More questions about the boledo!
Posted: 12/11/2009 - 06:24 PM
Author: R. Jex
This is a follow-up to the article of November 6, 2009, about the boledo.
I was very surprised to know that after my article was published, less than 72 hours, Monday, November 9, the Government of Belize awarded a ten-year contract to Brads Gaming Co. Ltd.
I have no knowledge as to when this was approved. It is estimated that GOB will get two million dollars annually. My questions to the GOB are as follows: was this contract made public to the people of my country so that other businesses could have bid for this contract as well? Are the names of the individuals (Brads Gaming Co. Ltd) being published so that the citizens of the country know who they are? How is it that the GOB did not get an auditor to look into the lottery to see why it was not making money, as in the case of the City Council?
Now GOB is giving this company seventeen months to get things in place. I don’t know how you can give a company a contract that doesn’t have the tools to do the job. From what I am seeing, BGCL is getting enough building time to raise the money before they can operate efficiently.
Note that the same poor people will be paying for it. At what point in time will Belizeans come first? Before making such a hasty decision, it would have been prudent for the GOB to get a body of people to investigate the problem first, which includes enforcing the law.
Is Brads Gaming Co. Ltd. going to get their own enforcing officer to make sure that every seller complies with the rules?
Also, for the next 17 months, will the GOB just let the boledo continue to be run illegally? (Business as usual.) They should have used the 17 months to see how much money they can make, and to see the mistakes being made, rather than awarding a MULTIMILLION dollar contract to a company that is not ready.
I can see where Brads Gaming Co. Ltd. already did their job. They made an offer prior to the taking over of the business. I think this warrants an investigation immediately to be sure that the persons who awarded the contract are not the shareholders, or their families.
I also hope that the GOB would inform the Belizean people how this decision was made. Famous words of my GOB (transparency and accountability), now let them practice what they preach.
Belizeans need to look at the financial records of Brads Gaming Co. Ltd. to see what kind of revenue they generated in the past year, and what type of bond they put up.
Also, will they have insurance coverage in the event their business fails? At least we know the GOB will be covered for the next 10 years.
Thanks,
R. Jex
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|