In various sectors, there is open concern that the government has not signed to an OAS anti-corruption convention called the MESICIC which stands for the Mechanism for Follow-Up on the Implementation of Inter-American Convention against Corruption. And with so many cases of corruption rearing its ugly head, the Chamber took umbrage to thousands of dollars […]
Teachers will hold a protest march and rally in San Ignacio on Friday. As it has been since it started, the peaceful industrial action is a source of frustration for Minister of Education Patrick Faber. He spent the better part of an hour and a half on the topic at Wednesday’s House meeting. Faber claimed […]
You heard the Minister lash out at the teachers for taking time off for industrial action and at the Chamber of Commerce for daring to support salary adjustment for the teachers. Well, the Chamber of Commerce responded in kind saying that the minister did not get the context of their statement. And furthermore, it is […]
Corruption was very much at the forefront of Wednesday’s House meeting. The Castro checks situation was front and center, but with Elvin Penner’s sudden and unexpected resurrection, he came under sustained fire as well. The man with the bazooka in hand was no other than former Prime Minister Said Musa, who is usually on the […]
At Wednesday’s House Meeting Minister of Education Patrick Faber took jabs at the Chamber of Commerce saying that instead of writing release in support of teachers the private sector body should focus on increasing minimum wages. Well the Chamber didn’t take that lightly and came out swinging today. The Chamber decried that the private sector […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow has referred to the Ministry of Natural Resources a hotbed of corruption. And he is not alone in that opinion. The Belize Grassroots Youth Empowerment Association has been fighting for many months to get title to parcels of land in a community they call Harmonyville. According to BGYEA leader Nigel Petillo, […]
Today was the first sitting of the House of Representatives for 2014. And as has become practice rather than rule, sparks flew across from both sides of the aisle. Now, numerous bills were tabled and one was fast tracked through the three stages. But we start first with a story we had been following involving […]
Distasteful and wrong, but not corrupt. That’s a very fine line drawn by Prime Minister Dean Barrow, who has been faced with all manner of accusations against his ministers and officials. Still, the bottom line is that as distasteful as it may be, Castro will face no punishment for the outrageous fleecing of taxpayers’ money. […]
After months of absence in the House, the disgraced former Minister of Immigration, Elvin Penner put in an appearance. Penner, as you all know, is at the centre at the huge immigration scandal that will not go away. The former Minister personally delivered an incomplete application for nationality certificate and moved it through the process […]
While Castro ran for cover, Elvin Penner emerged from hiding and was in the House of Representatives this morning. As we said, he was seated all by himself in the far corner of the government side, but was present and accounted for. Penner’s name has resurfaced with the leaking of the Won Hong Kim report […]
After devoting much of his address to detailing all the things this administration has done for teachers, Faber then rounded on the Belize Chamber of Commerce. Faber was offended because of a release issued by the Chamber of Commerce last week, which expressed support for a salary adjustment for teachers. After stating that he didn’t […]
At this hour, the Environmental Impact Assessment into the Norwegian Cruise Lines project is taking place at the Independence High School Auditorium in the south. A News Five crew on the ground is reporting a massive turnout of those in support and those against the multimillion dollar tourism project. The project attracted controversy and strong […]
Now to the real business of the day in the House of Representatives. Various new bills were tabled for first reading and some came up for second reading. The Stake Bank Cruise Docking Facility Bill will enable the construction of the multimillion dollar tourism project at Stake Bank, undertaken by businessman, Mike Feinsten. The bill […]
As a consequence of that protest at the last sitting, union executives have been banned from participating in two sittings of the House. That may seem like a small price to pay for having finally gotten the OSH bill on the table, and it probably is. But one very vocal union rep took the opportunity […]
The 2013/2014 sugar cane crop season is slated to begin at ten a.m. on Friday morning, after a delay of more than two months. At least, it is the hope of all stakeholders, from foreign to factory to field, that the season will start. The biggest problem facing the farmers now is the state of […]
Minister of State Edmond ‘Clear the Land’ Castro seems to be in the middle of one scandal or the other. Just a couple years ago, Castro was fired by Prime Minister Barrow for his involvement in a land hustle. He did political penance and was welcomed back into the fold – and then was named […]
On Monday, News Five brought you an exclusive look at the report on Won Hong Kim. It contains reports of interviews done with staff members at the nationality section who played roles in the issuance of a nationality certificate for the South Korean, who was in Taiwanese prison when his nationality certificate and Belizean passport […]
The House of Representatives will meet on Wednesday. At its last sitting, representatives of the N.T.U.C.B. protested and were escorted out of the gallery by Police. The unions’ issue is the Occupational Safety and Health Bill, which they say has been written, reviewed, revised, vetted and discussed for years now, and still hasn’t been placed […]
While the OSH Bill is high on the list of priorities, there are other matters for which the unions, with the B.N.T.U. on the forefront…are agitating. The PSU has taken some criticism for what is seen in some quarters as a stand-off stance when aggressive agitation is called for. PSU President Blades says they support […]
This morning News Five caught up with Toledo activist, Will Maheia, who leads the Belize Territorial Volunteers. The group has made visits to border points from north to south to send a message to Guatemala and to Belmopan. Maheia has also been monitoring activity in the Chiquibul and the Columbia Forest Reserve down south. He […]
Maheia reiterates that the incursions continue because our borders are not properly marked and properly patrolled. Wil Maheia, Founding Member, Belize Territorial Volunteers “The evidence speaks for itself, you look at the Belize border and the number of troops you see in the border, we probably have the least number of troops on the […]
As we told you Friday, News Five has obtained a copy of an internal report compiled on the Won Hong Kim immigration scandal. Kim, A South Korean national imprisoned in Taiwan, got his nationality certificate and Belizean passport in September, 2013. It was subsequently revealed that both documents were obtained through fraudulent means, since Kim […]
The surfacing of the report is a somewhat public resurrection of former Minister of State Elvin Penner, who has gone to ground since the scandal broke in September. As we told you, Penner has escaped all scrutiny from multiple alleged investigations, despite clear evidence that he facilitated the fraudulent nationality certificate and Belizean passport for […]
Following confirmation by Minister of Immigration Godwin Hulse that Director Maria Marin had indeed recommended the termination of three passport officers suspended since September, the Public Service Union has come under sustained fire from certain quarters. Despite every indication that the scandal which affected the three public officers was instigated and facilitated by former Minister […]
And to show that they might not be loud, but they are getting the job done, the PSU stated today that it is working to get the public officers reinstated, since the Commissions Regulations state that public officers cannot be suspended on half-pay for more than thirty days. And while that is in the works, […]
