U.D.P. Says B.T.L. is Being Sabotaged by Briceno Administration

For many years, the Government of Belize had engaged the services of B.T.L.  Since the Briceño administration took office in 2020, there has been a move towards other another service provider.  Last week, Minister of Health and Wellness Kevin Bernard told us that the ministry, including several public health facilities, is joining several other government departments that have changed over to SMART.  The recent announcement does not sit well with the opposition which maintains that B.T.L., a publicly owned utility company, is being deliberately undermined by the ruling party.

 

Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition

“This issue with BTL is highlighted as far as the People’s United Party sabotaging BTL.  Since they came into government, they have, almost all of the government ministries and statutory bodies have switched to Speednet, to SMART.  We all know that the prime minister’s family are majority or fifty percent owners of SMART.  I don’t see how you could describe this as anything other than a conflict of interest and outright corruption.  What is happening as far as the government-owned BTL, the Social Security Board invested, the Belize Public Sector Workers Trust invested.  BTL being stripped of all of its business, not just for private sector, that in itself would be shameful.  But a privately owned company that is owned by the prime minister’s family, it has to stop.  This argument that, well, BTL is not being competitive is absolutely ridiculous.  It’s just like the prime minister saying the reason we have an energy crisis is because we have performed so well with the economy and everybody is rich.  Everybody has so much money that they are consuming more energy, it is absolutely ridiculous and I associate myself with the NTUCB that has written the prime minister, written his CEO protesting these continued attacks on the publicly owned BTL.”