The Public Service Union wants the books opened on the National Bus Company. With the Public Transportation Investment Bill before the Senate, PSU President Dean Flowers is demanding that the government release the audit reports and valuations used to work out who owns what in the new venture. He says the public deserves to know how the ownership structure was decided. We asked him what he is questioning.
Dean Flowers
Dean Flowers, President, Public Service Union
“If the minister wants to be honest, open, and transparent, have him publish those valuations from that auditor on these different companies so that we could call him out and call out that auditor for what they did in terms of overvaluing these assets. These things are bloated, and the government ought not to have any 49%. The government should have at least 75% ownership with that $20.5 million that we’re injecting in this company because those old buses, if we lump all of them together and sell them, we will never get that 50.5% ownership that we have now gi- that we’re now giving to these bus owners. And that are not me talking foolishness, and I challenge them. Publish. Make we look at the audits. Make we look at the assets, and you will see that you are, you all did not, and you’re not being fair to the Belizean people because the Belizean people should have greater ownership so that the government then can subsidize bus fares in all this country, brother, all in order to enrich private bus owners who did not contribute the kind of value That you said they truly contributed into this business. I’m clear with the 20.5, in my mind at least, in terms of the, the… that, that government is contributing that will now go to the electric buses. I think that is straightforward. What I will never accept and will never be able to wrap my head around is how the hell can you say to me that those depleted, depreciated and unserviceable bus could have been valued almost, I don’t know if government they put in 20 million at 40 plus the terminals, then you’re saying to me that those buses would have valued almost $50 million. Get out of here. Get out of here.”
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