And switching gear now to the escalating drama at the Belize City Council, the establishment may have hit back at their dissenters today when suggestions of possibly mishandling funds were levied, at least in the public domain, at councilor Micah Goodin.
It came in the form of an article published by an online media outlet that said quote: "Councilor Micah Goodin,[...], is being asked to account for the remaining $5,000 of $10,000 he obtained from the Council by motion to sponsor a one-day Christmas Cup football tournament at the MCC Grounds." End quote.
And while they are all supposed to be under the big blue tent, right now it might as well be a boxing ring, because as we've been reporting Goodin and the Mayor have been at odds over Goodin's rejection and campaign against the mayor's proposed garbage fee.
It put him and those on the council who share his opinion at odds with Mayor Wagner.
And while that plays out on a longer power based timeline, what does Goodin have to say about the question surrounding that as yet unaccounted for $5,000.00? Well he told us that he gave it away as the tournament's prize money. Here's how he defended what he believes is a completely appropriate use of funds:
Cherisse Halsall
"Let's talk about the budget that you were granted for that Christmas football tournament. The allegation being made on some online articles is that according to the minutes of the last council meeting, you are currently not able to account for 5 thousand dollars of that 10 thousand dollar budget. How would you answer that?"
Micah Goodin - Councilor, Belize City
"That's a frivolous attempt to smear my character, everyone I'm a proponent for good governance, transparency and accountability, I have absolutely nothing to hide. In October the council approved a budget for 10 thousand for me to do my annual Christmas cup, however since then we have not had the opportunity to meet or I would already shared a report on how those monies were spent. For example, in December no sitting of the council was held, on Tuesday a council sitting was to have been held but it was postponed, so I'm hoping that by February at the next sitting of the council, I can brief my colleagues and report to the council exactly how these monies were spent because I have in my possession the budget and I have supporting documents to show I have nothing to hide and every cent is properly accounted for."
