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The controversy surrounding the land purchase continues to spark debate, with stakeholders questioning transparency, environmental issues, and the broader impact of the government’s decision to change its original plan to use the UB property as a teaching hospital. Today, a protest took place in an effort to get the government to reverse its $6.9 million land acquisition plan. Journalist Vejea Alvarez was there to report on this.
Vejea Alvarez, Love News: Tensions rose in Belmopan today as about a hundred people gathered outside the Ministry of Finance to protest against the government’s recent purchase of a $6.9 million plot of land for the construction of a new tertiary hospital. While the call for the protest was directed at the general public, the crowd was mostly made up of union members and opposition supporters. The demonstration was organized by land activist Nigel Petillo, who expressed disappointment at the number of demonstrators.
Land activist Nigel Petillo: “We need to unite and stand up to our leaders to get this message out. These are the people who are knocking on doors and speaking out against corruption and mismanagement and better governance and all that. They act like they care. Now we are just here to demand accountability. We are asking them to take a better look at this deal that is going on. We are asking them to listen to the wishes, needs and demands of the people of Belize. We want to see our Prime Minister here to talk and discuss with us. I also remind everyone that there was a time when we would have those people come and have a platform where they would have public meetings and discuss issues that affect every community, but they don’t do that anymore, they just dictate to us and tell us how things are going to be done. So we are at a stage now, don’t worry about the numbers that you see here, this is not something that is going to be fixed today. It will continue tomorrow, it will continue next week, it will continue.”
Vejea Alvarez, Love News: Luis Martinez, president of the Belize National Trade Union Congress, has been outspoken in his support of the land purchase and today he again called on the Ministry of Health and Wellness to disclose the information behind its decision.
Luis Martinez, NTUCB Chairman:Seeing is believing. The NTUC works with other social partners, so don’t think we are alone. In fact, we have the diaspora supporting us. We are writing to the Minister of Health asking him to provide these documents and using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain this information. If they don’t give us such information, we will intervene and obtain this information because people need to know.”
Vejea Alvarez, Love News: Despite the focus of the protest, the Belize National Teachers Union saw significantly lower turnout than in previous years, with union president Nadia Kalisz clarifying that the protest was not intended to mobilize all of its members.
Nadia Caliz, President of BNTU: “We chose a representative approach today because when I was in Mexico and this was happening, we had a system where you discuss with your council and then you go to the membership and then they decide the future direction. So we can’t engage the membership without a membership mandate and I don’t want anyone to think that the BNTU is weak, that the BNTU is asleep at the wheel on this, we are not. But I want to talk about something even more chilling that my colleague said. You know where the problem is? It’s within the system. If you’ve been listening to me lately talking about the challenges in education, it’s within the system. We are looking at the constitution right now, we are revisiting it. We need to make sure that there are laws in the constitution and that when political officials violate them, they are held accountable.”
Vejea Alvarez, Love News: National Union of Students president Ashley Longford was also frustrated by the lack of engagement among young people.
Ashley Longford, President of the National Union of Students: “The government told UB that the land should be used by UB students. UB medical school students, where are the UB medical school students? We are in Belmopan now. The university is here. Where is the UB student union? Where is the UB student body? Where are the students of this country?”
Vejea Alvarez, Love News: Carl Heusner Memorial Hospital Authority Union president Andrew Baird, who also attended the meeting separately, expressed concern about the hospital’s proximity to sewage tanks and questioned whether the Department of Health’s planning took that into account.
Andrew Baird, president of the KHMHA union, said: “Let’s demand that they show us the report from the epidemiologist. Because there has to be a report from an epidemiologist, a health department infection control nurse or somebody. Show it to us because people are concerned about the disease patterns and the material in these ponds. People who live nearby are saying this, why is the government saying something different? Give us back the $6.9 million that was spent on building a hospital on the UB campus.”
Vejea Alvarez, Love News: While many are focusing on the location of the land and the surroundings, Opposition Leader Moses “Shain” Barrow said people’s focus should be on the millions of taxpayers’ money spent on the allegedly shady deal.
Opposition Leader Moses “Shain” Barrow: “The most blatant act of corruption is that the government spent $6.9 million of taxpayer money to buy a property that was only worth $600,000 according to the valuation that we saw this year by the Belmopan City Council. That’s corruption. That’s malfeasance by public officials, and we cannot tolerate that. So we’re digging into the semantics of the site, and it’s abhorrent. It’s a health hazard, it makes no sense at all, and it contradicts the bill that was passed by the House of Representatives, and it contradicts the narrative that was presented to the Saudis to build a tertiary hospital on the UB campus.”
Vejea Alvarez, Love News: Public sector union leader Dean Flowers criticised the government’s wider mismanagement of Crown lands, saying the situation reflected systemic problems.
Dean Flowers, president of Penn State University, said: “There were some very corrupt land sales in Belmopan in 2018 or around 2017 to 2019 by the then Minister of Lands. The people involved in RECONDEV, the Chairman there and the City Council members, as Brother Luke said, these people should be ashamed because the Mayor sat on the board of RECONDEV and saw properties being undervalued and the people of Belmopan being robbed of their property taxes and said nothing. You have to look at these things objectively. Now fast forward to today. This shows that there is absolutely no difference in the quality and type of officials that we elect. Because this is just a collateral effect of what happened there. I challenge this administration again, you came into office on a platform of good governance. Nothing that you are currently implementing and doing demonstrates that you are serious about improving the lives of Belizeans and addressing corruption.”
Vejea Alvarez, Love News: While the group did not have the opportunity to speak to the Prime Minister or any government officials, the situation became a little tense when they tried to stop the Prime Minister’s driver from leaving. Nevertheless, Senator Glenfield Dennison said the union was working to take the matter to court.
Senator Glenfield Dennison: “I think the government is really deceiving us because they did a very clever thing. They mentioned in the resolution that they were going to build the hospital on UB land, but they removed that wording in the resolution and they said the hospital will be built in Belmopan, but nobody said anything at the time.”
reporter: Legislative sleight of hand.
Senator Glenfield Dennison: “Right. So I think we have to acknowledge that the governance structure is indeed broken. It’s broken. The legislature and the executive have become one, and the legislature is done for, except for the four social partners who are barely holding together.”
Vejea Alvarez, Love News: Unions said they remained determined to ensure the government reversed the decision.
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