CONTROVERSY SURROUNDS SEPTEMBER CELEBRATIONS

September 08, 2006

September 1st marked the official opening of the celebrations across Belize. This year Mayors of the various municipalities are up in arms because the money allotted for the September celebrations have not been disbursed to them.  We spoke this morning with Mayor of San Ignacio Santa Elena, John August. August says that the calendar of events for that municipality has had to be shortened.

Santa Elena Mayor, John August

“Yesterday we found out that no money was forthcoming, that the area representatives of the People’s United Party had gotten the money already so what we have done is shortened the activities up until the 10th Day of September because we do not have the necessary finances for the date right up to the 21st and our understanding is that the are representatives for Cayo Central will be undertaking the September 21st celebrations. What we thought would be forthcoming for the San Ignacio/Santa Elena Town Council has not been forthcoming noh, so it’s up to the Town Council to finance their own September Celebrations. Last night there was a meeting convened at the San Ignacio Court, my understanding, I sent a representative there and my understanding is that the area rep is out of the country and when he comes back I don’t know when he will be the one to decide if we will be getting anything out of the twenty-five thousand dollars that was given to them. We know for a fact that they did receive twenty-five thousand dollars for the event noh, so we don’t know, we are waiting for him to come back then he will make the decision if we should get anything to help defray our expenses.”

Dangriga Mayor, Frank Mena says central government’s move to send the money to the area representatives or to standard bearers in the districts is outright disrespect.

Dangriga Mayor, Frank Mena

“The agenda for the September Celebrations activities is done by the September Celebrations Committee and so I thought it just logical then or sensible that whatever money central Government will give for the September Celebrations be sent to the committee. Chairing the committee is Deputy Mayor Grace Fairweather and she had asked for the participation of the various government departments here as well as other NGO’s to participate. Now Mr. Nunez has never been at the meeting, I think it was only at one or two meetings at the end closer to one yesterday and one before that he sent a representative. Now, sending the money to him shows disrespect to , one, the Town Council, The Mayor’s office, and two, to a committee that volunteered time and effort to organizing such an event. Some people at the top continue to put a wedge that will continue to divide our community and our society. Mek wi start do di rite ting man, enough things divide us already, we should put a stop to it, it doesn’t matter if you are red or blue.”

Love News spoke to Mena this evening and he told us that the Dangriga Town Council will go ahead with the celebrations as planned. Mena said he was assured by Prime Minister Said Musa today that Cassian Nunez will be getting in touch with him for them to decide how to proceed with the celebrations. Belmopan Mayor, Simeon Lopez says that Belmopan was not on the list to receive any finance for the celebration activities in that city.

Mayor of Belmopan, Simeon Lopez

“Cause I called the cabinet secretary  in Belmopan and we had a chat concerning this contribution to these municipalities for the September Celebrations and he told me initially his list did not have Belmopan as one of the places to receive money from Central Government but he being a Belmopanese as well had requested of the Prime Minister or the Ministry of Finance to get some maybe twenty thousand dollars to assist Belmopan and he said he is still waiting for that approval and he’s waiting for the Prime Minister to give him that approval and most likely that will be done by tomorrow. I don’t know what the cause to be waiting for so long because some municipalities already have theirs then he told me that more than likely it’s coming through to Belmopan and when it comes through, more than likely it will be going to Anthony Chanona. I am left flabbergasted and I said, why, why and he said, well you know this is politics and the Prime Minister has his say, he’s the one who directs who should get this money.”

Today, former mayor of the city of Belmopan, Anthony Chanona issued a press release saying that he was upset that his good name had been associated with the controversy. In the release Chanona says,"I am annoyed to learn that the Cabinet Secretary has verbally informed the Mayor of Belmopan that in the event such public funds were identified , it would be most likely be disbursed to me." Chanona calls the assumption preposterous and says he has no knowledge of and wants no part of petty partisan political agenda. The release goes on to say that there is absolutely no good reason to attempt to evade the authority vested in the duly elected officials of the Belmopan City Council especially at a festive time of nationalism.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the September Celebrations Committee in Corozal took place last night. Corozal Mayor, Gilberto Campos says Corozal Bay Area Representative, Vildo Marin is trying to take control of the celebrations in that town.

Mayor of Corozal Town, Gilberto Campos

“Last night we held a meeting and the Honorable Vildo Marin came and imposed his chairmanship on this committee. He said that he is the chairman and he has gotten twenty-five thousand dollars to disburse. However, he started dictating and he took over control of everything and he wanted to change what we had already planned then this morning he called and he informed me that the U.D.P. will take care of the 9th and 10th and he will take over the rest meaning that he will let the Corozal Town Council sit this out. They will have nothing to do with it so he single-handedly destroyed the essence of democracy in my town and I’m not going to tolerate that. I am here to represent the people of Corozal not here to represent UDP’s or PUP’s. My intention was to make this celebration as patriotic as possible and no politics involved however he came and he imposed and he said that he is the chairman, that whatever the committee decides he can overrule that so that’s the story here in Corozal. The Honorable Vildo Marin single-handedly destroyed everything that was already set and he is saying that he had twenty-five thousand dollars for the celebrations.”

Corozal Mayor, Gilberto Campos. Orange Walk Mayor, Ravell Gonzalez says he understands that Orange Walk Central representative, John Briceño plans to hand over 15 of the 20 thousand dollars allotted to that town.

