Deputy Prime Minister weighs in on new monetary bills

Prime Minister John Briceno announced this week that in about three months, the Central Bank of Belize will be issuing money bills with a new design, featuring the Right Honorable George Cadle Price and Honorable Philip Goldson.  While some have been receptive of the idea, there are some who are making false claims that the money will lose value.  Two government officials giving their views on the issue were Mayor Bernard Wagner and Deputy Prime Minister, Cordel Hyde.

Bernard Wagner, Mayor of Belize City: “Those two gentlemen, I admire, I love them. They have been at the epicenter of Belize’s history and so I have no issue with those individuals, those gentlemen, those heroes being on our notes. The notes lose no value.”

Reporter: Do you feel that perhaps there should have been some level of consultation with the people before the cabinet or the government made that decision? 

Bernard Wagner, Mayor of Belize City: “Consultation, again, the people if you do a poll right now, out there, most Belizeans have those two gentlemen at the top of their list in terms of heroism, right? And value system and moral system and leading a country. We don’t need the consultation for that.” 

Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister: “We are mighty proud of that decision. I mean, ultimately, it’s about independence. It’s about sovereignty. It’s about stating our right as an independent nation, asserting our sovereignty, asserting our independence, asserting our identity, our nationhood. It’s about our people. And ultimately, you know, I mean the Queen was on our money for way too long. And now if we don’t have the Queen, we’re going to have the King. This is an opportunity for us to do something different, for us to make a very clear statement to our people that we can, we have the right to self-determination, we have a right to assert ourselves, we have a right to lead ourselves and ultimately the agreement is that our two national heroes will be put on the money. The late, Right Honorable George Price and the late Honorable Philip Goldson man who can argue with that? In the Caribbean they do this. They have this in the Caribbean they have had their national heroes on their money for some time in some other countries, we’re gonna be okay.”

The new bills are expected to be in circulation by October 2023.