Last Tuesday, former FIU director Marilyn Williams was appointed as the new chair of the Integrity Commission, after approximately four years of the agency being defunct. The Prime Minister told us today that they are serious about activating the Commission, and members have already been selected. The appointments will be announced at the sitting […]
Throughout the month of January, the unions took to the streets calling for an end to corruption and salary adjustments. Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Barrow announced that based on projections, teachers and public officers were looking at a salary adjustment of not less than three percent when they receive it in July. Well, […]
While the issues outside the House after the proceedings took center stage, there were several important matters raised inside the House. Premier among those has to be the Firearms Act, which has been the subject of prolonged and massive outcry. There have been myriad complaints and much distress expressed since 2008, when the perceived […]
To help raise the much needed funds to keep the Gift of Life Program alive, the Belize Rotary Club is putting off its annual production…a play entitled Every Rose has Thorns. The comedy, written by Saint Vincent national, Dillon Bergin, opens this Thursday at six p.m. inside the Bliss Centre for the Performance Arts and […]
Fresh off a series of rallies and marches, the Belize National Teachers Union took stock today of a series of industrial actions held throughout the month of January. The final stop was last Friday in Punta Gorda and the biggest turnout was in San Ignacio where the teachers braved the rain. The most militant and […]
Since last week the fate of security workers declared redundant by the City Council has been under much scrutiny. Those workers received their layoff letters on January twenty-third, and the Christian Workers Union jumped into the fray soon after. The union claimed that proper procedure was not followed, and the interests of the workers had […]
Matura-Shepherd says that by only asking for two weeks, she is showing extreme goodwill, since the union could demand its month notice. That request has been formally submitted to Mayor Darrell Bradley, who had previously agreed to give workers until this Friday. But the CWU says it needs more time to do a proper examination […]
In 2007, B.D.F. Corporal Norman Rodriguez was diagnosed with a condition called arterio-venous malformation on the brain. It’s not a tumor, but it is something like a growth…an abnormal connection between arteries and veins. Rodriguez allegedly received some medical assessment and treatment in Belize, but his condition has deteriorated to the point where he cannot […]
The recent arrest, trail and conviction of Corporal Gino Peck have brought the Firearms Act into sharp focus. But the truth is that since the Act was amended in 2008 it has been the cause of great distress, with the perception that many innocent persons have been wrongly persecuted. The argument has run the gamut […]
Residents of the St. Martin de Porres area are benefiting from computer literacy thanks to a program spearheaded by the Belize Police Department with assistance from the Samuel Haynes Institute for Excellence. The program was launched this afternoon and a group of women were the first to enroll in classes being provided by a community-based […]
Today is recognized globally as World Cancer Day and for the rest of the week a campaign will take place to increase cancer knowledge and eliminate misconceptions about the deadly disease. Locally, the Belize Cancer Society started activities under the theme, “Cancer Facts Can Save Lives-Power Up!” The society says is geared up to educate […]
Last December, the Elections and Boundaries commission said no to a recall petition for the Cayo Northeast Constituency. Elvin Penner, the disgraced former minister of state, was found to have issued a passport to a South Korean fugitive. But a recall was turned down because the commission took issue with a number of signatures by […]
Mayor Darrell Bradley is back in town and let’s just say he is not ecstatic about insinuations that his Council treated employees of the Security Department unfairly. The posts of thirty-six employees of the City Council were declared redundant via letter on January twenty-third. The redundancy came about as a result of the privatization of […]
On Friday Corporal Gino Peck, long-time intelligence cop assigned to Precinct Two, was sentenced to fines totaling six hundred and fifty dollars. Peck was convicted last Monday of possessing prohibited and unlicensed ammunition, following a search of his home by the Gang Suppression Unit in 2012. As he awaited sentencing Friday, top brass of the […]
GSU boss, Marco Vidal, has come under scrutiny during and after the trial and sentencing of Corporal Gino Peck. The search on the home of Peck on January twenty-first 2012 was conducted by members of the Gang Suppression Unit. And since the current top brass of the Police Department are saying this case should never […]
Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryl Lyn Vidal has also responded to queries into the Peck case following trial and sentencing. Following mitigation pleas on his behalf, Peck was fined for the ammunition offences, as opposed to being confined. The decision by Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith was taken after the D.P.P. pointed out to Peck’s […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Bill has gone through a first reading in the House and still has some way to go, including public consultations, before it is approved and becomes law. But this morning, Fabrigas had an early start and became internationally certified by the International Organization of Standardization for being compliant with health […]
Basketball will be back this coming Friday and we will be carrying it live on this station. The series is dubbed the National Elite Basketball Tournament and will feature eight teams from across the jewel including San Pedro and Belmopan. As for the players, some seasoned and well-known, others are new, but the Belize Basketball […]
The Belize City Council will be teaming up with the Body 2000 Fitness Club and the Belize Diabetes Association to get citizens in shape. It’s an initiative which gets underway on Tuesday and makes use of facilities in different parts of the city. This morning, the council launched the Get Moving Belize program at the […]
As we told you earlier, things didn’t look bright for Peck this morning, prior to sentencing. Because of the conviction under the Firearms Act, the hands of the Magistrate were basically tied where that was concerned. But with the mitigation pleas done, and the sentence about to be handed down, some assistance came from an […]
There was other big news coming out of the Gino Peck sentencing trial today. Much of the fire and fury outside the courtroom, and indeed in past weeks, has been directed at the Firearms Act. The Act was drafted and put into law at a time when crime was spiraling out of control. It is […]
In the aftermath of the accident, the Ministry of Education sent out counselors to the village to assess and render psychological assistance to the many persons who were left traumatized by the accident. As we said, eight persons are currently hospitalized, while others who were also onboard the vessels were able to return home. Area […]
On Thursday, teachers marched in Dangriga, and today the B.N.T.U. movement moved to the deep-south – Punta Gorda. This is the sixth and final rally planned by the union as a series of industrial actions. It might have started out as putting some measure of pressure on government where the salary adjustment is concerned, but […]
President of the Christian Workers Union Audrey Matura-Shepherd has won her first major victory in that post. On Tuesday, we told you about the thirty-six City Council security personnel whose posts had been classified redundant. The security department had been privatized and contracted out to a city hall employee and these thirty-six men were to […]
Even as the Occupational Health and Safety Bill was been on the front burner for the National Trade Union Congress of Belize, the union today issued a release on another issue over which it is riled up – that is the passport and visa scandal. In a release this evening, the N.T.U.C.B. says that government […]
