Seventy-six alcaldes representing thirty-eight Maya communities in Southern Belize took the oath of office earlier today during a swearing-in ceremony. The traditional leaders were each elected by a majority of votes within the respective villages and will serve a term of two years. The men are expected to carry out their duties in accordance the […]
At the time of the swearing-in ceremony, Santiago Quib was chosen by the majority to ascend to the presidency of the TAA. The Maya community also acknowledges the support given in recognizing the authority of the Maya traditional governance. According to Mis, each Alcalde renewed his commitment to work to further strengthening the relationship with […]
In wrapping up Thursday’s debate on the Referendum Act, which the Government is seeking to have amended to reflect a simple majority as validating a referendum on any issue, Leader of Government Business Godwin Hulse tried to reduce the matter to simple figures. According to Hulse’s explanation, the Government is trying to avoid “tyranny of […]
All this week we’ve been showing you snippets of Rebecca Rath’s journey to the Miss Universe crown in Manila, Philippines. Rath and the other contestants are participating in a number of activities leading up to the pageant on January twenty-ninth. Earlier today, the Miss Universe organization released a teaser of a video they did with […]
Cyber bullying is a crime that occurs every split of a second on social media. But the truth it, that at least for now, there is little that can be done to bring it under control. That is because we are ages behind as it relates to laws to prosecute these crimes. News Five’s Duane […]
You probably know or are related to someone who studies or who has passed through the halls of Saint Catherine Academy. The all-girls high school continues as a vanguard institution in education. It currently has an enrollment of six hundred and eighty-five students representing the largest student body in its history. It’s a milestone that […]
The Senate held its first meeting for 2017 – but it almost didn’t proceed after a major monkey wrench was thrown into this morning’s meeting in Belmopan. Both the Referendum and N.G.O. Act were up for debate and passage and there was debate on those bills which will we bring to you later on. But […]
There followed a rough-and-tumble debate about the necessity for the amendment, especially when it was pointed out by several Government Senators, most notably Stephen Duncan, that not having the N.G.O.’s Senator in place would not hamper the Senate’s duties, whereas the postponement would. Newly-appointed Senator and Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte took his oath and was […]
The Senate withdrew into a closed session at the request of lead Government Senator Godwin Hulse, and returned approximately fifteen minutes later insisting that the motion was out of order. But Senator Courtenay maintained that the result was what they had wanted: for the record to record the injustice done to the N.G.O. community and […]
The Ministry of Immigration and Nationality, headed by Senator Godwin Hulse, and in particular the Immigration Department, has been on the permanent hot seat for several months now. This is in light of the revelations made in the Auditor General’s Special Report issued in May of 2016 and made public three months later. The Minister […]
Finally today, government spoke of the international hoax that is the multimillion dollar Puerto Azul tourism development project. It was endorsed by the G.O.B., particularly by the Minister of Tourism Manuel Heredia Junior and Minister of Economic Development, Erwin Contreras. The proposal to construct a seven-star, exclusive resort on Northern Two Cayes and Sand Bore […]
Should government apologize internationally for openly backing a fraudulent endeavor which promoted the Blue Hole and other aspects of the World Heritage Site as the principal attraction for tourists? According to Hulse, much thought hasn’t been given to that notion, neither did government consider dismissing the proposed project altogether when the investors failed to produce […]
The Superbond has been on everyone’s minds this week. The Government has been told by bondholders that without a medium-term plan to address credit risk in light of the third restructuring in a decade, they would not consider the plan presented to them for restructuring. While Government has committed to giving the bondholders what they […]
If debate of the amendment to the Referendum Act at Friday’s meeting of the House of Representatives was raw and passionate, the usually genteel Senate was only slightly less so. After all, the future of the nation is at stake, as both Belize and Guatemala prepare for a suddenly looming referendum on taking the claim […]
In December 2016, the Belize National Teachers’ Union and Ministry of Education were ordered to mediation by Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin to resolve a dispute over attempts by Government to withhold teachers’ salaries for the eleven days they were on strike in October. They also hoped to resolve the matter of teachers making up class […]
When the N.G.O. Act amendment came up for debate later in the meeting, the Opposition renewed its attack on the amendment as, as put by lead Senator Eamon Courtenay, is confusing at worst and ambiguous at best, but it does not specifically do what it was intended, which is to provide for the N.G.O. community’s […]
The Government of Belize has contracted with the Republic of China (Taiwan) for fifty million Belize dollars in general budgetary support. While the money is being borrowed from a Taiwanese commercial bank, it is being underwritten by the Government of Taiwan. The House had passed the motion without comment on Friday, but the Senate, especially […]
Police believe they have cracked the murder of fifteen-year-old Jaheem Mahler. Tonight, twenty-eight-year-old Carl Reneau is in custody after being charged earlier today with the Tuesday night murder of the minor. The deadly shooting took place on Iguana Street Extension where the student was riding a bicycle in the company of two other teenagers. It […]
Early this morning, Ladyville police detectives were called out to an area near mile eight on the Phillip Goldson Highway where a body had been spotted floating in the Belize River. The officers arrived to find the body of a man face-down in the water; construction workers in the area say they came out to […]
The committee of creditors for the Belize 2038 Bonds or Superbond’s outright rejection of the Government’s first offer for a drawn-out period of interest payments at reduced percentage followed by three “bullet” principal payments has not surprised many. But apparently, the Government itself is not fazed, following the tough negotiations that took place in 2012 […]
Leader of the Opposition John Briceño, however, has a different take. He says that he is not surprised that the bondholders would reject the proposed restructuring of the superbond because PM Barrow failed on his commitments in the terms of the 2012 superbond restructuring agreement. Briceño says the Barrow Administration guilty of mismanagement, incompetence and […]
According to Briceño, the prime minister failed to take note of the stipulations of the 2012 superbond agreement, which states that if government was to default, it has to pay an eleven percent penalty on the five hundred million plus U.S. dollar debt. Briceño says that would cost Belize an additional hundred million dollars. The […]
Turning to the scandalous Puerto Azul scam which continues to unravel…the Minister of Tourism Manuel Heredia Junior, who along with the Minister of economic Development, were fetted at the Cannes Film Festival when the luxury project was launched is travelling and no one on government would speak on how crooked investors were able to hoodwink […]
The sitting of the Senate Special Select Committee on Immigration continued today in Belmopan. Current C.E.O. in the Ministry of Transport and National Emergency Management Ruth Meighan, a career public officer, appeared before the Committee on Immigration. She appeared without legal representation. Meighan was grilled on activities during her tenure as Director of Immigration, from […]
The senate select investigation into the Immigration irregularities exposed another foray into the murky world of Belizean immigration through the issuance of permanent residency. A hard-and-fast rule that was nonetheless broken with apparent impunity was the required one-year residency for non-Belizeans. But former Director Ruth Meighan insisted that her review of the various files brought […]
