The press also asked the PSU President for his first impression of what may become the new price that Belizeans have to pay for those fancy new E-passports.
As we told you last night, Belizeans on Facebook were outraged when they saw a post for a proposed new schedule of passport fees. The proposed fee is $200, a 400% increase over the previous price for a regular, 10-year passport. So, what did the PSU President have to say about the possibility that his membership - and other Belizeans - may have to pay an additional $150 more?
Here are those comments:
Dean Flowers - President, Public Service Union
"This is the first time personally that I am seeing these prices, Marisol. I haven't seen a flyer or a publication on it. Now, I guess the argument is, of course, that it's a significant increase from - I believe - 50 dollars that we used to pay. I can only say that perhaps, again, the quality of passport that will now be issued is perhaps of a higher quality. Perhaps the maintenance cost of the machines requires a higher fee. Again, these costs that are proposed by the government, and these are costs that the Belizean people have a right to challenge. I look at these costs similarly to how I look at fuel in this country. We turn ourselves into armchair revolutionaries and Facebook warriors. We have a whole lot to say, but we do absolutely nothing meaningful to change it. Any government is a representation of the people. Any government has a duty and an obligation to carry out the will and mandate of the people. That's why it is said that you're a government of the people, by the people."
