The Prime Minister also discussed the telecommunication industry in Belize and the difficult, ultimately futile and embarrassing attempt to introduce competition with Intelco. But speaking with some gravity about Intelco and all that went wrong with the Godfrey Group of companies, whose debt is guaranteed by Social Security money, the Prime Minister says government is working to recover that as a first priority.
Hon. Said Musa, Prime Minister
“As far as the Intelco matter is concerned, the government is interested in this because obviously we want to ensure that the Social Security recovers that part of its investment that deals with Intelco.”
Adele Ramos, Amandala Newspaper
You don’t have an exact account of how much government and SSB has put out for Intelco and how many guarantees there are for Intelco?
Hon. Said Musa,
“No I don’t have those details at hand here. I would have to go back to the records but I am sure they are available to you.”
Stewart Krohn, Channel 5 News
What explanation could there be that government gave so much to Godfrey/Intelco?
Hon. Said Musa,
“Well this is a matter that will no doubt be debated for a long time to come. I think we will have to hear explanations from the SSB members who were there at the time, investment committee members, and I am sure all this will come out more than likely with the Senate hearings that are going on. On the face of it, yes, as you say it appears substantial investments were made in that direction to ‘favor the Glen Godfrey Companies.’ I think when you put it all together it shows first of all that those companies were aggressively involved in a lot of economic activity in Belize. As to why government or SSB, as you put it, should have been involved in that – I think that will go to the question of the quality of investment as opposed to saying we did it because it was Mr. Glen Godfrey. It was a frustrating experience for our government that promised the people we would expand services and access to these facilities and then work towards bringing down rates. It was in that context that an agreement was made with Intelco. In other words what I am saying to you Stewart is that if that project had succeeded we would not be asking these questions today. It has not succeeded and you are quite entitled indeed and justified in raising concerns and questions about it now.”
Adele Ramos,
Why has it not succeeded?
Hon. Said Musa,
“Why? Well that’s what the debate is all about; why it has not succeeded. A large part of that has to do with the dominant player in the system taking on Intelco and deciding to destroy it.”
In the recent IMF meeting, those minutes which show Dr. Carla Barnett saying that government's guarantee to Intelco is $42 million.