How did a public space end up in private hands in Orange Walk? The story starts back in the seventies when the land located in the downtown area of Orange Walk was bequeathed to the government with the explicit intention that it be used for a public facility. Fast track to 2011, the lease on […]
The Supreme Court closed today for hearings as legal practitioners headed over to the Radisson Hotel for a one day conference. The Bar Association is an active voice in support of changes to the law and justice system in Belize, but today the Bar was engaged in educating its members and legal practitioners on the […]
Earlier when we spoke to businessman Landy Burns, he was aggrieved that a plot of land that was being developed for sporting activities has now ended up in the hands of Adin Aragon. Burns is peeved about one more issue and that’s taxes. Last year, Burns told the media that he was being threatened by […]
The Norwegian Cruise Line proposed port on Harvest Caye has been somewhat on the backburner lately, but for tourism stakeholders and residents in the south, it is certainly up front and personal. The topic resurrected with a vengeance on Wednesday night, when NCL executives stopped off in Independence for a community consultation facilitated by the […]
The discussion was tense on Wednesday because the proposed NCL tourism port is such a big deal for all involved. But perhaps the situation has been exacerbated by a perception that the project is already a done deal…that the consultations are just for show and the project has already been given a green light by […]
On Wednesday, the House meeting lasted more than five hours, and a lot came out of it. We brought you the meat of the day on Wednesday, but tonight we have the gravy. Swimming in that gravy is the statutory body turned personal piggy bank, which is now the subject of intense scrutiny. At the […]
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 […]
The 2013-2014 sugar cane crop season starts on Friday. It’s long delayed, and conditions are not optimal. To make it worse, it is raining today in the north. Still, the show must go on and early Friday morning, trucks will be lined up at B.S.I. to discharge sugar cane. While that’s the situation on the […]
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 […]
Beverly Castillo – she’s the former deputy in the Ministry of Natural Resources turned political aspirant in Belize Rural Central. She’s been making headlines right from the get-go, but it’s probably not the kind of headlines she prefers at the launch of her political career. The issue is a prime piece of land in Belama […]
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 […]
