Posted: Wednesday, April 16, 2025. 4:03 pm CST.
By Horace Palacio: As Belizeans await the long-delayed presentation of the national budget, former minister and current opposition leader Tracy Taegar Panton is sounding the alarm over a sharp increase in executive government salaries while over 100 open vote workers are being let go.
In a Facebook post titled “STAY AWAKE BELIZE,” Panton criticized what she described as a “hefty salary increase” granted to the Cabinet Secretary and members of the CEO Caucus. A circular dated March 28, 2025, addressed to financial secretaries and chief executive officers, confirms that the new annual salary of the Cabinet Secretary has been increased to $96,000, while CEOs are now set to receive $88,000 per year. The salary adjustments took effect on March 13, 2025.
Panton questioned the priorities of the current administration, highlighting the irony of rewarding top bureaucrats while over 100 workers from the Department of Youth Services and the Sports Council face termination. “Two years ago I sounded the alarm,” she noted, recalling her previous warnings about ballooning salary allocations in national budgets. At the time, the government claimed those increases were tied to minimum wage hikes. “My analysis painted a much different reality,” she said.
She called on all Belizeans and social partners to “remain vigilant” and to demand full transparency in the upcoming budget presentation. “We need to start agitating for the budget to be presented so we can get the whole picture.”
This latest development is expected to add to growing public scrutiny over government spending, especially as Belize faces persistent calls for austerity, accountability, and social justice in its public service.
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