Tonight, the Government of Belize is in retreat mode after its lavish, 140% increase in phone allowance incensed the labour unions. They demanded that the allowances be rescinded and today - two weeks after they were approved - the allowances were rescinded.
A terse press release from the Cabinet Secretary this afternoon says, quote, "Approval was granted recently by the Ministry of Finance to adjust telephone allowances for CEOs and other high-level government officials. After internal consultation and consideration, the CEO caucus has unanimously decided that the approval should be rescinded."
Of course, our information is that the CEO Caucus neither asked for or knew of the increase. Information says it is the work of the Cabinet Secretary Stuart Leslie who told us that it was an attempt to harmonize the allowances at the $600 dollar level level where the Prime Minister's CEO Narda Garcia has her monthly phone allowance. She got that as a carryover from her UDP predecessor, Audrey Wallace.
Well, tonight, the President of the PSU, Dean Flowers agrees there needs to be a harmonization, but at 250 dollars! He sent us the official Compendium of Allowances for the public service which does indeed list CEO's phone allowance at 250 dollars.
In a text comment, Flowers says, quote, "the Government Press Release fails miserably in addressing the gross abuse by the former and present CEOs in the Prime Minister's Office and fails to call for the immediate "harmonization" of the telephone allowance paid to the Prime Minister's CEO with that of all other CEOs. The Release also fails to call for CEO Garcia to be surcharged for receiving an allowance way in excess of what is authorized by the sole source for approved allowances, that being the Compendium of Allowances. Additionally, all efforts should be made to recover any and all excesses paid to CEO Wallace."
We'll see what government says about that when we're able to catch the Prime Minister.
