We turn now to a few excerpts from the other Members of the Senate on the Settlement.
Several noted that the government is moving quickly to pay 76 million dollars to settle this fight with BISL. Yet, the nurses are on protest for back-pay, and the teachers and public officers are still aggrieved about their lost salary and increments from last year.
Here's what the other Senators had to say on the BISL settlement:
Senator Eamon Courtenay - Leader of Government Business
"Today we are being asked to settle for $38 million [US]. It is in the financial interests of the people of Belize to settle this debt on the basis of the negotiations, Having regard to the litigation risk that this country is exposed to."
Senator Beverly Williams - UDP Representative
"We will take the scolding from this CCJ because we believe in the rule of law. We -the court has ruled and we support, in principle, the rule of law. However, we will take the scolding, Senator Courtenay. But you failed to say that in in nine years that the government assumed management of the ship registry - which is normally state-owned. It's a national asset - that the government agreed that we earned a whopping $90 million US or $180 million."
Senator Kevin Herrera - Business Representative
"The first ten years, Madam President, I can agree somewhat. We're starting a new industry. It likely was the buzzword around that - you know, that this was a way to go. There's a lot of money to be involved. Could open up a lot of opportunities for people. But after ten years, you'd expect that you'd develop the local in-house expertise to take something over like this. But no, there was no interest in that part of it, because on March 5th, 2003, elections were again held and the PUP came back to power. And then on March 9th, four days after the election, a ten year extension was signed with BISL. Four days after the election, Madam President. You know, if there's ever a case perhaps for campaign finance reform, I think this one this one really takes the cake."
Senator Alvin Benguche - Church Representative
"To me, both parties that have that have governed this country, in recent times, Have to take responsibility for where we are today. You know, as I said, I'm seeing some commercials still being aired in that respect. We don't have any money, and $5 million at this time, especially in the light of the fact that school is reopening, is not a good time to be able to hold a referendum. But yet, we are finding a larger proportion of money, a large sums of money in order to appear. BISL."
Senator Elena Smith - Labour Representative
"I'm sure we can recall very vividly that we came to this Senate. And we are spoke about, we must sacrifice and everybody must sacrifice for the betterment of this nation. And at the end of the day, teachers and public officers sacrificed not just salaries, but our increments. And I know we don't want to hear about that because we might say, well, that has nothing to do with this. Of course it does because at the end of the day, it is on account of these decisions that the government has to then take actions that cause us to suffer, those of us who had no involvement in this whatsoever."
Senator Isabel Bennett - PUP Representative
"I think what gets to me most as well is the fact that this particular wrong has a daily interest rate. We are not in a position to continue to sustain that daily interest rate, and hence, I say I stand to support it because it is what a responsible government would do - everything possible to rid itself of this kind of scourge."
Senator Bevington Cal - PUP Representative
"So if we continue to kick the can down the road, we may end up paying double or triple the amount that we should now. So why now, Madam President? These are the reason why, because we cannot afford to be building more interest on the amount that we must pay."
Senator Janelle Chanona - NGO Representative
"The color of the context is so important so that when we look at these things, it is not just that we signed an agreement and we got into an arrangement, and now we're stuck. We have to pay. It is that we need to realize that when we look at these things, we have to look at the full picture; the details matter. And how is it that this agreement was signed on a Good Friday? Now we're at the point where we have to pay millions and millions of dollars at a time when we can least afford."
