Further analysis of budget cuts
Following on our first analysis of the presentation of the Prime Minister’s disciplined budget, we take another closer look at the numbers. Pro Poor policies such as social protection and poverty alleviation are one of the key priorities of the Government as stated in the Budget proposal Fiscal year 2011/2012. The four key areas are Poverty reduction and social protection, citizen security, education, health and physical infrastructure, home improvement and low income construction. However, significant cuts within the key services as shown in the budget for Fiscal year 2012/2013 will drastically decrease the impact of such pro poor policies. For instance, in one of the key priorities of poverty reduction and social protection: key services such as community development will be cut by twenty-three thousand dollars, the Women’s Department will be cut by fifty-four thousand, nine hundred and thirty-eight dollars and the Youth Hostel by ninety-six thousand, three hundred and seventy-five dollars. In another key area of citizens security: national forensic services will be cut by forty-six thousand sixty-two dollars, prison services will be cut by one thousand, two hundred and forty-four dollars, police administration in Belmopan will be cut by five hundred and fifty-eight thousand, three hundred and eighty-three dollars; police special branch will be cut by thirteen thousand, one hundred and six dollars; Belmopan police station will be cut by two hundred and fifty-three thousand, five hundred and thirty-four dollars; community policing will be cut by sixty-six thousand, four hundred and eighty dollars; and forensic, medicine unit will be cut by twenty-four thousand and sixty-nine dollars.
In the other key area of education, the cuts vary from very significant cuts to slightly smaller cuts, mostly in the Belize District. The largest cut is at Sadie Vernon Technical High School with cuts of two hundred and forty-eight thousand, four hundred and four dollars followed by Gwen Lizarraga High School with two hundred and twelve thousand, five hundred and seventy-one thousand dollars; St. Michael’s College got a cut of one hundred and forty-eight thousand, nine hundred and fifty-seven dollars, Edward P. Yorke High School with cuts of seventy-five thousand, two hundred and ninety dollars and Belize Rural High School with eighty-eight thousand, eight hundred and seventy dollars. In the districts, Mopan Technical High School is cut by sixty-five thousand, three hundred and twenty-seven dollars, Escuela Mexico is cut by three thousand and thirty-two dollars; and Georgetown High School will be cut by nineteen thousand, six hundred and eighty-four dollars.
Services from nontraditional schools such as vocational and technical are also severely cut. Belize High School of Agriculture has a significant cut of one hundred and seventeen thousand, four hundred and thirty-four thousand dollars, while CET Corozal is cut by nine thousand, nine hundred and eighty-two thousand dollars while University of Belize remains as is.
In the other key pro poor policy of health: the Belize District health services will be cut by three hundred and twenty-four thousand, two hundred and forty-four dollars; the Stann Creek District Health Services is cut by seven hundred and forty-nine thousand ninety-six dollars; whereas Maternal and Child health is cut by seventy thousand and twenty-five dollars. In the other two key areas of Physical infrastructure and Home improvement and low income construction, cuts are also implemented. A detailed table on the comparative analysis of Pro poor policies fiscal year 2011/2012 versus pro poor policies 2012/2013 will be available on channel five’s website.
How about cutting official salaries, vehicle allowances, and expense accounts? If belts must be tightened, let’s start with the people who are doing the spending — LEADERS SHOULD LEAD BY EXAMPLE.
Some governments, such as California in the States, have laws that the lawmakers cannot receive their salaries unless they enact a BALANCED budget — expenditures cannot exceed revenues.
WOULD YOU FAVOUR SUCH A LAW IN THE JEWEL? I would!
So, by cutting budget togigh schools, there will be more dropouts and eventually, only the people who can afford it will go to high school. For more of these smart initiatives, vote udp. Udp, pro rich I would say. How about cutting the stupid gang truce funds give back the schools the money?
the security forces gets cut big time and is already barely keeping afloat with what little and under develop they have yet the government is wasting money on making ministers more comfortable by spending big money on expensive vehicles which i can’t wait to see how long they last or are replaced. this part of the budget stinks!!
da fu turn fu eet, aan wee like LOBSTA !!!
The government expects people to tighten up, but they continue to live their extravagant life as if everything is normal. There are so many areas that regular people can see that can be cut but the financial experts refuse to recommend to GOV. Take for example governement transportation and allocation of vehicles, by law make them park for week ends or for the night when work-day has ended; Mr. Esquivel did it on his first term in office; this would save millions. How about bringing back home some of the ambasadors in countries that Belize does not have any business whatsoever; our main trading partners are US , UK ,MEXICO, Guatemala and some caricom countries. But it is really unreasonable to have ambassador in some far away country.
The Orange Walk Toll Bridge is one area that should be stopped and let the public ride pass free; almost everithing that is presently collected is for the guys pocket since most drivers do not take the ticket; I have heard that there are periods when the bridge does not even make for the employees salaries. The Yo Creek Agriculture Station is a huge drain on the department; since Mr. Vega employed cronies not much is produced and in fact pigs are regularly slaughtered and shared between workers, the station manager is barely present and workers leave their posts as they feel. The one taking care of pigs, sells the feed and does not report the ammount of births correctly so that further on he can sell them for his pocket. What is going on there is a racket and nobody does anything about it.
Also the government should stop providing subvention to the city and towns; they collect taxes and now are allowded to collect form licences of vehicles and people, if managed properly this ammount should be more that enough to run the municipalities properly. There are so many other areas that can curtail spending but GOV never listen to any advise. How can you spend more than you have?????? Always in the red!!!!! Stop borrowing, we owe too much already!!!!!!
O. Walk Observer — your list of problems gave me an idea, SOMEONE should set up an anonymous complaint box or hotline, so the thousands of little cases of graft, incompetence, and corruption can be recorded in some central way. And accessed by everyone.
I know that the ombudsman, in theory, is supposed to be a place for that, but what does it do? Mostly it operates in secret.
A newspaper could serve the function, or a website, or several other possibilities.
If there were such a “complaint box,” it would be nice if someone followed up to investigate, but that will probably have to wait until there is another election. This GOB supports 2 Belizes — one for itself, another for the rest of us.
I know that in the States and Mexico, some television stations have special investigative reporters that look into local problems like that — it’s good entertainment!
If the budget for this year is 25% less than that of last year’s, then all the Ministers, their CEOs and advisors should also reflect a 25% decrease in their salaries and a 25% decrease in their benefits as well.
What are we thinking? The nation is already in chaos because of the delinquent teens that is running our country. Whose idea it is that we should cut back on education? What have we finally turn our country into? What are our leaders main priorities?
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