On Friday Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh ruled that the exclusive five year, $10 million contract that government signed with Print Belize in 2003 was illegal. Conteh was ruling on an application made 31 months earlier by the Printers' Association which wanted the Chief Justice to void the contract and review the privatization of the Government Printery.
The Printers' main bone of contention was with the exclusive printing contract but today Prime Minister Said Musa says that problem has already been solved. Musa says that well before the Chief Justice made his ruling, his Ministry of Finance had re-negotiated the exclusive contract and opened it to competitive tender. He today cried shame on print houses like the Angelus Press which have already been receiving business from government and still have a lot to say.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"The Print Belize contract has already been re-negotiated to the extent that, and this was not brought out in the case, and I was quite amused to notice that the so-called Association of...what are they called, the Association of Printers, many of them like the Angelus Press have been receiving contracts from the government. So in other words this idea that Print Belize has been getting exclusive contracts is not so. This has not been so for many many months."
Keith Swift,
So it is no longer an exclusive contract with Print Belize?
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"No it is not. It is all based on competitive bidding."
Keith Swift,
Is that some sort of admittance that the original contract, which was exclusive was flawed? Do you agree with the Chief Justice?
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"No I am not saying that it was wrong. I think, as the Chief Justice pointed out, they were perhaps a few steps that should have been followed that were not followed."
Keith Swift,
Who did not follow those steps?
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"Well the process, the particular Ministry, when they were carrying out the privatization, when the contract was made."
And the Ministry Musa blames is the Ministry of Finance which at the time of the Government Printery privatization was run by Ralph Fonseca.
The Angelus Press' general manager Amparo Noble told us this evening that her store is open to provide a service to anyone, including government. She says the comments made last week were as President of the Printers' Association, not as the Angelus Press's General Manager.
