You could call it the scandal season. Any allegation, no matter how outrageous, once it is about elected officials seems to have a whiff of credibility. And one such claim picked up traction on Facebook this morning where it is alleged that Deputy Prime Minister Gasper Vega used his influence to get financial assistance for his daughter who is attending Muffles College in Orange Walk. This type of assistance is regularly given to hundreds of needy students, but the daughter of Deputy Prime Minister is definitely not a needy student. If true, it's the kind of thing that makes you shake your head. But for Minister of Education, Patrick Faber, he was shaking his head because he said it is a concoction - a 100% bogus production devised by a mischief maker. He explained this and offered proof at a press briefing with the media today at his Belize City Office.
Hon. Patrick Faber, Minister of Education
"This letter that is circulated I am pleased to report to the media that it is a fraud. Firstly; the letterhead that the letter is on does not match our letterhead at all. The font is completely different. The reference number that is on the letter on Facebook when I ask my people to pull the file in Belmopan it does not correspond to anything like that. The letter that has that reference number on our files speaks to a travel bursary that was given to a student in Orange Walk and nothing about a grant to Muffles College."
"Just the way the letter is worded in fact it's written on my behalf from my secretary (this is the Facebook letter) to the Deputy Prime Minister for this award, which doesn't makes any sense. When my ministry gives an award to a student we write to the school and this is more or less the wording that we used "Principal, Muffles College. Dear Principal, the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports have approved a financial assistance for the sum and so and so for which student at your school. The funds will be sent to Muffles College through the school's bank account." No money is given to anybody and so on."
"The letter on Facebook doesn't talk about where the monies will be sent at all. In fact, it doesn't make sense that I would write to the politician/representative to say that, so that is a fraud. When it comes down to the signature, my secretary signature is clearly not consistent with what is on that letter. So, I am completely confortable knowing (and I have check the record) that no such payment has been made for Gabriela Vega. That name is fictitious in fact because the Deputy Prime Minister daughter's name is Gabriel Vega and I have check with him as well and there is no such payment. The people are free to ask the principal of Muffles and the bursary at Muffles if any such payment was ever sent there for Gabriel Vega who is the daughter of the Deputy Prime Minister. This is clearly a letter that has been manufactured by those who are against the government of course and who want to make mischief."
"I can assure them that if they are looking for mischief in the Ministry of Education they will find none. I want to be clear that the Ministry does give out awards/grants from time to time. Every year we have a quota of assistance that is given to every single representative be they red or be they blue. You can feel free to ask any of my colleagues who are from the opposition. They get a quota of assistance to help pre-school, primary school, secondary and when the funds are available, even tertiary."
And while Faber says that Vega did not solicit student assistance for his daughter, he told us that he can't say the same for at least one PUP representative who got a loan for one of his children.
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