And while the current and former Minister of Natural Resources are fiercely opposed, while area representative Patrick Faber says he never knew, there’s one man that’s being left out of the picture. That’s former UDP Minister of State in the Ministry of Natural Resources Elvin Penner. His role in the entire controversy has gone unacknowledged – but he’s central to it. He was the man Chawla went to with the original proposal for his plantain chip factory to be built within Krooman Lagoon. He pushed it forward from there and today we discussed his role and possible culpability for what has become a public political mess and an internal rift for government.
Hon. Elvin Penner, Former Minister of State
“What we did and what I advised the Minister to do is make sure that we get the environmental people involved, make sure we get Forestry involved, and any technical group that we can ask for assistance and advice on that situation because we surely did not want to do anything that would be to a detriment of the city in any way and none of these environmental or forestry individuals could give us any reason why giving this land for development would bother or undermine the reason why the lagoon had been put in the first place and they did it planning, the survey was planned in a way that whatever drainage projected needed to be done in the future would easily still be able to happen.”
Jules Vasquez,
“But you were the point man, it is you who originally made the recommendation.”
Hon. Elvin Penner,
“No, I could not make the recommendation. It is something that he came to me with his development plan and at that time I just consulted with the Minister and explained to him the plan that Mr. Charles had and from there it was the individuals at the Lands Department and Forestry and the Environmental Department who took the stages of investigating if this was a thing to do or not.”
Jules Vasquez,
“So you were satisfied that all the technical experts signed off on it?”
Hon. Elvin Penner,
“I certainly was.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Don’t you feel you should have consulted the Area Representative?”
Hon. Elvin Penner,
“I am not sure what all had happened at that time. I specifically asked Mr. Charles to go and see the Area Representative because in most cases these types of development go to the Area Representative encourages it because everybody wants employment, everybody wants the economy boosting activities in their area. Now I am not aware if he did or didn’t and I didn’t ask the Minister if Mr. Charles went there or not. Anybody that comes to me to get a recommendation or a support for any project in any specific area, the first thing I will ask them to do is contact the Area Representative because that is the person who would best know.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Apparently he didn’t.”
Hon. Elvin Penner,
“I am not sure. I haven’t spoken to Patrick as yet.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Well he’s publicly said he didn’t know.”
Hon. Elvin Penner,
“I personally, I know at one point in time, I don’t know where we were, very briefly, I just asked Mr. Patrick if Charles already had contacted him. I don’t think he had at that time and I reiterated again to Mr. Charles to please do so because the last thing you want is for any one area representative to feel that I don’t know the area. Wanting to do good by encouraging investment can cause a controversy between party members.”
Jules Vasquez,
“That is the last thing you wanted but that happened.”
Hon. Elvin Penner,
“That should never happen.”
Jules Vasquez,
“But it happened… under your watch Minister.”
Hon. Elvin Penner,
“I think this is situation where indeed it is evident that there needs to be ample communication when it comes to especially being that it is in Belize City…”
Jules Vasquez,
“You should have communicated.”
Hon. Elvin Penner,
“Well actually as the Minister of State I just simply referred the interest of the investor to the Minister and in turn to the professionals that advised.”
Jules Vasquez,
“But the investor came to you, you were the point man.”
Hon. Elvin Penner,
“I have no right in anyway as the Minister of State to contemplate or even….I can advise the Minister at the time but there is no way I can do any type of official transactions when it comes to these.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Why wouldn’t he just go to the Area Representative? Why would he come to you?”
Hon. Elvin Penner,
“I wouldn’t be able to answer that question.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Do you regret how it has all unfolded?”
Hon. Elvin Penner,
“I don’t regret it in terms of seeing again how we are trying to encourage investment but anything that goes out in the public that would by any means cast any reason to believe by the public that anyone had to do with a specific investment behind the scene trying to gain any advantage from a businessman, of course I regret any action that will cause people in the public to question any Minister.”
Jules Vasquez,
“The worst case scenario is that this person’s land, he has already spent money, the government has already collected, though no title has been given, he has already spent money that he may stand to lose his investment or has to be refunded it somehow by the government and at best you’ve really ticked off your Cabinet member by shaming him in his own back yard.”
Hon. Elvin Penner,
“Well I don’t think I would want to comment on any one of those statements but in terms of the investment that he has made, I guess again that would be a decision that the Cabinet would have to make.”
So what will happen next with this thorny issue? We’ll the matter goes back to cabinet next week where many sides to the story will be aired – including the input form the ministry of works on whether it will meaningfully undermine the drainage in the areas of Collet, Lake Independence and Port Loyola.
