By Horace Palacio:
On Tuesday night, the Prime Minister handed one man three of the heaviest files in Belize. The murder file. The blackout file. And the gateway file, an 800 million dollar port that will be the largest project in our history.
Yesterday this column named the risk, one desk stretched across three crises. Today, the constructive sequel, because fairness demands it and the record supports it. Here is the honest case for how Michel Chebat can be not merely adequate in this triple portfolio, but great, and the thirteen moves that would get him there.
Start with the asset audit, because the man arrives better equipped than the cynics will admit.
He is a Senior Counsel with more than a quarter century at the bar, which matters, because two of his files, security and an 800 million dollar procurement, are fundamentally legal minefields where due process instincts are worth more than bravado. He chaired the Social Security Board and steered the groundwork for national health insurance, which is systems administration at scale. He commanded the Health Ministry through the pandemic, the hardest crisis apprenticeship this country offers. He has held Energy since 2022, meaning no learning curve on the file with the nearest deadlines. The Digital Government Bill, the legal plumbing for the online, transparent state, passed under his watch, remember that, it returns below as a weapon. And one more credential this column weighs above all the others. This August, asked about the Saudi solar loan, with every evasion available to him, the minister gave the country a straight answer. Three years, zero dollars disbursed. This column spent a year grading officials on candor, and he passed the hardest question on the exam. A minister who tells the truth about a failure is a minister who can be trusted to fix one. That is the foundation. Now the building.
But first, rule zero, the one that decides everything else. Three crises cannot be personally micromanaged by one human being, and the minister who tries to run everything runs nothing. So govern by scoreboard and delegate by name. A Minister of State for Energy and Ports already exists, empower him publicly. Name an accountable delivery lead for each file. The great minister’s job is to set the number, publish the number, and remove whatever blocks the number. Everything below assumes that discipline.
The National Security file, five moves.
One, define the numbers or retire them. The nation was told of an 80 percent conviction rate. Eighty percent of what, Minister? Define it, and then publish a quarterly security scoreboard, including the murder count the State of the Nation Address somehow omitted. A ministry renamed for seriousness should count seriously, in public, every quarter. Make this your first act, it costs nothing and buys instant credibility.
Two, interrupt the pipeline. This column documented the recruitment window, boys drawn into gangs between eight and fourteen. Sweeps harvest the crop, interruption kills the seed. Put real money behind mentorship, school retention and the public health approach to violence that turned cities like Glasgow around, focused deterrence aimed at the small violent cohort, not detention theater aimed at headlines. Belize must not Bukele itself, this column has ruled on that, and a Senior Counsel should be the last man tempted.
Three, use the unified command wisely. Police and BDF under one roof is a gift for the borders and the Sarstoon, where coordination won the day on September 10. It is a danger if it blurs into militarized streets. Write the doctrine down, distinct lanes, distinct rules, the lawyer’s instinct in service of liberty.
Four, protect the truth-tellers. Cases collapse in this country because witnesses are terrified. Conviction rates rise through witness protection, forensics and case management, the professional route. And champion the whistleblower law in Cabinet, Minister, because the security of honest voices is national security, and the churches themselves have demanded it.
Five, pair morale with accountability. Vehicles and cameras were bought, good. Add training, transparent internal discipline, and a trust metric, because the force the community trusts receives the tips that solve the murders. Trust is an intelligence asset. Budget for it.
The Energy file, four moves, and you know this terrain better than anyone.
Six, make June 2027 sacred. Thirty megawatts of solar with batteries is promised by that month, and your name is now on it. Publish monthly construction progress, and adopt the 8pm Test publicly, a quarterly scoreboard of peak demand against in-country capacity. The gap was 19 megawatts on August 25. Report it shrinking, in numbers, until it reads zero.
Seven, end the delay you exposed. You told the country the truth about the Saudi loan. Now be the man who finishes the story, a published request for proposals within ninety days, or restructure the financing into the World Bank auction channel that is demonstrably moving. The teller of the truth should become the breaker of the logjam.
Eight, dispatch the dams. The 51 megawatts this country bought for a quarter billion dollars can be scheduled, water held through the solar noon, released into the evening peak. It is the free gift hiding inside money already spent, and it requires an operational order, not a project.
Nine, free the rooftops and demote the import. Net billing rules paired with DFC green loans turn 169 megawatts of sleeping rooftop potential into citizen-built capacity, and every Belizean megawatt demotes the Mexican line from landlord to lifeboat. This government closed the Fortis acquisition in fourteen days. You were there. Aim that velocity at construction.
The Ports file, four moves, and this one decides your legacy.
Ten, daylight before dredging. The largest project in Belizean history must be the procurement portal’s flagship tenant, every contract, every award, every variation published from day one. Minister, the Digital Government Bill passed under your own hand. You wrote the plumbing. Now run the biggest project in our history through it, and the Mira era dies of sunlight on your watch.
Eleven, publish the baseline now. The government’s own promise is that a modern port cuts shipping costs and puts money back in every family’s pocket. Measure it, then. Publish today’s port costs per container, so the dividend can be verified later instead of asserted. What gets measured gets delivered.
Twelve, size the cruise gateway by yield. This column showed the arithmetic, cruise brings crowds, overnight brings income. Cargo modernization first, and a cruise terminal sized by published yield mathematics, not by ribbon appetite.
Thirteen, pass the knife test on every concession. Whatever operator agreements get signed will bind Belize for decades, inherited by governments unborn. Open tender, published terms, locked cases. And bring the port workers into the design early, because the waterfront’s long history of conflict ends through inclusion, never surprise. Do not let anyone build a superbond of the sea.
There it is, Minister. Thirteen moves, three files, and at the end of them, three numbers that will define you. The murder count, falling. The megawatt gap, closing. The port contracts, published.
This column makes you the same offer it makes every official. We will print your scoreboard each quarter, and when the numbers move, the applause will be loud and genuine, because our praise sits in escrow, released on delivery.
You gave this country a straight answer in August.
Now give it three straight numbers.
Great ministers are not appointed, sir. They are audited into existence.
The audit starts now. So can the greatness.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author, Horace Palacio, and do not necessarily reflect the views or editorial stance of Breaking Belize News.
The post How Michel Chebat becomes a great minister, three files, three numbers, thirteen moves appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Horace Palacio: On Tuesday night, the Prime Minister handed one man three of the heaviest files in Belize. The murder file. The blackout file. And the gateway file, an 800 million dollar port that will be the largest project in our history. Yesterday this column named the risk, one desk stretched across three crises.
The post How Michel Chebat becomes a great minister, three files, three numbers, thirteen moves appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
