This week the Guardian headlines a Settlement Deed in which some major concessions were given to BB Holdings after Michael Ashcroft related entities purchased BTL from the Government of Belize back in 2005.
It is an interesting read if we were to consider that BTL was used as leverage to get those concessions.
While the purpose of the document was to settle certain matters between the Government at the time and BB Holdings the thing is that the document does no such thing. If it does anything it unsettles the nerves of any warm blooded Belizean. The concessions were simply too much.
It shows how a government at the time, in Garifuna: LEBEGUA to Michael Ashcroft. The word lebegua means opening up. And that is what the government of Said Musa did for Michael Aschcroft; they opened the people of Belize to be taken advantage of. No one can rationalize why they did it but one thing is clear what they did was for want of better descriptions immoral and for some, illegal. It is now a hell of a thing to try to get out of these dealings by the past government and it seems that the worst is yet to come.
Just last week it was announced that BTL had secured a judgment from the LCIA in which government is asked to pay 77 million dollars as a result. That was because of the vaunted Accommodation Agreement that Musa also signed. Now we have the Settlement Deed and that too, if we are to judge the way the Ashcroft related entities operate, will have some serious repercussions. Imagine a government signing away taxes to some of the most profitable companies in the land with absolutely no regard as to the effect it would have on the people. That is more than callous more than criminal more than heart wrenching it is the actions of scoundrels.
No matter how it works out, there is one consolation in the entire ordeal, the current administration and Prime Minister Hon. Dean Barrow has taken the stand to defend Belize and Belizeans. If that means not adhering to rulings outside of Belize that is exactly what will be done. We are to then stand strongly behind him and support him in any way possible after all if it were not for such a stand the Ashcroft related companies would continue to bleed us dry.
The time of Lebegua has gone; there will be no more opening up of ourselves to be taken advantage of. The doors are closed and the time for the fight is now.
