Where Is the Senate’s Definitive Agreement Report?

When will the Senate Special Select Committee’s report on the Portico Enterprise Limited Definitive Agreement be presented in the Senate? The committee wrapped up its investigation before the National Assembly was dissolved, but the report wasn’t tabled at the last Senate meeting. Today, we caught up with NGO Senator Janelle Chanona to find out what’s next for the report. Here’s what she had to say.

 

Janelle Chanona, NGO Senator

“Well I think it flags to the wider community a couple things, parliamentary wise, that those are areas of the standing orders and parliamentary rules that we need to look at to make sure we can be accountable in terms of all committees being able to carry forward with that work. We were certainly very committed to completing our task. It was out of our hands once we learnt the parliamentary session would end. But, certainly once we learnt of that of really going through every challenges, hurdle, obstacle to our preferred timeline and making sure in the end we were committed to delivering thar report. I cant speak to what happened in terms of the rationale over and beyond what has been shared publicly but it is about making sure the Belizean people know we completed our task and I think it is showing the importance of having these exercises more regularly so that we can see the gaps and address those gaps, but it highlights that there  is much to be desired in terms of as public officials who is collecting a pension and putting their selves of for leadership that there is a legitimate expectation for that to be reciprocated when there are questions asked.”

 

Reporter

“But now should the report see the light of day?”

 

Janelle Chanona

“My personal opinion is that the Belizean people paid for that report so I think there should be a delivery of that report. There was a statement made that it was about protecting Belizean tax payers dollars, and if that is the case then there is also an onus that tax payer dollars was used and it was public funding. We have a whole budget report in that draft. I would certainly hope that from the National Assembly there is clarity as to what can happen next.”