resign which was a key issue
that led the other seven to resign last Monday.
Members of the newly re-shuffled Cabinet and their
current and/or re-assigned ministries are as follows. Prime Minister/Rt.
Hon. Said Musa – Finance, Defense and Public Service; Deputy Prime
Minister/Hon. Johnny Briceño – Natural Resources and appointed a Minister
of State in the Ministry of Finance; Hon. Vildo Marin – Health and
Environment; Hon. Ralph Fonseca – Home Affairs and Investment; Hon. Assad
Shoman – National Development; Hon. Mark Espat – Tourism, Culture, and
Enterprise; Hon. Jose Coye – Works and appointed a Minister of State in
the Ministry of Finance; Hon. Godfrey Smith – Minister of Foreign Affairs
and National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO); Hon. Cordel Hyde –
Housing; Hon. Francis Fonseca – Education and appointed the Attorney
General; Hon. Marcial Mes – Local Government and Labor; Hon. Eamon
Courtenay – Foreign Trade; Hon. Sylvia Flores – Human Development; Hon.
Mike Espat – Fisheries, Cooperatives and Commerce and Industry; Hon.
Servulo Baeza – Agriculture; and Hon. Ainslie Leslie – Energy and
Communications.
In addition, Hon. Dave Burgos was named a Minister of
State in the Ministry of Works; Hon. Ismael Cal was named a Minister of
State in the Ministry of Agriculture; and Hon. Rodwell Ferguson was named
a Minister of State in the Ministry of National Development.
According to an August
20th Government of
Belize press release, The Ministers expressed their full
support of
the Government’s commitments for continued political reform, especially
as they apply to accountability, transparency, honesty and people’s
participation.
The Prime Minister addressed the Cabinet and stressed
the importance of the doctrine of collective responsibility and the need
to implement it responsibly.He also expressed his absolute confidence in
the ability of the Cabinet to fulfill the Manifesto of the People’s
United Party - Keep Belize Free, which will ensure the equitable
development of Belize, for the benefit of all its people.
Also, Hon. Assad Shoman was sworn in
as a Senator following the resignation of Senator Therese Rath. Minister
Shoman had previously served as the Ambassador to Cuba, with ministerial
rank as the Chief Foreign Affairs Representative for the Government of
Belize.
Cabinet agreed to meet in regular session on Tuesday,
August 24
th, 2004. The
first topic on the agenda was a full discussion of the situation with
regard to the Belize Social Security Board’s operations, including a
presentation by the officials of the Board.Cabinet also reviewed the
Central Government’s accounts and the economic strategy for fiscal
and monetary stability.
As of press time on Tuesday, no further information on
these topics was available.
