The Public Service Minister was also asked about the concerns being raised by the Public Service Union about the Briceno Government's Belize Companies Bill of 2022.
This legislation is contemplated to update the laws relating to companies in Belize, some of which are over one century old. The issue is that the Bill affects the employment terms of public officers, who may be re-designated as employees of statutory boards instead of their current classification as established public officers.
Here's what the Minister had to say about the intricacies that need to be maneuvered in that Bill:
Henry Charles Usher - Minister of the Public Service
"Really, what the companies bill, this new amendment to the companies bill - and let me just say that the old companies up was 103 years old. So, it was definitely in need of some modernizing."
Brandon Usher - Sunup Host
"I just have to say thank God."
Henry Charles Usher
"Yes, right. As a practitioner, you would know that it needed updating. It needed to be modernized, and there was a consultant brought in. One of the recommendations made by the consultant was that they amalgamate the domestic companies registry with the international companies registry. So that was what was done. Now, on the issue of the workers - and I share the concern of the PSU on that because we have to give the workers the option, I believe, of remaining within the public service. Remember that when you were under the old company's registry, you are a public officer. There's no falling on the statutory body, and there are issues in the past when workers transitioned from public service to statutory boards, whether they remain as public officers or, you now fell under a contract with that statutory board. We still have some workers, for instance, at KHMH which has been a statutory body for a number of years who are still public officers. The same thing with BAHA."
Brandon Usher
"I remember IMMARBE as well."
Henry Charles Usher
"The same thing with IMMARBE. The other more recent conversions to statutory bodies, the workers had the option, but in the past, it was just done and they didn't have that option. So I think that the PSU is looking out for the workers, looking out for the public officers and saying, listen, let them have the opportunity, the option of saying whether I want to remain a public officer, in which case our ministry would have to then find a new posting for them, or if they wanted to transition with this company as registered, but then file under the rules and regulations of that particular companies registry - of that statutory body."
