“What’s up with the housing money?” It’s a question we hear all the time by folks who supported the Barrow Administration in its bid to get back the money from the Belize Bank – where it had been used for partial settlement of the government guaranteed Universal debt - and use it for what it was intended, which is the housing needs of the poorest of the poor. Well, tonight we can tell you what is up with the money after we visited one of the subcommittee meetings which decides on who will get a grant either for a small home or for home improvements. This subcommittee is the major one for the Belize district and it is chaired by the Minister of Housing who explained to us that so far two million dollars has been disbursed.
Hon. Michael Finnegan, Minister of Housing
“We have disbursed about $2 million already throughout the country.”
And today they were dealing with Lake Independence.
Hon. Michael Finnegan,
“All of them, all this here are applications for Lake Independence.”
Jules Vasquez,
“There are about hundreds. How many have been approved?”
Hon. Michael Finnegan,
“About seven or eight of them.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Why so few?”
Hon. Michael Finnegan,
“Because the others lack information which we will request the necessary information.”
These notes indicate that information is lacking but that is not the end of it for these applications.
Hon. Michael Finnegan,
“As the project manager, I will get in touch with the Area Representative who is Cordel Hyde and will request the necessary information and when he gets the necessary information in another two or three weeks when this committee meets again then these will be approved.”
Jules Vasquez,
“So the door is not closed?”
Hon. Michael Finnegan,
“No these aren’t closed, these will be accepted.”
So far a number of divisions have gotten their $400,000.
Hon. Michael Finnegan,
“Freetown division $99,000, is that correct. Caribbean Shores zero cents, their applications we are working on them now. Pickstock division, $105,000; Fort George division, $87,000; Lake Independence, $89,000; Collet Division, $192,000; Port Loyola, $241,000; Mesopotamia, a mere $54,000. In other words we are giving priority to the other divisions.”
Ideally the application should look like this one from Caribbean Shores, complete with an invoice, a Social Security ID, and a picture of the area that needs repair.
Hon. Michael Finnegan,
“You will bring an invoice to me and say that you want to repair your roof; how much zinc, how much, how much nail, how much flash ban, how much lumber, and it will have a total. The total must not exceed $10,000.”
Jules Vasquez,
“And you give them the money, I mean not you, the Ministry of Housing gives a monetary instrument?”
Hon. Michael Finnegan,
“We don’t give them no money. The Ministry of Housing gives them an order.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Has the Ministry of Housing chosen a preferred supplier?”
Hon. Michael Finnegan,
“Whosever they bring the invoice from, whether it is Benny’s, whether it is Habet, whether it is down in Dangriga- wherever, Rosado’s, Tony Leslie, whatever the case may be we noh care.”
But the committee making the review for the Belize District is only four government employees and the Minister. There are no civil society partners present.
Jules Vasquez,
“This is inter-governmental, there are employees here from the Housing Department, Social Services. There is no third party oversight, no oversight from civil society, NGOs, or anything like that.”
Hon. Michael Finnegan,
“We invited them to come onboard, they refused.”
Jules Vasquez,
“They refused or they were unable to agree to working terms?”
Hon. Michael Finnegan,
“Well I don’t know, they refused and as far as I am concerned, whatever the case may be, they are not here and it is no fault of ours. We want them to be here and that is why we invite you to come and see what is happening here because we want this to be open and to be transparent. That is why you are here now.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Which is an illusion because I am only here for the scenery, I am not in the nuts and bolts of the thing, I don’t know if when you see a PUP name come up, you say hmmm that dah PUP?”
Hon. Michael Finnegan,
“No we don’t do that. I am too old in politics for that. That is my mindedness. That is market politics, that is something of the past.”
Jules Vasquez,
“So you’re saying, just to make it completely clear, that you are not discriminating on a political basis?”
Hon. Michael Finnegan,
“No because all of these come from the area representative for Lake I.”
And while Finnegan insists he is not playing politics, he says he is also managing it very tightly.
Hon. Michael Finnegan,
“We are taking our time and we are making sure that all the Ts and the Is and the commas are in the right places. That is why we are taking our time. The Prime Minister, he has instructed me to make sure that this goes through without a scorch.”
Jules Vasquez,
“So you are satisfied that at the end of this no one would have defrauded or circumvented the process?”
Hon. Michael Finnegan,
“I hope and swear to God that at the end of this it will come out clean.”
One caveat is that the provision from the Government of Venezuela is that the money has to be fully disbursed by the end of the year. Finnegan says they are working to reach that target. But if they can’t he will ask the Venezuelan government for an extension. And what about the social partners who were supposed to a be a part of the group? Well, we can’t speak for all of them but we have received credible reports which say that the Chamber of Commerce representative opted out because that group felt that the protocols being used would not ensure that the monies were disbursed in an equitable fashion. We were unable to get anything official from the Chamber.
