And while Deputy Hyde made his pitch for constant reviews, Minister of the Public Service used the budget debate platform to says he's been reviewing his government's hiring practices. This is after the Joint Unions accused them of new hires in a time when the Government should be reducing the strain on the wage bill.
In a press release sent at the beginning of the month, the PSU said, quote,"...Contrary to the commitment by the Government, the MPSCPR continues to engage in continuous and unnecessary hiring within the Public Service while hypocritically professing that the Public Service wage bill is too big, thus acting unprincipled by adding more burden to the Belizean taxpayers." End quote.
The Nurses Association of Belize has shared a similar sentiment, and today, when the allegation was made once again, Henry Charles Usher, the Minister of the Public Service, said they've all got it wrong:
Hon. Henry Charles - Minister of Public Service
"Madam Speaker, the member for Corozal North needs only look at the black and white to see that this government of the People's United Party has been fiscally disciplined in terms of hiring. It has been difficult, Madam Speaker, to have to explain to your constituents, to have to explain that right now, we have to keep spending down. It has been difficult, as the Deputy Prime Minister said. Madam Speaker, in the height of the corona pandemic last year, the former administration of the UDP increased emoluments, as a matter of fact, in June of 2020, it peaked, and it remained up there right up to October of 2020. And we all know why they were hiring all those people, Madam Speaker. Yet again, they were trying to buy an election. But, Madam Speaker, if you look at those figures, the 3 months that were the lowest happened to be December 2020, January 2021, and February 2021. I haven't seen the figures for March 2021 as yet, but I'm confident that those figures are down again. As a matter of fact, under the guidance of the Honorable John Briceno, we have already reduced the monthly spending on emoluments by 4 million dollars, Madam Speaker, savings already being shown."
