Senate Blocks Interim Appointment of Deputy Auditor General

Tonight, the country is without an Auditor General after the Senate blocked a move to temporarily appoint Deputy Auditor General Maria Rodriguez to the post. Yesterday, the Senate did not pass the motion to have Rodriguez fill the post for four months. The government says the move would have provided them with enough time to find and select a qualified person to fill the post using the proper channels. Senators for the Opposition and Social Partners claimed that the appointment would have encouraged the government to drag its feet. The Senators also argued that the government had enough time to replace former AG, Dorothy Bradley but chose to ignore the importance of the post. Today, Prime Minister John Briceno reacted to the Senate’s decision.

John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: “I think that’s a question you need to ask those senators that voted against it. I think, I can’t understand their logic. It’s a flawed logic. The point is that we don’t have an Auditor General. We wanted to point out a temporary one whilst we advertise and have people to come in and apply for that post, looking at either in-house or outside of the service. And we do recognize also that this is a very specialized skill and that we may need to have to pay them more than what the service pays. I think that you need to ask the geniuses of those that voted against that because then we are without an Auditor General and the work of the government continues.”

Reporter: I think one of the main points of contention was the four-month period. I mean, why was that even in this question in the first place? The four-month, it was only for four months. Why just four months?

John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: “They wanted it for two years. We believe that in four months we’ve already advertised. We felt that it was enough time. If we would have put a year, they would tell us, well why a year is too long. We’re trying to have just the amount of time necessary to be able to advertise and interview and get somebody properly and proper and fit for the post of Auditor General. We’re going to go through the four month period and when we find an Auditor General that’s adequate, then we will proceed.”

According to the government, the position has been advertised and scheduled interviews should be conducted in the coming weeks