And while charges will be brought there, the public allegation of mismanagement of funds is being levied against the chair of the Belize Branch of the PSU.
A leaked document suggested that the PSU's Belize Branch had trouble finding documentation for money that was spent without the treasurer's knowledge.
The purported financial report for the period 2020-2021 lists dozens of instances where receipts were missing and money was mismanaged. It was accompanied by a letter during which the, quote, "treasurer" conducting the report explained the challenges she faced when dealing with the chair and some executive members, including the first vice president, Dean Flowers.
Both lengthy documents were circulated today among the media, and we got a chance to ask Flowers about it. He made it clear that, not only is the document false, but it was made by a member who had grievances against the executive body and had circulated it ahead of Saturday's AGM to divide the membership:
Dean Flowers - First VP, PSU "That report that was leaked, is not an official report. I can only assume that it was prepared by the former treasurer, but it is not the official report of the branch. On Saturday every single individual will be privies to the official which was in fact submitted by the former treasurer, so she submitted her official report and is not knocking close to that report that was leaked today, so I cannot comment on that incorrect report, I can also assume that report along with an accompanying letter is dated November of 2020 and to give you a brief history of that, that surfaces last year prior to the Belize district elections. Again, that report is not the official report as submitted by the former treasurer, that is a fabricated report, that was aimed to mislead the members of the Belize district branch and that was proven via the results of that election because the fabricator of that report and letter was blown out 3 to 1, so if it is that there was any truth to that report or accompanying letter then clearly the members of the Belize district who received that misleading and liable report and letter would have of course taken issue with it and would have ensured that the fabricator perhaps would have been successful but the fact that she was blown out 3 to 1 speaks volumes that the report was a fabrication, it was misleading, it is untrue and it does not reflect the position or the reality of the Belize district branch. The audit as guided by the financial policy was conducted by the national treasurer, witnessing that audit was myself as the first vice president and the sole reason I witnessed that audit was because the president is also an employee of the audit department of which the former treasurer is and so he felt that it would appear as conflict of interest or biased on his part if he sat in, so I was ask to sit in. Along with myself was the chief magistrate, the national treasurer of course conducted the audit and the secretary general and in addition to that, 9 executives from the Belize district branch and it was fair, open, honest independent and unbiased audit, which resulted in the official financial statements for the Belize district being published by the very individual who I understand fabricated this false report and it leaked it to the media and I want to say clearly, this is nothing new, this has been in circulation and was dispelled since November of last year."
And since Flowers is vying for the president's seat in Saturday's election, he announced that, if he is successful, he will ensure that persons involved in such sinister acts against the union will be dealt with accordingly:
Dean Flowers "In addition to leaking that document, there was some text that referenced that I supported the Belize district branch chair and I want to say unapologetically that yes, I supported her but of course, that in no way would I have supporting any wrong doing on her part. It is clear the Belize district branch chair and her general membership will be equally supporting me in the upcoming elections and so there is an attempt to mislead, to defame and to tarnish the good character of the branch chair of Belize City who has an impeccable character as well as other individuals that may be associated with myself and the elections that comes up, so it's just mischief by disgruntled and really and truly defeated individuals. I cannot see why is it that they would bring back this fabricated issue and in an attempt to create division at the upcoming AGM and I want to make a pledge as well to that going forward, if I am successful on Saturday which I trust I believe that I will be, I pledge to bring unity and I pledge to deal very stiffly with his kind of membership. Article 18 of the PSU constitution is clear, that for those members who bring this union into disrepute, they ought to be disciplined and that is my first order of the day. If it is that we can identify the fabricators of these information, which by the way we have but there are not the only ones, there are others who are members and continue to disparage this union and that is not what we need, we need unity, we need cohesion and we need everybody on board if it is that we're going to revitalize and unify the public service union and so I want to say to those people, stop it because going forward we will address that very seriously."
Flowers also said that all branch reports and accompanying documentation will be presented during the AGM, set to start at 9am.
