The passport scandal has dominated the media for weeks, night after night, and tonight there is still more to report. Elvin Penner is back in the country, and is awaiting meetings with his executive committee and the Prime Minister before he makes a decision on whether he will accept the invitation by his leader to […]
Patrick Menzies is a community activist who has aligned himself with the Hispanic evangelical churches in Belize. And using that platform, he has now launched a move for a national shutdown, lobbying parents to pull their children out of classrooms. For Menzies, it’s all about the national gender policy and now the proposed amendments to […]
The National Trade Union Congress of Belize says the government is nonchalant where the safety of employees is concerned. That is the basis for a fiery release sent out over the weekend. The matter on the table is the Occupational Health and Safety Bill, which addresses working conditions, equipment and safety requirements for employees. The […]
The National Secondary Schools Sports Association, the governing body for high school athletics in Belize, has joined forces with Crystal Bottling Company after several unsuccessful attempts at forging a productive working relationship to improve sports across the country. This afternoon, representatives from the Bowen and Bowen Group were present for the signing of an agreement […]
There is an uproar tonight among various organizations, including the National Women’s Commission and the Special Envoy for Women and Children, following the publication of an article entitled “Bake It Again” in Friday’s edition of the Amandala Newspaper. The article is written by columnist Colin Hyde and it expresses his views on the amendment to […]
If you take a walk down Jane Usher Boulevard, you will see a difference in the neighborhood. That’s because the area of the basketball court which is heavily populated has been illuminated and residents and passerby can now enjoy a safer community. News Five’s Isani Cayetano dropped by for a look at the improvements. […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow is in Los Angeles for fund-raising activities and meetings with Belizeans living in that area. While he is out, his deputy, Minister of Natural Resources Gaspar Vega is acting Prime Minister. But while many miles separate them, Vega is out of sight, but not out of mind. The Ministry of Immigration […]
According to the Prime Minister Dean Barrow, government coffers are overflowing and there are millions upon millions of dollars to hand out. That’s what the U.D.P. leader told constituents of Cayo Northeast during a tour a week ago. According to Barrow, there will be unprecedented spending in Cayo Northeast. In fact, in the PM’s own […]
In the south, a demonstration was held this morning by parents and students of the Julian Cho Technical High School and tonight, the school has closed its doors. It stems from the lack of science classes to students in the last two years of high school, who are preparing to sit the 2014 CSEC exams. […]
The Christian Workers Union was suspended from the National Trade Union Congress of Belize in mid-August and tonight it is facing expulsion from the umbrella organization if it decides to forego a scheduled general congress on Saturday. The upcoming meeting is for the membership of the union to elect new executives in light of ongoing […]
The reason for the postponement of the congress is due to the current financial situation of the union. The forthcoming process, according to Pitter, should exclude the membership of the Development Finance Corporation, which he says has not paid dues, nor has it been an active member of the Christian Workers Union for several years. […]
The congress, says Pitter, is predicated on an understanding that each of the nine entities would present individual candidates to participate in the election. Dion Pitter, Member, Christian Workers Union “Remember Cancer Society building. All of we agree to put your candidate up make we have a democratic process. Don’t forget that. So noh […]
The stevedores want the executive removed, and so does the N.T.U.C.B. That entity has sent a stern and final warning to the C.W.U. That warning is clear – if the C.W.U. fails to convene a congress on October twenty-sixth, it will be immediately expelled from the Congress. The N.T.U.C.B. release states that it can no […]
Byron Pope, a seasoned rider on the local cycling front, has qualified to participate in the upcoming 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games, following a recent competition in Curacao where he placed tenth. Pope, along with a delegation from Belize, including Nissan Arana, David Henderson Jr., Joel Borland and Robert Stewart, took part in the […]
Former Minister of State Elvin Penner re-enters the country on Sunday from Guatemala where he says he has been getting medical attention and accompanied his mother who is recovering from surgery. Penner confirmed that again via phone today. But while he turned down a recorded interview, the former minister of state told News Five that […]
Carlos Murga was intercepted by Cuban authorities in June, flying into Jose Marti Airport with seven Chinese passports in his possession. The matter raised a brief stink, but that breeze blew over quickly. But the ill wind tends to return, and the passport scandal has brought all sorts of public scrutiny with it. One persistent […]
Day thirty-one, and there is still no information coming out of the Ministry of Immigration on the extent of irregularities within the nationality and passport department. On Tuesday, Elvin Penner was publicly flogged by his political boss and asked to resign. According to the PM, over the long weekend a team of investigators turned up […]
Activist Phillip ‘Faada’ Henry was on center stage in Battlefield Park this morning. He is enraged at the passport fiasco and calling for the U.D.P. to pack up and leave. And he had a lot more to say besides that. Much of it was unfit for national television, but the man is passionate about his […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow is currently in Los Angeles, California where he is meeting with the Diaspora along with his wife, Kim Simpliss Barrow. The Barrows were hosted to dinner Thursday night at a swanky restaurant where the paparazzi caught up with him as he made his way slowly in and out of the restaurant. […]
The sale of visas has been a lucrative business for immigration officials, agents and couriers. Nationals from countries as far as Sri Lankan, Somalia, Nigeria and primarily China pay thousands of dollars, as much as ten thousand, to obtain the visas which gets them to Belize as they move their way to the United States. […]
In the following story, aired a week later on November ninth, a number of Sri Lankans were detained in Quito, Ecuador when they turned up in that country with Belizean visas. {Feature.}
The illegal issuance of nationality and citizenship has struck a chord across all sectors of society. The private sector, unions, and others have expressed outright indignation at the irregularities at the Immigration Department through which persons of dubious distinction have been able to acquire Belizean birthright even when they have never set foot in the […]
The social partners: the Belize Chamber of Commerce, the Council of Churches, Evangelical Churches and the N.T.U.C.B. say they cannot support the current hearings of the Public Accounts Committee which comprises only of government representatives. Two weeks ago, the social partners in a release said that the hearings as they stand are a charade. Cannon […]
Eric Chang has not been back to Belize since his name came up in the passport scandal that has been dogging the government. It has been a little over a month and a half since Chang departed for Taiwan along with a delegation from City Hall for the Asia Pacific City Summit. But he stayed […]
The sale of visas to Asian nationals and others by agents has been ongoing for years facilitated by high level officials. Last Thursday, the Prime Minister told the media that he has told ministers involved to “for God’s sakes” stop it because this could bring down the government. Earlier this year, Belizean Carlos Murga, was […]
