By Omar Silva I Editor/Publisher

National Perspective Belize I Digital 2025

www.nationalperspectivebz.com

Belize City: Wednesday 17th April, 2025

While the Belizean people battle with skyrocketing costs for rent, utilities, groceries, and transport, the Briceño administration has quietly handed out lavish pay increases to the highest-paid members of government—deepening the chasm between those who serve the nation and those who exploit it.

Just one day after securing a second term in the March 2025 general elections, the Cabinet Secretary, with surgical precision and zero public consultation, signed off on a 15% salary increase for himself, bumping his earnings from $81,000 to $96,000 per year. Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs)—most of whom are political loyalists—were gifted a 13% raise, bringing their annual compensation from $76,000 to $88,000.

These raises have ignited fury within the Public Service Union (PSU), which issued a blistering condemnation of the administration's hypocrisy, comparing it to the animalistic betrayal of leadership in Orwell’s Animal Farm. As the PSU rightly points out, thousands of public officers continue to struggle with withheld increments, stagnant wages, and no relief from rising living costs.

“The people of Belize deserve leaders who serve them, not predators who exploit them,” declared the PSU.

A Tale of Two Economies

For most Belizean families, life under this administration has been marked by economic suffocation. Since the People’s United Party (PUP) took office in 2020, the cost of living has multiplied fourfold. What once bought a family basic groceries for a week at $30 now barely scratches the surface at $120 or more.

Despite promises in their 2020 manifesto to raise the minimum wage, the increase from $3.30 to $5.00 per hour was both late and paltry, failing to keep pace with global inflation and local hardship. Meanwhile, top government officials—not only enjoy high base salaries—but vehicle, phone, housing, and travel allowances, all at taxpayer expense.

Worse, approximately 40% of public officers still earn less than $20,000 annually, many of them supporting families, paying rent, and enduring the daily grind of underfunded public institutions.

The Double Standard of Governance

Public officers, teachers, nurses, and police officers must negotiate every cent of their livelihood through hard-won union contracts. And even then, their rights and salaries are often disregarded, delayed, or denied. Yet political appointees, with the stroke of a pen, quietly inflate their pay without accountability.

This act of self-reward, as the PSU outlines, is not just unethical—it undermines public trust. The Cabinet Secretary’s new $96,000 base salary will likely trigger an upward chain reaction, ensuring ministers and CEOs match or exceed this benchmark, even as ordinary workers are told to “tighten their belts.”

PSU Demands Justice

The Public Service Union is now calling on the Briceño administration to act immediately and honour commitments made to public officers:

• A 7.5% salary adjustment to reflect withheld increments.
• Increased transfer grants from $1,200 to $1,500, as stated in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
• Retroactive payments for officers shortchanged since 2021.
• Immediate engagement with the Joint Unions to finalize the CBA.
• A written commitment within 21 days to address all outlined demands.

The PSU is also sounding the alarm: if these demands are ignored, industrial action may become unavoidable.

“Silence and division only empower those who profit from our exploitation,” the union warned.

Where Is the People's Government?

This latest scandal confirms what many Belizeans have long suspected: the so-called “people’s government” is quick to protect its inner circle and slow to deliver justice to the working class. If this administration was elected on the promise of change, it now stands guilty of betraying that very promise.

Economic independence cannot begin while political elites loot the national treasury under the guise of public service. As inflation cripples the poor and working class, the time has come to ask: how much more must Belizeans sacrifice before their leaders stop feeding themselves first?