Barrow Administration Gave Teeth To Belize City Council Act 

Under the amended City Council Act which took effect late last year, the Dean Barrow administration proved that it was poised to deal with corruption even at the municipal level.  This was in response to irregularities at City Hall and in Barrow’s commitment to put in place the legislative framework to stamp out corruption and lack of accountability and transparency. 

The amendments are designed to ensure accountability for public funds and to allow central government to have oversight of the expenditures at City Hall.  Most importantly, the amendment criminalizes the unauthorized and illegal expenditure of

monies. 

At section 12 of the amended Act it clearly states that no payment should be made to a member of the council unless it is authorized by the Minister of Finance and if such payments are made they are void and recoverable.  Payments referred to are: salary, allowances, or like payments.  Worst yet, any accounting officer or other person, including the Mayor and councilors, who certifies or authorizes such payments in contravention of Section 12 “shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or both”. 

In order to offer even more oversight, the Act at section 23 even allows for the appointment of a Financial Controller, by the Minister of Local Government upon him forming the opinion that the financial affairs of the Council “are not conducted in accordance with the rules and regulations, or the financial position of the Council is such that it requires strengthening fiscal management and fiscal control”.  After consultation with the Council, Patrick Tillett was appointed Financial Controller and his duty since has been to oversee the financial affairs of Council and to direct the method of disbursement in order to make them valid.  In compliance with the law upon his employment in April 2009 Patrick Tillett implemented a regulation that all expenditures above $50.00 had to be approved by him in order to make it valid. 

The Act further states that if payments are made without the required approval of the Financial Controller, when it is required, any person who makes such unauthorized payments apart from having civil liability may incur criminal liability, since the Act makes it an offence to and said person is liable on summary conviction to a fine of one thousand dollars or a term of one year imprisonment or both.
 
Section 52 serves as an all-encompassing penalty section since it makes it clear that any council member who does not comply with any provision of the Act or any rules, regulations or by-laws of the Act if convicted will be liable to the same penalty described above.
 
Subsequent to the amendments to the Act, Statutory Instrument 17 of 2009 was passed. It made regulations as to how the financial affairs, amongst other things, of the Council should be conducted and states that ‘any person who does not comply with regulation should be liable according to section 23 of the principal Act’.