…A Mutiny Against San Ignacio Mayor Earl Trapp?

Earl Trapp

Is there a mutiny within the San Ignacio Town Council?  Last week, Mayor Earl Trapp appeared in the media criticizing the proposed hiring of a P.U.P supporter to become the next town administrator.  The disapproval for Horace Grant’s application, according to the mayor, is his lack of qualification for the post.  He says that the councilor’s candidate of choice is the least qualified, with only a high school diploma.  This afternoon, five councilors traveled to Belize City where they convened a press conference at Independence Hall.  They called to question a number of issues, including a lack of transparency and accountability, as well as what they term nepotism on the part of the U.D.P head of local government.

Matthew Preston

Matthew Preston, Deputy Mayor, San Ignacio Town Council

“We made conscious efforts to work with the mayor, going against from advice from many of our P.U.P friends and supporters. Whenever we the councilors push for transparency and accountability, the mayor and the U.D.P cry foul.  All we are asking of the media is to do a fair and objective investigation of what is transpiring in the twin towns.  No one questioned about the conflicts of interests, the checks and balances.  We have a niece who is a cashier, a son who is the procurement officer, a nephew who is operations manager, a brother who is the I.T technician, nephew and son in the maintenance department with little to no supervision, father as the driver, nephew as the vehicle inspector, brother-in-law as a maintenance. Including the mayor, with the abovementioned, the family gains per annum a quarter million Belize dollars with family entitlement of a monthly average of four thousand dollars overtime. There’s no check and balance.”

Aaron Mai

Aaron Mai, Councilor, San Ignacio Town Council

“Every council shall appoint a suitably qualified person as town administrator who shall assist the mayor in the day-to-day management of the employees of the affairs of the council and the town. We have been denied this also.”

Matthew Preston

“We went through due process.  We had, I think, between thirteen to fifteen applicants.  We brought it down to six, we had interviews with them, we had a point system and the aforementioned, well the name that the media is putting about saying that he is not qualified. This individual, he has over twenty-five years working in the ministries in the government.  He has accounting training in courses from the World Bank. I noh sure if dis da something weh di man fraid fa. Like we said, he’s hiding a lot of information.  But if you notice, and he failed to mention that there was a past councilor, it looks like he wants that previous councilor who was a part of the U.D.P team, who was a U.D.P senator. Is that what they want, they want control?”