It's been 20 days since The Guardian first reported on gross irregularities at the Immigration Department. That's meant three weeks of upheaval for the department and its minister Max Samuels who is at the helm of a mounting scandal - and today it was announced by the Prime Minister that he has resigned:
Jules Vasquez reporting,
Hon. Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize
To remove any potential or perceived conflict of interest, the Minister of Home Affairs, with responsibility for the police and immigration has resigned his office with immediate effect. The very fact that he has resigned, I believe, indicates that he accepts that he was the minister during which time these alleged allegations of irregularities occurred.
Jules Vasquez
And while those "allegations that are alleged" have forced Samuels to resign as the fury of a scandal rages about him - it is portrayed as a grand and stately gesture and one for which he is rewarded in a shuffle which only sees the disgraced minister make a cozy lateral move:
Hon. Said Musa
As Prime Minister, the only portfolio I intend to hold is the Ministry of Finance. The Deputy Prime Minister will assume the Ministry of Trade along with his existing portfolios of Natural Resources, Environment, and Industry. I propose to appoint the Hon. Vildo Marin as Minister of Works and Economic Development. The Minister of Budget Management will assume responsibility for the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Department of Immigration will be transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. The former Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration will now be responsible for the Ministry of Communications, Transport and Public Utilities. And the Minister of Tourism and Culture will assume the portfolio of Information and Broadcasting.
Jules Vasquez
So for Samuels who by his resignation has conceded that he is at least indirectly responsible for acts of wrongdoing under his watch, the Prime Minister couldn't say quite why he is being given barely a rap across the knuckles - even as his name is called in connection with a criminal investigation:
Adele Ramos, Amandala Press
Is it possible that he will be included in the investigations.
Hon. Said Musa
All things are possible in this life.
Adele Ramos, Amandala Press
My question is this. If Mr. Paulino Castellanos is no longer serving as director then, he has been suspended pending the outcome of the investigations. Why is it that Minister Samuels will hold such important portfolios?
Hon. Said Musa
Well, that is a matter of opinion on your part that he holds, as you call it, an important portfolio. As I indicated earlier in my statement, he did resign and give the Prime Minister a free hand and it is within the constitutional judgment of the Prime Minister to decide if, first of all he should have been re-appointed as a minister, and if so, in what portfolio. This is the decision of the Prime Minister and you can criticize me for my decision, but what you cannot call it is munificence, or reward for anything. It's not a reward. The minister did the right and decent thing to resign and put his faith in the hands of the Chairman of the Cabinet, the Prime Minister, to decide what, if anything, further should be done and I took a decision.
Jules Vasquez
And you have said that you would defend that decision. Would you defend that decision?
Hon. Said Musa
Of course I will defend it, it is my decision.
Jules Vasquez
But would you make a defense other than saying that you will defend it.
Hon. Said Musa
Yes, if you like we can have a long chat about it afterwards. Do you want me to give you the reasons why?
Jules Vasquez
I would, sir.
Hon. Said Musa
I don't think it is incumbent on me to do that. It is not incumbent on me to give a reason except to say that the minister has performed a very good job as a minister.
Jules Vasquez
Very good job - or not, the fact is that Samuels has been the most shuffled minister in this administration, and now as he assumes the very ministries that he first came into office with, it's not quite clear what is expected of him - other than saving face as the party co-deputy leader and delivering his seat in Belize Rural North.
Hon. Said Musa
I have no doubt that he will deliver his constituencies in the next elections.
Jules Vasquez
But even political winners get investigated - at least that's what the Prime Minister says and what of that investigation? Musa says the police will investigate thoroughly though there are allegations that senior officers were complicit - and where not complicit, at least formally involved.
Hon. Said Musa
I have confidence that we will have a fair and thorough investigation carried out by the police department in consultation with the Director of Public Prosecutions. This business of talking about commissions of enquiry, I think we need to understand that a commission of enquiry is no panacea to solving problems. It can investigate but it can't do more than a police investigation can do. In fact, they have to rely on the police, but the point is that under the law, a commission of enquiry is not there to carry out criminal investigations, criminal investigations are carried out by the police.
To review the shuffle - which took the under-card at today's event, it shows Prime Minister Musa deferring almost exclusively to loyalist in the re-assignments. Musa had to find new owners for the Samuel's portfolio and Henry Canton - who is resigning. Musa turned to his two closest cabinet allies: Minister of Budget Planning and Management, Ralph Fonseca, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Assad Shoman, will take over the two most troublesome ministries. Fonseca takes over Home Affairs Ministry, which he did run in the 89 - 93 term if only as minister of state, while Shoman takes over the Immigration Department. Long ignored party chairman Vildo Marin takes over the ministries of Works and Economic Development, while Musa's deputy John Briceno takes over Trade. Samuels takes Communications, Transport, and Public Utilities - which, as we noted, he's all held before and lost in previous shuffles. Mark Espat takes over the Information and Broadcasting portfolio - Broadcasting, which he held before, and Information, which is just a shell - as it has been stripped of the press office which comes under the Prime Minister's office. The Prime Minister's Chief of Staff today confirmed that Canton's ministries of banana and sugar industries contained in the commodities secretariat, which were omitted in today's rundown - will go to the Beltraide. And in an aside - 7 News has confirmed reports that the Prime Minister did go to a private medical facility after the press conference. We are told that he had a rib injury attended to - after he was injured during his regular exercise routine.