a job, and across the country, we see restaurants and resorts closing their doors. Mr. President, not even a week into this crisis and the players in the tourism industry are collapsing."

Hon. Mark Lizarraga - Business Senator
"Let's talk a little bit about the economy and this economic hurricane that is about the make landfall. Mr. President, I stand to be corrected, but I think the IMF made funds available to the tune of 1 trillion, or - a huge amount of money, if I'm not mistaken, from September for COVID. We watched this thing as it exploded in China. And certainly, Mr. President, by January of this year, those of us that were paying attention, knew that this coronavirus was fast approaching a pandemic that could contribute to health, economic and social crisis throughout the world. It is a shame, Mr. President, that we had sufficient notice to re-draft for the new priorities that we need today. This budget could have been redrafted to reflect our needs. And it was not."

"Worldwide, when we listen to the economists, they are predicting that the coronavirus alone, and its global economic effects, the impact could be hurting us for at least 18 months. And some even say that the effects of this will be with us until the year 2023. So, we have to be prudent. We have to be cautious. We have to save. Mr. President, Belize has been suffering from a growing trade deficit, a growing budget deficit, a growing competitiveness deficit. We find ourselves in a position where we currently have no fiscal space. Nothing was saved for this rainy day. Nothing was saved for this sick day. There is very little - if any - contingency fund. So once again, we are forced to resort to more borrowing."

And after all that, the General Revenue Appropriation Bill was passed by the Senate today.  along with the Treasury Amendment Bill of 2020, and the Supreme Court of Judicature Amendment Bill of 2020.

The Prime Minster also announced that for the COVID Response, government will need additional emergency funds, and this one they will have to do a supplementary - - which he suggested has the full agreement of the Leader of the Opposition int he current circumstances.  It is the same practice which the Chief Justice recently declared at best, dubious, and at worst, unconstitutional in a suit brought by the PUP.