Belize is hardly alone regionally in economic malaise; many nations in the Caribbean region, whose governments are presently submitting budgets for consideration similar to others, have had similar sluggish economic growth or contraction in the last year. Unlike Belize, according to Prime Minister Dean Barrow, they have had no qualms about massive tax increases, like […]
More than ten families are without homes tonight after a fire took down their houses and properties in the Majestic Alley in Belize City late this afternoon. At news time reports are that up to fourteen families may have been displaced as the inferno blazed for at least two hours before it was brought under […]
Turning to the Budget Debate in the House of Representatives this morning…. After being seemingly overwhelmed and nettled by the force and ferocity of the Opposition People’s United Party’s response on the opening day of the debate, the governing United Democratic Party’s speakers tempered their responses. They focused on what people want to see – […]
But the Opposition P.U.P. proved intractable, convinced that two Belizes exist and that they are further apart than ever before. Leading off the Budget Debate this morning, former Opposition Leader Francis Fonseca said the United Democratic Party has been exposed on all fronts and that they have no record to show for their time in […]
Later, it was the turn of Albert area representative and Minister of State for Investment, Trade and Commerce, Tracey Taegar-Panton, to deliver a presentation marked mostly by technical numbers about the work her Ministry has done and plans to do in the coming year. According to Taegar-Panton, Belize did not lack for investment in the […]
First-term area representative for Caribbean Shores, Kareem Musa, has become a noted debater in the House of Representatives. Today’s Budget presentation was no different as he touched on multiple topics while going through what the Budget means for his constituents and Belize generally. The younger Musa went after Prime Minister Dean Barrow as cold, callous, […]
In his usual inimitable style, Mesopotamia area representative Michael Finnegan hit back at the Opposition’s defense of the loans they made under their administration which have become the Superbond. Referencing an old Supreme Court case, Finnegan described the other side as being “giddy-a-giddy” – or crazy for power – and hoping the Belizean people will […]
We’re not sure if they compared ideas before coming to Belmopan on Thursday, but two People’s United Party area representatives suggested similar methods for having the Government understand the plight of the poor during their Budget presentations – Cordel Hyde of Lake Independence on Thursday and Kareem Musa of Caribbean Shores today. Basically, they propose […]
Belizeans are lovers of corned beef; there are seven brands of corned beef on supermarket shelves. There was a scare over the weekend when Brazil’s Secretariat of Animal and Plant Health of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply issued a warning that the Brazilian Federal Police had detected irregular practices in the certification […]
A B.D.F. soldier is making a name for himself in Guyana. Officer Cadet Francisco Choc was awarded best overall trainee in the Guyana Defence Force standards officers’ course. Choc also received the Sword of Honour and Best in Fitness and Military Knowledge. The Standard Military Officers Course is an intensive training programme of leadership and […]
Back to today’s budget debate….Orange Walk South area representative Jose Mai focused on the impact of the Budget – or lack thereof – on the productive sector, which he described as devastating. He excoriated the Government for neglecting the plight of farmers, focusing on the recent issue of potatoes. Mai said he found it unbelievable […]
Lake I Representative, Cordel Hyde turned the tables on the U.D.P. on the issue of corruption in his budget presentation on Thursday. The U.D.P. has continuously shaken their fingers against their predecessors in office about charges of corruption, but Hyde says the U.D.P. administration itself has much to answer for, including consistent feeding of alleged […]
What is the real unemployment rate? That’s the question you may want to ask and perhaps you will be no smarter after the following. Now, the figures released from the Statistical Institute of Belize as of September 2016 posted on the SIB’s website states that unemployment stands at eleven point one percent. This year in […]
Former Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar Vega once again skipped proceedings in Belmopan this week, marking the fifth consecutive meeting he has been absent from. Under the Standing Orders, more than six absences qualifies him to step down from his position as area representative for Orange Walk North, resulting in a by-election, unless he resigns sooner. […]
Fort George Area Rep and Former Prime Minister, Said Musa, is always a must listen to during the debating of the budget and on Thursday during his presentation, he didn’t disappoint. Musa took aim at the Prime Minister over the ballooning Superbond which, according to the veteran politician, has tripled since the U.D.P. took over […]
It’s World Tuberculosis Day around the world – it is a day designed to build public awareness that tuberculosis remains an epidemic in much of the world, causing the deaths of over one point five million people each year, mostly in developing countries. So, this year countries globally are raising awareness through the slogan “Unite […]
The House of Representatives met in Belmopan today with passions running high for the second reading of the General Revenue and Appropriation Bill, otherwise known as the Budget, which is typically debated for two days. Though slightly less antagonistic than usual, members of the lower chamber held nothing back, especially the Opposition, which has been […]
If the Leader of the Opposition’s statements were broad and presented the macro picture of the so dubbed Barrow’s bogus budget, then his deputy, Lake Independence’s Cordel Hyde, was more surgical and precise. Hyde leads a division where many feel the day-to-day effects of Belize’s economic malaise, and he led off the P.U.P.’s response by […]
After castigating the Government for not providing less vague assurances about how it will address the repayment of the Superbond and Belize’s other debts, Hyde turned his attention to the contemplation of the selling of shares in the nationalized utility companies Belize Electricity Limited and Belize Telemedia Limited to the Social Security Board. S.S.B. is […]
Hyde also went after what he called cuts to significant portions of the “pro-poor” programs initiated by the Barrow administration, including the food pantry, school feeding program and Apprenticeship Training. The figures, he claimed, were drastically slashed for no apparent reason. But Minister of Education Patrick Faber rose later in reply to say that with […]
Former Prime Minister Said Musa stood to make his contribution to the debate this afternoon. As he said at the outset, he wanted to defend his Government’s decision to make the loans that would come to form the Superbond, and disprove the current administration’s claims that there is nothing to show for the one point […]
“It is just like you are on a piece of land all your life, but you are a squatter. You can’t do anything with that land until you get it surveyed and get the survey agreed upon and you have a title to it.” This is how Minister of Foreign Affairs Wilfred Elrington described Belize’s […]
The recent murder of Keonia Ara was particularly gruesome, but body parts found in the river behind Blackman Eddy this week, tell the tale of a most gory murder. On Tuesday, arms and legs were found floating in a sack and on Wednesday, a decomposing torso was found in a sack submerged in the water. […]
Members of the Vasquez family occupying two houses in Santa Elena, Cayo are picking up the pieces today after their property and belongings were gutted by arson on Wednesday. The fire started in the lower flat of the building occupied by George Vasquez and his children and spread quickly to the adjacent property occupied by […]
As expected, the matter of the Superbond came up during the first day of the Budget Debate. While repeating his claim that the revised package remains unsustainable without a clear plan, Leader of the Opposition John Briceño referred to the attendant fees for negotiation of the billion dollar package as costing up to twenty million […]
