And while the Universal motion is the only piece of legislation coming out of Friday's House meeting that has gotten all the attention, there's another one called the BTL Vesting Act and it is a strange and worrying creature. Very few have seen the bill but best information says that it transfer all the assets of BTL to a new company called Belize Telemedia and leave BTL as a shell. By doing that, BTL's majority shareholder Michael Ashcroft and his related holdings shake off Jeffrey Prosser.
Of course, in September of last year, the Supreme Court of Belize said Prosser was the rightful Chairman of BTL. And more than that what about all the small shareholders including the teachers union who invested based on strength and protection of the BTL Articles, which will now be put to one side.
Barrow says that the Bill is just plain unconstitutional.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
"Clearly what is happening here is that the government is getting the legislature in this commercial dispute between Ashcroft and Prosser, getting the legislature involved in a matter that is before the courts and getting the legislature involved in a way which, in my view, is absolutely unconstitutional.
It also means of course that the new company will have articles of association that will contain none of the safeguards that Manuel Esquivel and Net Vasquez and the UDP enshrined in the BTL Articles of Association. And so well did they do that job that up to now, those who are in control of BTL have not been able to get rid of those articles of association.
Obviously all those safeguards will be removed, will not exist under the new Articles of Association of the new company and so the owners of the new company will be able completely to have their way. It is an act that no government that properly believes in the rule of law would ever seek to promote.
Of course I said that I believe it is related to the loan motion because I think that is the tradeoff for the little discount that the government has been able to obtain with respect to the $33 million."
The Vesting Bill is expected to go for a second and third reading on Friday. And as we noted earlier, the Universal motion is also expected to go back on Friday for a vote. But barrow says there are also major legal problems with that one, which would open it very plainly to challenge at the Supreme Court.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
"The motion seeks to have the National Assembly validates retrospectively what the Prime Minister did at the start of the process and which in my view is clearly illegal, that is the actions of the Prime Minister are in terms of the guarantee but mostly particularly in terms of the loan note and the settlement deed.
This though is not a loan. This is not a bill that has been brought to the House, this is a motion. I don't see how in the absence of a law, an act of parliament by way of a motion, the National Assembly can say that what was done illegally, what was done in violation of an act of parliament, the Finance and Audit Reform Act, is now to be made legal by way of a mere motion."
And while Barrow is burning fire on every move and maneuver by the Musa administration, today the Prime Minister was working at building consensus. He held two meeting; first a breakfast with the Council of Churches and then an emergency session of the National Economic council.
The breakfast meeting with the religious leaders was held at the Chateau Caribbean and 11 clergy members attended. The Prime Minister was accompanied by Ministers Joe Coye, Francis Fonseca, and Godfrey Smith. They discussed the Universal bailout, and a government release describes the exchange as energetic. After meeting with the PM, the clergy members met with the Leader of the Opposition.
From there the PM moved unto the central bank where he chaired an emergency session of the National Economic Council. His cadre of Ministers followed and they faced a stiff crowd of unions, the Chamber of Commerce, bankers, and the citrus and banana growers association.
The media wasn't invited to listen or to tape, but our accounts say the Prime Minister had a tough time. Still, a government release describes that question and answer session as "lively."
