Earlier you saw the senate debate on the special prosecutor bill which the senate sent back to Cabinet.
But, the loan motion from the Saudi Fund for the Development of a Tertiary Level Hospital Project in Belmopan did get ample support in the Senate.
It's a 45 million US dollar loan that the Briceno administration sees as a flagship project. The UDP's Senior Senator said, they should have gotten a grant:
Michael Peyrefitte, UDP Senator
"Why are we borrowing 45 million US dollars from the Saudi government? What kind of negotiators we have? Senator Cal they need to send you, you know. Nobody negotiates like the Mayas, brilliant, because negotiate a loan from the Saudi's? The leader of government good friend MBS, Mohammed bin Salman, personal friend."
"This is the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. He bought a painting for about 500 million US dollars. A painting, you know. And we can't squeeze 45 million US dollars out of him. Why are we borrowing money from these people? These people supposed to give us that."
Janelle Chanona, NGO Senator
"The number that was very scary was actually at schedule two on page 10 of the loan agreement. And I've seen it also in the international coverage where it's saying that the hospital will benefit approximately 200,000 citizens per year. Now, Madam President, our concern is that a tertiary care hospital is specialist care. We're talking about cancer, we're talking about high - you're already in dire straits when you need tertiary care, and this is anticipating a significant chunk of our productive sector needing annually tertiary level care. And we had questions in terms of does this represent a shift from the emphasis on primary care, preventative care?"
Kevin Herrera, Business Senator
"I certainly welcome the move to have another tertiary institution in Belmopan which is a lot higher than Belize City. I think that at 2% bilateral loan like that, I don't think we can go very wrong and I am hoping that you know all the oversight will be there to make sure that we get the maximum impact of what we are spending in that hospital and that the care provided will be a lot better, so that people won't have to go to the Merida's and all of those places and perhaps we can also get some speciality care in there."
Bishop Alvin Benguche, Churches Senator
"We are aware as a country that diabetes especially is one of those areas that has affected us as a country and where possible we can have additional facilities such as this one to be able to address that kind of situation. I think we can only benefit as a country."
Chris Coye, PUP Senator
"What that has meant on a recurring basis is an increase of 50% of the NHI budget. Under the UDP we were around 17 million or less in NHI. Now we are almost 30 million - 29.5 million. That's over 50% every year being spent on NHI for primary care. So on that level there is emphasis, there is focus and there is money, more money, a lot more money into primary care."
"As far as KHMH, the subvention from the government has increased by over 15%. So there is an effort on a recurring basis to expand and invest in improving healthcare in the country. This Belmopan hospital project is a part of that overall effort. This isn't a recurring expense. The country's bilateral and multi-laterals they don't lend you to go and spend money for recurring expenses. They lend money for capital projects, capital investment. So, its disingenuous to talk about oh we should have used the 90 million to go and pay salaries here or by some equipment or pharmaceuticals there. That's totally disingenuous."
Eamon Courtenay, Leader of Government Business
"Is this in the public interest of Belize? Is this in the interest of the Belizean people? Is this in the interest of the sick, wounded and those in need of care in Belize? The only answer for any patriotic Belizean is unreservedly an unquestionably yes, Madam President."
The loan motion was passed so the loan has been approved.
