There’s more on the fast track naturalization and registration. As we reported on Wednesday night, the Belize Rural North area rep, Edmond ‘Clear the Land’ Castro, was seen at a house in this area, facilitating registration of some persons. News Five today caught up with Castro outside the Immigration Department office on Mahogany Street. Castro […]
There is a buzz about the upcoming visit of Prince Harry. We first reported in December, 2011 on the royal family’s global tour that’s planned for this year in celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee. Today Buckingham Palace officially announced that Prince Harry arrives in Belize in early March within days of the March seventh […]
It’s not all politricks and crime on the news. Belize is already at the epicentre of the 2012 Mayan world places to visit. The website Beachtomato.com has listed the country on two all-important global lists. Belize is one of the top ten beach destinations for 2012, and the protected site, Half Moon Caye in Lighthouse […]
Earlier in the newscast, we told you that the Opposition is condemning what it calls the mad rush in the granting of citizenship in time to get the new Belizeans on the voters’ list for the upcoming elections, including nationals from across the western border. Hubert Elrington, a former Minister of the U.D.P. this morning […]
Elrington, in his usual style discussed a wide range of issues and he had his very colorful description of the current leadership. Hubert Elrington, Attorney “They go in and they look into the gutter and the street corners and bring the worst kind of people. Then you see some of them in front of Brads […]
There are various initiatives such as write-offs and a reduction in electricity rates that have been announced as pre-election gifts. Well, early this morning the health system also got a boost. The Minister of Health and the C.E.O. were on hand at Belmopan Regional Hospital for the handing over of a number of vehicles to […]
Work has returned to normal at the San Ignacio Hospital, following a public spectacle on January tenth when Doctor Angelica Rosado was escorted off the premises by police. The staff went on a go-slow that day, protesting against the Deputy Regional Manager, Nurse Myra Pulido, who had called in the cops. While the hospital is […]
Twenty year old Kevin Martinez survived a fight during which he was hit with a blunt object a few times in the head. Martinez was hit with a hammer on Friday and his condition was uncertain after the weekend surgery but he has pulled off a speedy recovery. With his head bandaged, he read the […]
The write-off of the Social Security Board Housing Loans that was passed last Friday in the House, went to the Senate floor today in Belmopan. It is a program that was intended to provide the electorate with goodies before the elections but is now mired in scandal because of insider trading. That is because management […]
Senator for the People’s United Party, Lisa Shoman, had another view. She pointed out that several of the loans on the list to be written-off, including one in the amount of eighty thousand dollars for S.S.B. C.E.O. Merlene Bailey-Martinez, were indeed recent mortgages and not longstanding loans. She further questioned the names of former S.S.B. […]
Leader of Government Business, Senator Doug Singh, had another take. He pointed out that a majority of the mortgages being reconciled through the government initiative were granted under the previous administration. In his opinion, Singh says that failure to service S.S.B. loans or neglect of that responsibility should go unrewarded; however, he acknowledges that that […]
A former trawling vessel, worth over four hundred thousand dollars, was today signed over to the Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute (CZMAI) for just one dollar. The vessel is one of two that were bought over by OCEANA in February, 2011 after legislation was passed to ban trawling in Belize. OCEANA and government negotiated […]
On Monday night we showed you the results of a poll commissioned by Karim Berges with the expertise of Yasmine Andrews. While the stats showed that there is a very slim margin of victory between the U.D.P. and P.U.P., the two hundred and twenty three persons surveyed say they favor early elections, but after the […]
In the poll, fifty six point percent of the participants said they are not satisfied with the current administration’s performance but when asked if they would rather the opposition in government, sixty seven point seven percent said no. But the majority surveyed thinks that the current government has failed on its promises. Yasmine Andrews, Technical […]
Another round of mass naturalization is scheduled to take place this week in Belmopan to beat the February twentieth deadline for registration of new voters. There have been two recent swear-in ceremonies; the last was on Friday, when more than five hundred took the oath in Belmopan as full-fledged Belizeans. The granting of citizenship so […]
The results of another election poll were released today and it shows that the two main political parties are neck to neck if general elections are called. Two weeks ago Glenn Tillett of the Independent, teamed up with American Pollster, Greg Strimple, and released the findings of a poll which showed that at least thirty […]
So, what do the numbers signify? Well, according to Andrews, the numbers don’t lie and an election can go either way in favour of the U.D.P. or the P.U.P. But there is a huge percentage of undecided voters. Yasmine Andrews, Technical Expert “The major indicators, in two, three sentences, that this poll gave us is […]
Last Friday, the government sought and got the House approval to guarantee a loan of sixteen million dollars with Heritage Bank on behalf of Telemedia. It went through ALL its three stages. As you know, government owns majority shares of seventy percent in Telemedia, but there are many other shareholders, which means that Telemedia is […]
The insider trading at the Social Security Board was stopped in its tracks when it became public that, from top to bottom, S.S.B. staff applied to benefit from the write-offs after reducing their loans with S.S.B. to fifty thousand dollars. An emergency meeting of the Board of Directors on Wednesday suspended C.E.O. Merlene Bailey Martinez […]
The Public Utilities Commission and the government have both announced a six point one-four percent decrease in electricity rates to come online on February first. Earlier today, Belize Electricity Limited (B.E.L.) gave its initial reaction and it doesn’t sound that they are rejoicing. According to B.E.L.’s release, it needs to “understand the P.U.C.’s underlying assumptions […]
But how will the significant rate reduction affect the already cash strapped utility company? One thing that could ease B.E.L.’s financial burden is a reduction in taxes, which Avery says is expected on April first. According to Avery, B.E.L.’s previous owners created the cash flow problems and now it is up to the new owners […]
The first sitting of the House of Representatives for 2012 took place this morning. The Prime Minister did not announce the date for general elections, but you can know it is not far away from the layers of generosity that he piled on. First on the agenda was the reduction of electricity rates, which seem […]
At today’s House meeting, aside from the reduction in electricity rates and the S.S.B. write-offs, the prime minister gave a hint that debt forgiveness could possibly extend to DFC mortgages. That is only under consideration, but with elections not far away; that may be one more plum to the electorate. Both the leader of the […]
The highlight of the sitting should have been light rate reduction and the Social Security Board mortgage write-offs. But the controversy surrounding S.S.B. employees who allegedly committed insider trading have marred the entire project. The person at the top of the S.S.B., C.E.O. Merlene Bailey has been suspended pending an investigation on the insider trading. […]
Despite the dilemma of the C.E.O., Merlene Bailey and Internal Auditor, Denise Mahler, the Prime Minister explained the merits of the scheme. Dean Barrow “When I negotiated with S.S.B. to buy these mortgages in order to write them off for Belizean homeowners, I did so on the basis that the people to be covered would […]
