BELMOPAN, Belize, Jul 12, CMC – Two weeks after the state-owned Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) approved a BDZ$250 million (One Belize dollar=US$0.49 cents) investment grant in education and energy in Belize, debate has started in the Parliament regarding the establishment of the Millenium Challenge Account Belize Authority which will be the implementing agency for the education and energy projects.
The MCC said its priority is to reduce poverty through sustainable and inclusive economic growth. The government is expected to sign the agreement in September.
During a special siting of the Parliament on Thursday, Prime Minister John Briceño said that the Millenium Challenge Account Belize Authority will be led by a board of directors from government and civil society.
He said that the Belize National Teachers Union (BNTU) and the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) will have representation on the board.
“The MCC Belize Authority will serve as the implementing agency on and behalf of the government of Belize for education and energy projects. We expect to sign the compact agreement in early September, so it is important we get this bill to ensure we get the implementing agency when signing.”
Briceño said said the BDZ$250 million as well as the compact development funding and government country contributions will be directed through this authority to fund the projects. “Given that the authority’s focus will be on education and energy, we have reached an agreement with MCC that the authority’s board will not only include members of the government. It will also include representatives that are relevant to the projects.”
Briceño said the BTNU representing teachers in education as well as the BCCI. representing the private sector will have representation on the board.
“Given that the bulk of the funding will be education we have also provided for a representative from civil society relevant to education as well as a nonvoting member representing academic and educational organizations.”
Education Minister Francis Fonseca, in his contribution to the debate, highlighted several challenges in the education sector, noting that significant investments will be made to improve the sector for young men, women and teachers across the country.
Fonseca also noted that he does not believe the opposition needs to have a seat on the board.
“One of the challenges we have is with males staying in schools and when they are there keeping them. There will be targeted programs for males, young men to make sure they go into secondary school, complete secondary school at a minimum to make sure they are kept there and while they are there that they will be equipped with the skills to participate in the national development of Belize and labor market in an effective way.
“One of the challenges we have with young women, as you know it is a very positive development, in that we have a lot more females attending school going to school, going to tertiary education, so we have a lot more educated women in our society, absolutely important,”
The Education Minister said that this is a reversal of what used to take place fifty years ago, noting “but what we find is that even though the young women are being better trained and educated, they are not getting jobs in the job market that meets their trainings, education skills.
“So how do we make sure we are improving work force participation by women in our society? One of the components is of course developing a quality assurance system, capacity building of education leadership and teachers. We have to keep improving and enhancing the capacity of our education leaders and teachers, providing teaching and learning resources,” he added.
Opposition Leader, Moses “Shyne” Barrow said that it is a moment of bipartisanship in Parliament because investments are needed in both priority sectors.
But he chided the Briceño administration for not including the opposition on the MCC Account Belize Authority’s board of directors.
“One of the primary concerns as I rose, I said I join with the prime minister. This is a moment of bipartisanship. We need this money. We need this investment for education and energy. But if you listen to the prime minister earlier, typical old school politicking. He threw the opposition under the bus,” Barrow said.
“Now you look at the composition of the board…there is no seat on the board for the opposition. This is an afront to continuity, to transparency, an afront to good governance, the inclusion of the opposition, the top stakeholder of all the stakeholders has to be the opposition,” Barrow said, adding “we are the government in waiting”.
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