No Resolution yet Between Belmopan Citco and Market Plaza  

Last night, we shared the story of the growing tension between the Belmopan City Council and David Zabaneh, the owner of the city’s Market Plaza. Recently, Zabaneh received a cease-and-desist order from the council, stating that the trade license agreement he signed with the previous administration is no longer valid. Since 2021, Zabaneh has been paying for a blanket trade license that covers all vendors in the plaza. However, Mayor Pablo Cawich argues that this agreement contradicts Belize’s Trade License Act. Despite this, Zabaneh insists that the agreement should be honored for the sake of the vendors. Mayor Cawich also explained why the council hasn’t yet approached the vendors to enforce the new regulation.

 

Pablo Cawich, Mayor of Belmopan

“It was an issue for us at least. It was more of an issue with the MOU, having the blanket coverage. That was as, as I mentioned, this was the specific issue that was brought to the council. And then the council ended up taking it over after it was brought to our attention. So it wasn’t a case that that we were aware of something in, I will say, inappropriate, for lack of a better word. We were not aware that something inappropriate was happening. But since the specific trade license blanket coverage was brought up to us as an issue, that was the specific case we were looking at.  And that could have only been looked at with the proprietors of the Belmopan Market Plaza.”

 

Reporter

“If it is that the act says the individual must pay trade license, and trade license is paid to the council, how is it that the council does not act on that authority to enforce that and have them individually pay? I don’t know why you’re pursuing the whole MOU aspect.”

 

Pablo Cawich

“Because if we were to approach any vendor, the first thing based on logic is that they would say, we are already paying the Belmopan Market Plaza. If we were to ask what portion of that goes to what, I am pretty sure they would not know. And when it comes to an MOU, it’s pretty much a contract. So if a contract exists in an area, we obviously would tend to try and tackle or address that contract first before we can approach anything else. We would have to work with the entity who is perceived as the legal person to have the authority.”

 

Reporter

“Is this matter, to your knowledge, heading to court already or you’re still at a negotiation phase?”

 

Pablo Cawich

“From my knowledge, we’re still at a negotiation stage.”