A decade after Belize signed the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), the president of the country’s leading business chamber, the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), has launched a scathing critique of both major political blocs, accusing national politicians of intentionally blocking the full implementation of the convention to protect their own self-interests.
In comments delivered during an August 6, 2026 television broadcast, BCCI President Giacomo Sanchez did not limit his criticism to any single political administration. Instead, he called out both the previous ruling government and the current incumbent administration for dragging their feet on rolling out the required anti-corruption reforms outlined in the international treaty Belize formally joined back in 2016.
Sanchez explained that the root of the decade-long stagnation is not bureaucratic delay or policy disagreement, but a deliberate lack of political will. He claimed that politicians from across the political spectrum recognize that full implementation of UNCAC’s rules would restrict the questionable, under-the-table activities they have been able to conduct up to this point. In essence, he argued, politicians refuse to “tie their own hands” by enacting reforms that would curb corrupt practices that benefit them personally and politically.
“This was signed in 2016. We are exactly at the ten-year milestone and what substantially have occurred? Nothing,” Sanchez stated during the exchange with co-host Paul Lopez, who pressed for clarity on why the reform process has ground to a halt.
When Lopez asked for confirmation of the underlying reason for the inaction, Sanchez doubled down on his accusation: “There is no political will, because the politicians look at it, from both sides of the fence, as if we are tying ourselves, we are tying our own hands. We won’t be able to do the kind of business we are currently doing – long and short of the whole story. And we look like fools in the international community because we sign on to something that we are not holding up our end of the bargain.”
Sanchez emphasized that the continued failure to follow through on Belize’s UNCAC commitments is causing lasting damage to the small Central American nation’s international reputation, eroding trust among foreign partners, investors, and global governance bodies.
This report is adapted from a transcript of a local evening television news broadcast, with original Kriol language comments standardized into conventional spelling for publication.