Should Veteran Net Accept Appointment?

Eamon Courtenay

In the Senate’s debate over appointing Vasquez to the Integrity Commission, Senator Courtenay had objected to the appointment mostly on the ground that Vasquez’s long-standing service at now-state-owned enterprise Belize Telemedia Limited as well as the Social Security Board and Central Bank, among others, would place him in unavoidable conflicts of interest when it came to declaring his own assets. But with his very fitness now in question, is it as simple as renewing his membership with the I.C.A.? Courtenay believes not. He says Vasquez can show true integrity by not bowing to the dictates of his friends in power.

Eamon Courtenay, P.U.P. Senator

“I had objected to Mister Vasquez being a member of this Integrity Commission on a different basis, because clearly he contravenes the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which they’re going to have a big signing ceremony on the ninth. So here it is – a person who does not qualify under the United Nations Convention is being put forward; now we find out that he is not even qualified under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The point of the matter is: why is the Government of Belize insisting that Mister Vasquez be a member on a Commission that ought to enjoy the confidence of the Belizean people and the confidence of people who are going to be making filings before them. He is unqualified from the word get-go, yet the Government is pursuing a fraudulent appointment; a fraudulent approval – they lied to us, and yet they want us to believe that this is above-board? It is not above-board; it is crude politics; it is illegality; and Mister Vasquez, a man I have known for many, many years, ought not to allow himself to be used as a pawn in this game.”

The recent round of appointments to the Commission is for a two-year term. The Senate’s next meeting and last for the year is on December fifteenth.