In a stark announcement delivered at the People’s United Party (PUP) National Party Council gathering held in Dangriga, Belize Prime Minister John Briceño has launched a sweeping audit of the Ministry of Defense that will trace financial and operational activity all the way back to 2015, a move that puts former United Democratic Party (UDP) Defense Minister John Saldivar and previous administration officials on formal notice. But in a break from typical partisan political targeting, Briceño made clear that accountability is not limited to the previous governing party – members of his own PUP administration have also drawn criticism for concerning practices uncovered in preliminary reviews, and the prime minister says no individual involved in wrongdoing should feel secure from scrutiny.
Briceño told attendees that preliminary inquiries have already uncovered deeply troubling practices within the Belize Defense Force (BDF), noting that for years, the majority of BDF contracts were awarded to a single supplier with almost no formal reporting or public transparency around the deals. To root out these opaque practices, Briceño has formally requested that the national Auditor General extend the scope of the ongoing review from its original timeline all the way back to 2015, to capture a full decade of unexamined activity.
“This kind of behavior has to stop, we cannot continue down this path of unaccountability,” Briceño said in remarks at the council meeting. “When my party, the PUP, campaigned for office, we promised Belizeans we would govern differently. Promises are not enough – we have to deliver on that commitment, and we have to show the public that we are serious about changing the culture of corruption and opacity in government. This audit is a critical opportunity to fix long-standing problems at the ministry. I am not happy with what we have found so far, but it confirms that this work is urgent, and we are moving forward with it immediately.”
This report is adapted from a transcribed version of an evening television newscast, with Kriol-language remarks standardized to consistent spelling for published distribution.