Mayor of Orange Walk, Ravell Gonzales

“In Orange Walk we made our budget and it came out to thirty-five thousand for the entire month of the September Celebrations. That money was not forth-coming in August so I called the Deputy Prime Minster to ask him about it and he said that, yes, the municipalities will get their money to the tune of twenty-thousand dollars so Orange Walk Town Council went ahead and made arrangements and commitments because we assumed that we would be receiving the twenty-thousand on time and so they were stalling I believe and finally I called the Ministry of Finance and asked them why the monies haven’t come in yet cause we were using part of our monies to pay off some of the September Celebrations expenses already and so we were told that the monies are coming. In Orange Walk particularly we were told that the cheque would be under the name  of Johnny Briceño and so I was questioning why should the cheque go under Johnny Briceño’s name. These monies are made out to the Municipalities for the expenses for the September Celebrations. Johnny Briceño went on CTV News last night  and he mentioned that yes, there is twenty-thousand and that he will use five thousand for his expenses he’s incurring for this month of September for some function that he is sponsoring so we see it very wrong to begin with the cheque shouldn’t have been made in his name and secondly he didn’t have any right to take that money that was allotted for the Orange Walk Town Council for the September Celebrations.”

Gonzalez says that it has been decided that if Briceño does not come up with the 20 thousand dollars the committee will do otherwise.

Mayor of Orange Walk, Ravell Gonzales

“We have made a public statement this morning that if he does not come with the twenty-thousand we do not want the fifteen thousand he is offering. I believe that he does not have the right to decide that he will take five thousand for his expenses and what we have decided as well is that we will go ahead with our September Celebrations with or without the twenty-thousand that he has. We’ve decided that we will have a radiothon tomorrow Friday from nine to six in the evening at the Central Park, we’re going to go back to the community, we’re going to go back to the business community, we’re going to go back to the people for donations, contributions in whatever form or fashion they can so that we could have a successful September celebrations.”

Mayor of Orange Walk Ravell Gonzalez. We also spoke with Orange Walk Central Area Representative, John Briceno.  Briceño says he was unaware that the monies would be coming to his constituency office and that the money will be used for the September celebrations.

Orange Walk Central Area Representative, John Briceño

“From earlier I have explained to the Mayor that twenty-thousand is going to be made available to the September Celebrations. On Tuesday when the Mayor called to say that he was informed from the Ministry of Finance that they moneys was going to be made out to my constituency office, I told him that I was unaware of that happening and that as soon as I find out and get information and we get the monies available that we will alert him and give him the money. I checked yesterday afternoon and I was informed that the monies when it was approved by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, it has to go through it’s bureaucratic process through the smart system and the monies did not become available until yesterday afternoon. Now that the monies has come and made available, I have spoken to oe of the people from the Accountant General’s office that I would like for them to make out a cheque of fifteen thousand dollars to the Orange Walk Town Council. Now the Mayor may be saying what about the other five thousand dollars. What I’ve explained to the Mayor is that the monies is made out to the September Celebrations activities, it is not made out for the Town Council or for the Mayor or for anybody to spend. It is for the September Celebrations activities.”

Briceno explains how the other five thousand dollars will be used.

Orange Walk Central Area Representative, John Briceño

“Early this year, NICH has asked me to work with them in assisting them with funding for a band fest. NICH has said that on the sixteenth of this month of September they’re going to have this band fest, here at the Orange Walk Multi-Purpose Center, if I’m still prepared to assist so I said, yes, I am going to make some funding available for them. So I told him that I will be cooperating in assisting with this event. I also told the Mayor that the bicycle race that they have on the Sunday before the twenty-first, I have been financing that activity and I will do that once again. The organizers asked me if I am prepared to finance that activity and I had already indicated that I will do that. I went a step further and told the Mayor that on the twentieth I am also prepared to find the funding to pay for a musical band on that night and I’ve been saying it over and over Keep politics out of the September Celebrations. I will have a cheque ready for them and they can spend it as they wish with the activities. The other five thousand is going to assist in paying for the activities for the September Celebrations.”

Orange Walk Central Area Representative, John Briceno.  Briceno says the previous town council received only eight town thousand dollars to finance their activities. Briceno says that he has made several attempts to become involved with the committee and the activities but has still not received an invitation for his participation from the Mayor. Late this evening the Government issued a release in which it says the office of the Prime Minister has been made aware of certain

misrepresentations being made through the media concerning funding for September celebrations in particular towns. The release says the Government of Belize is committing all available resources to ensuring that the celebrations are a success in Belize City as well as in all the municipalities.  In Belize City, there is a September Celebrations Committee. This Committee works in conjunction with the Belize City Council. Responsibility for particular events are agreed upon and assigned to particular government institutions as well as the Belize City Council. Funding for events is then channeled to the institution that is organizing the particular event. The release goes on to say, in the district towns, it is expected that this same model will be applied. There are September Celebrations committees in the district towns and these committees should be working with the town councils and assigning responsibility for particular events. Resources will be channeled for the celebrations to the entities charged with organizing particular events, as has been done in previous years. The Government of Belize calls on all town councils and all Belizeans to work together in unity to ensure successful and memorable September Celebrations 2006.

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