“No Control, No Credibility: How the PM Lost the BAA Plot”

By: Omar Silva I Editor/Publisher

National Perspective Belize I Digital 2025

www.nationalperspectivebz.com

Belize City: Friday 30th May 2025

The Prime Minister of Belize, John Briceño, appears to be caught in the very net he cast: a web of overlapping portfolios, political favoritism, and avoidable administrative blunders. His recent attempt to exonerate his administration from the scandalous security contracts awarded by the Belize Airports Authority (BAA) only confirms the public’s worst fears—that the wheels of governance are turning not with principle or precision, but under the grinding weight of party loyalty and pre-election patronage.

At the heart of this debacle are two obscure private companies—ISECURITY and Four Diamond Security—handed airport security contracts in what can only be described as a political rush job. Tendered just days before Christmas 2024 and approved almost immediately after, these companies began collecting taxpayer money before they even deployed personnel or passed basic security screening. One of these firms is linked to Ian Cal, a known PUP loyalist, and 12 of its 18 employees failed security testing at the PGIA. The result? Police officers had to continue passenger screening while the firms pocketed public funds.

Now, with mounting public scrutiny and pressure from the media, the Prime Minister has made a rare concession: maybe the process could have been done differently. But that vague admission is too little, too late. He is the Minister of Civil Aviation, and by extension, politically accountable for the BAA. Yet, he now claims he was not involved in the decision, only to concede that perhaps money should be clawed back.

So, which is it? Was he unaware and uninvolved, or quietly complicit? Because sources now suggest that PM Briceño was aware of the contract approvals. And even if he wasn’t, then what does that say about his governance? That he holds critical portfolios with no meaningful control or oversight? If that’s the case, it’s not just poor leadership—it’s dangerous.

What makes the Prime Minister's excuses even more hollow is the blatant timeline contradiction. He says the haste in awarding contracts was due to "recent security concerns." But the hijacking occurred in April 2024, and previous incidents were in late 2023—yet the contracts were only signed in late December, shortly before the election season kicked into high gear. The only haste shown was to funnel funds to politically connected entities before scrutiny could catch up.

And let’s not ignore the role of other PUP insiders in this episode. Thea Garcia Ramirez, former BAA General Manager, admits to having concerns about the contracts’ speed and lack of legal review—but claims she was on sick leave and powerless to intervene. Yet she resumed her post, found the signed contracts on her desk, and did little beyond documenting her disagreement. Shortly after, she resigned to campaign for her party.

This isn’t a case of bureaucratic miscommunication. It’s a case of political orchestration masked by plausible deniability.

The public must not accept this new narrative of "we will learn from this." What the Briceño Administration needs is not another round of retrospective regret—it needs accountability, disciplinary review, and the immediate cancellation of contracts awarded under suspicious and partisan terms.

The Belizean people deserve more than excuses. They deserve a government that does not use national security as a vehicle for political enrichment. If the Prime Minister can’t control his ministries or doesn’t know what’s happening under his nose, then perhaps the problem isn’t his portfolios.

Perhaps the problem is him.

"Excuses, Cronyism, and Evasion, The PM's Slippery Grip on Governance."