So, while that Bill was withdrawn today, there was another that was passed in the House which triggered a heated debate.
It's called the General Revenue Supplementary Appropriation Bill #4 of 2020. In it, the Government was seeking authorization to spend just over 27 million dollars in different areas of the Public Service. The Opposition Parliamentarians complained loudly that the Barrow Government did not give them enough notice to research and examine the expenditure for transparency purpose. Here's the back and forth on that topic:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I rise to introduce and move the second reading for a bill for an act to appropriate sums of money for the use of the public service of Belize for the financial year ending 31st March, 2021. Madam Speaker this bill has the recommendation of the cabinet."
Hon. John Briceno, Leader of the Opposition
"They are not giving us much time to be able to study it closely and I do understand that that's all these things have to be done quickly, but there are a few questions that I would have and I would be seeking some sort of clarification. Capital 2 where they are talking ministry of finance, labor, there is a section for solicitation which is 1.1 million dollars. Maybe the prime minister can explain to us what that 1.1 million dollars is all about."
Hon. Francis Fonseca, PUP, Freetown
"The ministry of health, 8 million dollars. it's clear that there is the need to spend on the ministry of health, how is that being use, where is it being use. The ministry of human development, 4.5 million dollars. Again, how is that money - like my colleague has said a lot of people are not feeling the spending of that money. How is that going to be used."
Hon. Kareem Musa, PUP, Caribbean Shores
"This type of politics of just showing up on the morning of and said look man I will spend 7 million dollars next week on tablets. We need to know who is the contractor, we need to know how this money is going to spent. We want to know we are getting value for money and quality products."
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"This is a pandemic, we are in critical circumstances. We have to spend in a quick as accelerated as flexible and as fleet-footed a manner as is required and that is why we spend and as soon as we can we come to the house to give the house and the nation an accounting of what it is that we are spending and there is enough detail in the supplementary appropriation bill to tell them exactly what's going on. Therefore I sit absolutely content in the knowledge that we are running these programs and we are coming up with these supplementary with respect to monies that are being properly spent, carefully accounted for and that are going only to try to assist both the health sector and the general population in terms of social protection in the middle of this unprecedented pandemic."
