Senator Valerie Woods added significantly to the debate, supporting the motion for a select senate investigation. Woods said had one been held at the time of the issuance of a passport to Won Hong Kim, a number of irregularities would have been avoided. But when it came to Senator Godwin Hulse’s contribution, he threw a […]
The Prime Minister slipped the media today following a cabinet meeting, but his ministers were out to do damage control on Friday’s outrageous House Meeting. Pickstock Area Representative Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington is the sole member of the House of Representatives to have risen and indirectly name fellow Cayo South’s Julius Espat for improper conduct during […]
During the fiasco on Friday, the presentation by Espat on the damming Special Audit, which exposes corruption at the Immigration between 2011 and 2013, was muzzled when Espat was physically removed by security forces. Seasoned parliamentarian Michael Finnegan rose to call for order in the House of Representatives. He, along with former Prime Minister Said […]
The Special Audit conducted by Auditor General Dorothy Bradley into the issuance of Belizean passports and visas during a two-year period spanning 2011 and 2013 still has currency and is being discussed just about everywhere else outside the National Assembly. While the debate was stifled with the suspension of Julius Espat, we asked Finnegan for […]
Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales has made very unbecoming comments following the release of the O.A.S. report on the fatal shooting of fourteen-year-old Julio Rene Alvarado Ruano in April. The investigation on the shooting death of the minor was conducted by experts, Doctors James Hamby of the U.S. and Doctor Patricia Trujillo of Mexico. […]
Three unelected persons have been given top ministerial appointments in the Barrow Administration. But why have the elected representative been pushed aside? Following today’s cabinet meeting, the Press Office issued an updated list of Cabinet Ministers and Chief Executive Officers. The most recent changes are: first, the addition of Senator Doctor Carla Barnett as Minister […]
This afternoon, senior parliamentarian Michael Finnegan shared his thoughts on the new ministerial appointments. Isani Cayetano “It would seem as if though two of the most powerful portfolios within the respective ministries in government have been given to nonelected officials. Attorney General Vanessa Retreage is also the Minister of Natural Resources; that’s one of […]
This morning, the Hispanic arm of the Evangelical Church, led by Patrick Menzies, was back on Independence Hill where they marched against government’s decision not to appeal the Supreme Court ruling on Section Fifty-three. While Prime Minister Barrow and members of Cabinet were in session for the better part of the morning, Menzies and his […]
The political brouhaha at the sitting of the House of Representatives on Friday remains at the forefront of national discourse tonight. It is the first time that security forces are used to physically remove a sitting member from within the House. The back and forth between Speaker Michael Peyrefitte and Cayo South Area Representative Julius […]
In the wake of Friday’s chaotic sitting, the People’s United Party announced that it has agreed to hold a series of activities; the first to take place on Wednesday at the Senate meeting and to be followed by a demonstration in Belize City. The P.U.P. invites Belizeans across the country to join the cause in […]
Cayo South Area Representative Julius Espat was suspended as a member of the House of Representatives, at Friday’s scandalous sitting. While questions have been raised as to the legitimacy of his removal, Espat maintains that he is prepared to attend the next house meeting whenever it is called. We’ll have a legal perspective on the […]
According to senior parliamentarian and Leader of the Opposition John Briceño, the Speaker of the House has been very biased in moderating House debates. The P.U.P. claims the Speaker does not stifle the government side, but consistently goes against the other side of the House. John Briceño, Leader of the Opposition “It was the […]
The ejection of the media from the gallery has also raised concerns in respect of the apparent abuse of authority by members of the police department. Without verbal authorization from the Speaker of the House, police on duty inside the Assembly Building proceeded to forcibly remove reporters, cameramen and technicians from the balcony. The media […]
The People’s United Party is also calling for an appeal of the Supreme Court decision on Section Fifty-three of the Criminal Code. In the days following the landmark ruling, the P.U.P. stated that it respected the decision of the Supreme Court as the rule of law. Today, however it has made an about turn, demanding […]
The P.U.P. touched on a number of other issues. It weighed-in on the massive turnout of protestors who were present for the COLA/Evangelical Church rally in Belmopan on Friday. According to Party Leader Briceño, the opposition deliberately abstained from bringing out its membership out of respect for the church’s cause. The events on Friday, however, […]
We have been covering House Meetings for decades, but we cannot remember one as chaotic and as dangerous to democracy as today. There was total pandemonium on Independence Hill where a sitting parliamentarian was suspended—though no knows for how long—another was manhandled and then there was a direct attack on the media. Outside of parliament, […]
As Julius Espat was being dragged out of the building, the Leader of the Opposition John Briceño attempted to intervene, telling the police that Espat was already outside of the Chambers so excessive force was not necessary. But he too was manhandled by the officers who appeared to be overextending their authority. At least three […]
Following the madness inside the meeting of the House, Leader of the Opposition John Briceño and Deputy Party Leader Julius Espat spoke candidly with the media. Briceño and Espat vehemently argued that the reason for the turmoil was simply because they chose to address the issue of the Auditor General’s report which names several government […]
The media also came under attack by the police. Colleagues were asked to leave, but stood their ground and then the police went into attack mode. The removal of the media from the gallery was an attempt to stop the recordings of the ugly scene unfolding. During that mayhem, our colleague at 7 News, Director […]
Moments later, flanked by a massive security detail, PM Barrow would exit the building. The shouting and jeering from onlookers continued as he made his way downhill towards his vehicle. We tried ardently to get a word from him concerning the pandemonium in today’s historic House Meeting. Here’s what happened. {Images of Prime Minister […]
While all the havoc was taking place inside the National Assembly, outside was no different. Just around high noon, what had been a peaceful protest on the steps of the National Assembly descended into scenes of near-riot after a protestor began firing missiles toward the Assembly building. Police responded with live warning rounds fire over […]
While the House debated, outside in the Belmopan sun, a selection of the population railed and called on the Prime Minister and his government to defend the nation from social ills and regain their rapidly fading trust. Correspondent Aaron Humes reports from Independence Hill. Aaron Humes, Reporting On this sunny Friday in the nation’s […]
The Special Audit Reports on the Immigration and Nationality Department are to be laid before the House of Representatives on Friday, and are sure to engineer much talk and opprobrium. But the man who saw them first, Prime Minister Dean Barrow, has a considered view on how much they condemn the government and the Department. […]
Not a smoking gun on corruption?….well the Special Audit during the period 2011-2013, unearthed so many irregularities in the issuance of visas and passports that could not have been carried out by public officers alone without the sanction of ministers. In a nutshell, the investigation found that as many as fifty-five thousand passports were issued […]
Ministers of government also illegally intervened in the nationality process when there is no such provision for them to do so in the Belize Nationality Act, pointed out by the Auditor General in her findings. Appendix ‘F’ to the Special Audit on Nationality confirms that seven current ministers and ministers of state and seven former […]
