MID YEAR REVIEW OF THE STATE OF AFFAIRS AT THE BELIZE CITY COUNCIL

by Marshall Nunez

It seems as if the residents of Belize City have either adapted to, or become so completely disillusioned with the performance of  The Belize City Council that they have lost all confidence in Citco.  Whatever the situation is with the Belize City residents, it is extremely clear that the city is in the worst condition for many years.  The streets are in a massive state of disrepair, the drains are clogged up and the grass is over grown, there are numerous over grown lots, the city is very dirty and worst of all the City Council continues to be divided among itself.

The usually feisty, media craven Mayor seems to not only have been expelled from the UDP but apparently have also been overthrown as Mayor of the city even as she awaits the ruling of the Courts in the criminal charges brought against her by her own Party and government.   Definitely a case of , “dog eat yo suppa”, when all of a sudden it appears that Phillouby now functions as the de facto t Mayor of Belize City.  T

Those are the fundamental issues, the real fact of the matter though, is that the city is bankrupt “maybe that’s the reason why Zenaida is absent from duty.”  There have been cases where people have not been paid, but we won’t worry about the personal things, we’ll try and focus on their obligation to provide the goods and services to the city residents

Of top priority is the maintenance of the drains and the streets, especially, since we’re currently in the rainy season.  It is even more frightening now since a couple weeks ago we understand that BML had to send home over 30 employees.  Since BML received no payments for almost seven weeks, despite the council agreement last year with BML to make the weekly payments to the company while they continue to service the outstanding debt.  Most alarming from this story is that the cabinet in a special sitting a few weeks ago made the decision that city council’s payments should be prioritize and that top priority must be given to the Belize Waste Control and whatever remains after BWC have been paid will then go to BML ; reliable reports are that not even BWC had collected their last couple of payments.   Two very serious things to consider, one, BML is placed between a rock and a hard place because if they do not receive payments they will be forced once more to terminate more employees within the next week or two and secondly, it is safe then for us to conclude that City Hall is being run from the cabinet room.

It seems like déjàvu, do you remember like last year around this same time as we were preparing for back to school that the employees of BML had to stage a protest in front of City Hall because the company was not being paid, therefore, the employees were not being paid and there was desperation, as they were trying to prepare their kids for school.

Another area of major concern for the city residents has to be the matter of the Queen’s Square Market AKA The Michael Finnegan Market.  Remember the days when we use to have three markets in Belize City?  While it is not long time ago, we seem to have forgotten what it used to be like or similarly the situation is that we are so disillusion and so disappointed with what we have as a market today.  The Michael Finnegan Market or Queen’s Square Market is so important because we were promised this modern state of the art market that would have been clean and provided convenience for us here  the city.  Again, the projected date of completion and the extended dates seem to be just promises, while we are stuck with the situation of having that poor excuse for a market that exists at the Pound Yard.  Patrons should be able to enjoy comfort of the market facility whenever they go to the market place, but during these rains you have to be more concern about hopping, skipping and jumping over puddles of water or walking in mud instead of concentrating on the deals you go to find at the market.  Still the council continues to try to raise premium on the vendors at the market but refuses to upgrade the amenities and provide adequate facilities.

Despite the fact that the council is bankrupt the councilors conveniently and consistently receive their exuberant allowances, while the residence of the city suffers from decaying infrastructures and low quality goods and service.  We need to state that we demand better from our city government.  Remember transparency, accountability, and good governance, that is what we expect NOW, no less.

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