A scandal that shook the corridors of government is now raising a troubling question, as the spotlight shifts to fixing a broken procurement system, is accountability quietly slipping into the background? Weeks after Prime Minister John Briceño vowed that anyone found responsible in the Ministry of Defense spending controversy would be made to answer, the national conversation has increasingly focused on reform rather than responsibility. But for many Belizeans, the real test remains unchanged, when the audit is complete, will anyone be found answerable? News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
This is no longer a breaking story, but the political fallout continues. Two former Ministers of Defense, Florencio Marin Jr. and Oscar Mira, are on administrative leave as auditors review questionable supply contracts and spending practices within the Ministry of Defense. Prime Minister John Briceño has said the audit will determine whether anyone is culpable, but from the very beginning, he made it clear that if wrongdoing is found, accountability will follow.
Prime Minister John Briceño
Prime Minister John Briceño (File: July 3rd, 2026)
“The auditor general will do a full investigation. And if there were any wrongdoings, be it public officers or politicians, they will have to answer. We are not going to cover this up.”
Since then, the scandal has taken on a new dimension. The debate has moved beyond accountability and into the larger issue of whether the system itself needs urgent reform.
Kareem Musa
Kareem Musa, Cabinet Minister (File: July 23rd, 2026)
“We have an opportunity to fix procurement, which has bedeviled us for decades, not just this PUP administration, past UDP and PUP administration.”
Francis Fonseca
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Home Affairs (File: July 21st, 2026)
“What is very clear is that we have broken procurement system and that has been the case for many years. Successive governments under both administrations may have been comfortable with that broken system.”
Henry Charles Usher
Henry Charles Usher, Cabinet Minister (File: July 27th, 2026)
“I think it’s important that if there are areas that need improvement, that those areas are improved, that if there are additional controls that need to be put in place. If you would recall, when you first asked me this question, even before the Auditor General stepped in, I said, “What is important is that an audit is done.”
Fixing weaknesses in the government’s procurement system is important; however, the bigger question is whether anyone will be held accountable for flouting the Finance and Audit Reform Act.
Richard “Dickie” Bradley
Richard “Dickie” Bradley, Former Public Officer
“We have started to see in the country that something is going terribly wrong with the control of public monies. There is no accountability. There are no checks and balance. There is no transparency. You can’t run a country like that.”
Well-known attorney Richard “Dickie” Bradley is a former Chief Executive Officer with years of experience in public service. Instead of placing blame on the ministers, he says responsibility lies with the public officers who handled the finances, mainly the accounting staff and the CEO.
Richard “Dickie” Bradley
“There is a pressure on some public officers, but there is also corruption involved because if I defending my invoice to collect money, I can say to you, you know if you speed up my thing, you gonna get something. And then the second time around you say like, I don’t want to speed up nothing because da wa lee slightaz, can’t even pay school fees for that kind of money. I give you more and so. The buck stops at the public officers. The accountants, the finance officers, the chief executive officer. That is where the problem can be resolved and solved. If we find that the procedure is a little outdated and a bit colonial, we have the ability to improve and change it.”
Bradley argues that the solution is not in modernizing an outdated system, but rather in holding public servants accountable for their actions. The Public Service Union, on the other hand, has taken aim at a politician.
Dean Flowers
Dean Flowers, President, Public Service Union (File: July 24th, 2026)
“We have demanded for the removal of Oscar Mira, from Cabinet, the permanent removal of Oscar Mira from Cabinet.”
But as the call for reform grows louder, accountability still hangs in the balance. Will the system be fixed first, or will those responsible be made to answer? Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.
Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.
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