So, at best, government if it joins up with Ashcroft and the unions can vote out one director at the next AGM possibly in September which would leave Prosser with 5 directors out of the 8, still very much in charge of the company. To say it is a tangled mess is an understatement but today the ever wily Prime Minister seemed clear in his mind that he could get himself out of it.
Patrick Jones, Channel 5
"How can the government extricate itself from the fix it finds in with BTL?"
Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize
"I don't think we can make a magic wand and say fix it but we are determined to work our way through it, to sort out the problems that we may have whether it be with the ICC or the Carlisle Group. We are going to work our way through this thing and come up hopefully with a satisfactory solution to it all. I do feel, and I feel very committed, that Belizeans must have a greater stake, they want it and they've been saying so, in the ownership and governance of BTL."
Jules Vasquez, 7NEWS Director
But how can you say that now when you have done everything to undermine that? You gave Jeff Prosser these lavish terms all so that he take over Intelco, or let Intelco breathe, and that has all failed. So you've done everything to undermine local ownership.
Said Musa,
"No. We tried that alternative of going with ICC, it has not worked out. We are pursuing another one. In other words I am doing what I believe is best for the nation at any given time. Not everytime we make a move it will be successful but I am prepared to accept when I make a mistake or when I do something that has not worked out and to take steps to rectify them, move ahead."
Jules Vasquez,
Your Intelco was a mistake. How many mistakes are you allowed before it's clearly a governance issue?
Said Musa,
"Well you are getting now into the argumentative and you..."
Jules Vasquez,
These are consequential errors Sir.
Said Musa,
"It's just that things have not worked out the way they were intended to work out; unintended consequences have resulted. In this business you can do one of two things, in the business of running a nation, you can become inactive and wait for things to happen or you can take steps to make things happen. Now often times, or sometimes, not everything you do will work out the way you intended them. That doesn't mean you must persist with passivity and let events overtake you and the nation. You have to move ahead. You have to keep going."
Government's statement today echoed the Prime Minister's statement that Belizeans should own BTL. It states that, "the government is fully committed to selling its shares in BTL to Belizeans." It states that the Florida judgment still leaves the door open for government to sell the Carlisle shares. That, presumably, would be with the consent or involvement of Michael Ashcroft's Carlisle Holdings which presently has an injunction from the Belize Supreme Court, barring government from doing anything with those shares until arbitration hearings are concluded in London. Those begin in June.
