sunday, November 15, 2009
The Belize Times
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THE PATRIOT
Bradsledo
Even for the niche population of the local gaming community and the muffled grunts from the wilderness of religious extremists who rebuke the very notion of luck as a reproach to the moral constants of divine order, the privatization of the Boledo/lottery is of very little consequence. But it is. It really is. See this is a story of campaign financing and the publicly flaunted cavorting with the donor. The reality is that the fundamental critique of campaign finance in Belize is that donations come with a quid pro quo and extract very high returns. Unlike more developed democracies where the private sector business interests and capitalist vampires are monitored by the smoke of statutory policing, Belize lies bare as a free market for the transmittable diseases of economic tourists. True independents have failed to secure legislation to buffer and regulate campaign contributions from firms, individuals, multi-million dollar economic pimps and salivating friendly nations, in order to prevent the corruption of politicians by organized interests. To the extent that large contributions are given to secure a political quid pro quo from current and potential office holders, the integrity of our system of representative democracy is undermined. The true scope of such pernicious practices can never be reliably ascertained in Belize, but the public is intermittently entertained by deeply disturbing examples like the Prime Minister’s monologue of his self-justified double crossing of the one time friend of a business man who once paid the red Piper for the pleasure of his tunes. This demonstrates that the problem is not an illusory one. So here we are. Abracadabra…. Brads Gaming Company Ltd wins the tender for privatization of the Belize Government Lotteries. Surprised? Really now, who in Belize was? The UDP gravy train is simply stopping off at the same places that it put in gas before 2008. It is fair to say that the short list of notable UDP finance moguls are the San Cas Business Group, Lee Mark Chang’s Moneybag and its Asian connections, Lord Michael Ascroft, Brads and the Vega Group of Companies. With the major campaign financier in that lineup publicly stripped and shooed away, Barrow was forced to draw for creative ways to feed the wolf pack who are clearly not hunters. Now on the utility of tenders,
we all know that the process for tenders of Public Contracts are as virtuous as the earnings of entry level customs officers and as impartial as the Ethics Committee of the UDP. Apart from the expected insider trading of the tending process, a deal must have been brokered to pacify the other UDP names which were floating around in the barrel. But very few political veterans will deny that the party itself has not written into the contract its kickback for the political war chest. Wonder what that guaranteed percentage rate of return is? There was, to be fair, no attempt at the cover up. The political motives and blood trail are glaring. Apart from Brads being the UDP illegal gambling headquarters, the name sake Brads Gaming Company Ltd, is a startup company with a silent shareholder. O Anwar, where art thou? Chucking St. Hulse’s name in the Tender selection panel is no consolation as we continue to learn the post-elections Godwin. More troubling is that even Marleni’s Chiwawa knows that the Contractor General, who is yet to be named anywhere in the Press Release, will play Ray Charles with this one. The maths just does not add up. According to Government’s accounting of lotteries revenue, they receive near one million dollars per annum, and in 2001 the Lotteries Committee estimated that owing to illegal practices there was approximately two million dollars per annum in just losses. Now, big school maths would say that your guaranteed floor of return would begin at three million per annum. How much is the total minting for the Bradsledo? A ten year contract? What about not making contracts beyond your tenure of government? Even the timing of the launch is politically strategic in light of the bi-annual review by an expert to make adjustments. The UDP will need substantial campaign finance in about that, two years, as the Municipal Elections are scheduled for that year, and 2012 is guaranteed to be a pivotal stretch for the UDP for any hopes of a back to back, in 2013. See, a national recession and global economic downturn would barely be in recovery by that time, the PUP will be fully revving on all cylinders and no more hand outs from the Lord; as such Barrow needs to cram his war chest and biologically engineer his next golden goose.
In the meantime, the depressing fact is that your ounces in that pound of tax flesh which will be spoon fed to this UDP crony is a nurturing of the continuing incompetence and erosion of the country infrastructure and corruption index slippage. Now, every time you buy a hundred piece of ought four, you are funding the mounting garbage at your gate. Each time you snuggle up around your radio at ten minutes past nine, you are supporting the unchecked surge of improperly investigated home invasions. When you send your eight year old to the Chiney to buy your contract number, you are by syndicate, guar-
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anteeing that the craters he has to hopscotch through will continue to make the taxi fares and the taxi men complaints harsher. No one can in respectable sobriety suggest or advocate for the exorcism of gaming in Belize; you would have a better chance of enjoying an intellectual exchange with the Minister of Health. And in actuality no one benefits from the “Scapegoat of Administrations Past” propaganda or the Independent self righteous ego stroking of “I told u so” politics, but for the record, we, the unwashed masses, no fool. This is state secured campaign financing…