So much trouble in the world—extreme weather phenomena, increased taxes on our exports, unrelenting inflation, the illegal drug trade, disease threats to our major agricultural industries, sargassum choking fish and causing an eyesore on our beaches, major wars across the globe, our children and youth being exposed to crazy ideas and lewd content on electronic platforms — it seems our troubles have no end. Those with extreme religious zeal are always looking for signs that we are in the end times, and with so much trouble in the world today, they have never been more sure that the end is near.
In times like these, more than ever we need a steady hand/steady hands to steer our ship. It would be easier at the controls if the religious doomsday predictors were the only voices our leaders had to contend with. Our first leader, George Price, had the luxury of being under the scrutiny of NO television stations and having a printed media which always had to step carefully because of our very stiff libel laws. In his time our only radio station was under his party’s control. The leaders of today have a plethora of mainstream media challenging their stewardship – established newspapers, radio stations, and television stations—-and on top of that there is a thing called the social media platform on which everyone can be a radio station, television station, or newspaper, some to share well-reasoned arguments and well-researched documents, and some, from behind fake names and other shields if they choose anonymity, to sling unverified information, malicious views, and outrageous content, for likes.
Criticism is important, necessary to keep leaders on their toes, but Belizeans do have to be careful about being or becoming too negative, because of diminishing returns. Keep leaders in check, but remember that they are mere human beings. Label someone an incorrigible crook; well, what’s the point of them doing right when they’re damned anyway?
It’s not a short list of decisions this PUP government has made that it should face more questions about. Friends and family have received favors (former PM Dean Barrow said a talented family member shouldn’t be denied opportunities because of who they are related to), and the handling of the cruise ports situation, telecommunications, airport security, the health system, are some other matters that require further explanation from GoB. It’s rare that a decision meets the approval of everyone. Our government leaders would say that their blowout victory at the polls earlier this year is proof that the people haven’t daubed them with the brush of corruption. But they and we know that, effectively, there was only one party under full sail at the polls in March.
Government must not allow negative press to distract it from getting the job done. A critical reform that’s pending involves the sustainability of the pension scheme for Belizeans who work for the government. At this time there’s probably nothing bigger on the table. Belizeans also keep an eye on the funds in the Social Security scheme, for the little “something” they expect to get on retiring from the labor force.
Successive governments have been ducking necessary reform of the pension scheme for government employees, and they don’t need to be reminded by the IMF that, as designed, it is on a path that leads to a crash. The pension scheme for government workers is non-contributory; and they, both employees and government bosses, know that that largesse, like all good things, must come to an end. To its credit, from its inauguration the present government set about taking that bull by the horns. There has been talk, negotiations, but with almost five years having passed since this PUP under the leadership of Hon. John Briceño took charge, it unfortunately hasn’t gone beyond that.
It’s no easy task to alter a pension scheme that seems to have been in place ever since Belize became a country. One reason it worked then is because Belizeans weren’t living too long. A graph from database.earth, a web page that “provides detailed population information for all countries in the world,” shows that the life expectancy of Belizeans in 1960 was 57.5 years, and in 2019 it had increased to 72.5 years, a difference of 15 years. That’s the number of extra years that the government has to dole out pensions for each retired public worker today. Government could kick the can down the road. If our leaders chose that path, some might call them pragmatic. It would also be spineless. It will take some fiber, but a government that boasts about its overwhelming mandate should have the credibility to win the support of the people to see the job through.
According to the Amandala, Acting Chief Executive Officer of SSB, Jerome Palma announced last Friday that “it collected a $50 million surplus last year over and above the cost of paying out benefit claims and covering administrative costs.” Palma said the surplus was realized “from a 10 percent increase in the contribution rate and more efficient collection of contributions … and from investment income.” He noted that “some of the increase in contributions has come from growth in the Business Process Outsourcing sector … [and that] other sectors have improved, [that] workers are earning more income.”
However, it’s not all downwind sailing for the good ship SSB. According to a News5 transcript, Palma said, “People are naturally going into retirement age, so we will have more people that are retired. More retirees, means more payout of the fund … if we don’t make adjustments over time, we will not be able to meet that. At the current structure and set up, it means we are stable enough for the next few years … there does not need to be an increase to the contribution rate to allow us to meet the increase in the retirement benefit payout that we anticipate.” Palma noted that the investments of the SSB, the growth of the economy, the number of people employed, are critical to the viability of the scheme.
Social Security has been described by some members of the ruling Republican Party in the US as a “communist” scheme. That’s because of the sum that employers have to pay out to keep it solvent. Among the plans that the Republican Party floated prior to the last presidential election to squeeze Social Security was to increase the retirement age to 69.
As recently as 2019, the SSB of Belize was able to get an adjustment in contribution rates, with the contribution increasing in phases, from 8% to 10%. There’s a corresponding increase in pension rates, but the SSB won’t have to deal with that until some years down the road. The PUP which formed government in November 2020 got an SSB that had solved its liquidity issues in the short term. Palma mentioned the importance of the SSB making sound investments. This is an area where the PUP, let’s say, doesn’t have the best record.
About the only blue-chip investments the SSB has at this time are its shares in the publicly owned utilities. So much depends on the economy. A number of our primary industries are staggering. Belizeans don’t want the SSB to take risks. SSB investments around a decade ago in the citrus industry weren’t greeted with enthusiasm. Belizeans have to know that if our primary industries fail, the value of the dollars we get from the SSB will be greatly diminished.
For our good, the government can’t afford to be distracted by all the negative press. There are important jobs out there to get done.
