Prime Minister Dean Barrow is recovering from a round of surgery he successfully underwent on Wednesday morning. The PM had been suffering for some time with chronic back pain due to three herniated discs on his spine. The surgery, according to the government press release, it took two hours and a half at the DISC […]
An eighteen karat solid gold trophy arrived in Belize this morning at the Phillip Goldson International via private jet and under heavy security. The arrival of the priceless FIFA World Cup Trophy was a highly anticipated event that was choreographed with precision. On hand were the Minister of Sports, International Football Federation (FIFA), the local […]
Now back to the Wednesday’s marathon session of the senate. At close to six in the evening the parting shots had all been fired and it was time for the senators to vote on the motion for the appointment of the Special Select Committee. Even for House meetings the media is generally packed up and […]
A highly anticipated senate meeting in Belmopan started at two this afternoon and concluded before six this evening. The main agenda item was the tabling of a motion by opposition senator Lisa Shoman for the setting up a senate select committee to investigate the immigration scandal which involves the illegal issuance of a passport to […]
And now, we turn to the sad story of a Belize City businessman who has been in the news now for years. Sixty-seven year old Michael Coye spent eighteen months behind bars for money-laundering while his case was under appeal. It’s a rarity, but last Thursday, his attorney was able to secure bail for him […]
As we said earlier in the newscast, the motion for a senate-select committee did not pass in the senate this evening. That’s because the opposition questioned the casting vote by the president of the senate on the basis that only senators can vote and Marco Pech is not a senator. That’s how it ended on […]
Senator for the Opposition, Lisa Shoman explains. Lisa Shoman, P.U.P. Senator “Six senators voted in favor—the three social partner senators and the three senators from the opposition—and all six senators for the government voted against. In this matter, the constitution is clear: the president does not have a casting vote. When it comes to […]
A report on today’s senate meeting is coming up shortly, but we go to the courts. Well-known poet and entertainer, Leroy “The Grand Master” Young, a resident of Pinks Alley in Belize City was arraigned this morning in the courtroom of Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith on forgery charges. According to police, Carlos Walker, […]
A woman was stabbed outside a club on Monday night and police believe they have been able to crack the case. Today, twenty-nine year old Denay Gillett, a resident and cashier of Fern Lane in Belize City, was arraigned for wounding twenty-seven year old Michelle Gordon. Gillett, who was unrepresented, appeared before Magistrate Clive Lino […]
Relations between the Belize City Council and the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry have not always been cozy. But an initiative by Belize City Mayor Darrell Bradley will hopefully change that. This morning a business mixer was held at the Radisson to bring the private sector and public sector around the table. In the […]
The allegations against Edmund “Clear the Land” Castro have been in the news since October twenty-third and it is a story of alleged corruption which will not blow away. A whistleblower gave graphic details of how Castro facilitated visas to Chinese nationals for a fee. On Monday, we reported that Alverine Burgess was approached by […]
Former Minister of State Elvin Penner will not resign as Area Representative of Cayo Northeast. While there has been no official verification of this from either Prime Minister Dean Barrow or Penner himself, he has communicated his decision to the U.D.P. Cayo Northeast Executive Committee. We’ll have their response for you, but first an update […]
That money and benefits Penner is earning can give him a whole lot of comfort, but it can’t buy any love for the disgraced former Minister of State. The first Mennonite to serve as representative of such high office is shunned for his role in the passport scandal. And now he has become a political […]
Now that’s a situation which is practically unheard of…where the executive committee of a party refuses to work with the Area Representative of that constituency. Magaña says that the decision of the committee came on instructions from a member of the U.D.P. Executive after Penner met with the Prime Minister last week and at this […]
And with all that said…why doesn’t Penner just resign and get it over with? Chairman Fermin Magaña says he believes that Penner is trying to vindicate himself by serving his people as best he can in the time he has left. Fermin Magaña, Chairman, Cayo Northeast Committee “He has his personal reasons why he […]
Later in the broadcast, Francis Fonseca, the Leader of the People’s United Party addresses the nation on the immigration scandal. Fonseca says that there are more questions than answers in the scandal that is now forty-five days old and not going away. In his statement, Fonseca says that after calling for the resignation of Elvin […]
Is the prime minister offering protection to Edmund Castro in light of the revelations against him? Yes or no. Send your comments and responses using your SMART phones to 8686 or post your vote on our e-poll at channel5belize.com. You can also send an email with your comments to questions@channel5belize.com.
It was perhaps the most anticipated and hard fought political convention in recent P.U.P. history, as four persons vied for the right to represent the opposition party in the Belmopan constituency. In the ring was veteran politician Amin Hegar, who narrowly lost to powerful U.D.P. incumbent John Saldivar in 2012. Facing Hegar were three political […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow left the country on Sunday to undergo surgery in Los Angeles for which we wish him a speedy recovery. But before leaving, he strenuously defended his Minister of State Edmund ‘Clear the Land’ Castro. Castro is alleged to have received money to facilitate visas for Chinese nationals between October 2012 and […]
When news broke that a South Korean national imprisoned in Taiwan, had received Belizean citizenship and passport, the Prime Minister put Elvin Penner out of cabinet and announced that he was asking the former minister of state to also resign from the party and as area representative. That has not happened and Penner says he […]
Still on the issue of the immigration scandal…The National Trade Union Congress of Belize, and sister organization the Public Service Union, came out swinging this morning on the abrupt transfer last week of eleven clerks and the extended suspension of three officers from the Immigration Department. For context; we note that even though the issuing […]
So far it is only public officers that have been affected in the huge immigration scandal. The police say they are not looking in the direction of the former minister of state and the C.E.O. for the Immigration says it is not in her remit to question him. But the sudden transfer of clerks from […]
The corruption at the Social Investment Fund which resulted in the halting of the Dangriga Market Project has gone unremarked lately. That’s because the issue has been completely overshadowed by the passport and visa scandal implicating not one but two U.D.P. junior ministers. But the people of Dangriga have not lost sight of what has […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow, at a recent fundraiser in Los Angeles, openly admitted that “the Lands Department unfortunately is another hotbed of corruption.” That acknowledgement, which came on the heels of the immigration scandal, confirms what has long been speculated in the Ministry of Natural Resources. Following that disclosure, the P.M. went on record to […]
Usually all eyes and ears are tuned to the fireworks, insults, taunts and verbal sparring inside the House of Representatives. But today, attention was split as the opposition announced late in the week that they would be protesting on the steps of the National Assembly. While the most burning issue on the public plate has […]
