Last week, the P.U.P. submitted a motion to be included on the order papers for this Wednesday’s sitting of the House. The motion proposed a change in the structure of the Public Accounts Committee to take away the majority enjoyed by government and allow for participation by the Senate. The motion is proposed by P.U.P. […]
On Friday, News Five aired comments by Prime Minister Dean Barrow on a variety of pertinent front-line issues. We’ll have some more from the PM tonight, but first to the reason he was at the George Price Center on Friday morning. Barrow was part of a very important meeting with pastors from every district in […]
Norwegian Cruise Line’s mega-million dollar destination in southern Belize is one step closer to a done deal with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between G.O.B. and N.C.L. The signing took place on Thursday, but up until now, government had been tight-lipped on details of negotiations over the past month. But the two parties […]
The Norwegian Cruise Line’s memorandum of understanding has been signed. Industry stakeholders, including the well established hotel sector, have not been consulted regarding the long term effects on the environment. On Thursday, the Belize Tourism Board’s Director of Tourism, Laura Esquivel Frampton and the C.E.O. for the Ministry of Tourism, Tracy Taegar Panton, dismissed the […]
Krohn was not the only one who threw a few punches at the architects of the M.O.U. and the press release. President of B.T.I.A., Herbert Haylock, spoke of a political need to inject cash into the economy. Rather than thinking of the long term future of tourism for Belize, Haylock postulated that that the government […]
Two weeks ago, Forestry Minister Lisel Alamilla revealed on national television that G.O.B. sold containers of rosewood to exporters for fifteen thousand dollars. That’s a giveaway, especially since a container of rosewood has a market value of over two hundred thousand dollars. According to Alamilla, she got tired of the back and forth with exporters […]
And while P.M. Barrow says he didn’t know about the rosewood cheap sale, the PM admits to knowing about the Fresh Pond lots giveaway by his deputy and Minister of Natural Resources, Gaspar Vega. The situation got public attention after C.E.O. in the Ministry of Housing Lawrence Sylvester was escorted out of the Natural Resources […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow has gone out of his way to express his fullest confidence in Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar Vega. Vega’s name keeps coming up whenever there is controversy, scandal or whiffs of corruption in government. Today Barrow defended Vega again, even though the man who benefitted the most from the almost-giveaway of the […]
On Wednesday, the People’s United Party submitted a motion for inclusion on the order papers for a House Sitting scheduled for next Wednesday. The motion is for a restructuring of the composition of the Public Accounts Committee to include the Senate and take away the majority from either the government or the opposition. Prime Minister […]
Steven Buckley was shot in the head by a Police Inspector on April twenty-eight, 2010, more than three years ago. The shooting was unjustified and Buckley was in the hospital clinging to life for more than a month. Today Buckley is a far different man than he was back then. Because of his injury he […]
And wrapping up his interview which lasted just over an hour, Prime Minister Barrow also spoke at length about litigation in which government is currently involved. The PM commented on litigation with the Belize Bank over Universal Healthcare Partners. Barrow says that in that particular case, he is inclined to settle. Prime Minister Dean […]
The National Football Selection fought extremely hard to be part of the CONCACAF games in the United States. Carrying the Belize brand of Jaguars, the team that had players with fulltime office jobs accomplished a tremendous task for being in the competition with some of the world’s best players. While some teams had millions of […]
One of the highlights of the annual International Costa Maya Festival in la Isla Bonita is the pageant which seeks to promote the Maya culture. Central American and Mexican delegates competed for the coveted title based on cultural presentation, swimwear and evening gown. On Thursday night, it went down to the wire as the bevy […]
The sixteen annual national Belize Police Youth Cadet Camp is being held at the Edward P. Yorke Compound on Princess Margaret Drive. Since the twenty-seventh of July, some two hundred and thirty young cadets from across the country—both boys and girls between the ages of eight and seventeen years old—have been hosted at the one […]
The government newspaper reports today that Prime Minister Dean Barrow has confirmed that Minister Erwin Contreras will be signing a memorandum of understanding with Norwegian Cruise Lines on behalf of the government. While the specific date for the signature has not been announced, it is only a matter of days before that takes place. Late […]
The Harvest Caye project has come under heavy opposition by environmental groups because it is believed that NCL is getting the better of the deal. There is no word as to how the seven U.S. dollar head tax will be divided, since the draft proposal calls for four U.S. dollars to be given back to […]
There’s a peaceful demonstration planned for Orange Walk this weekend and it’s all about the gender policy. If you first reaction is – pro-constitution march AGAIN you would be wrong. This time it’s just the opposite. A group calling itself TikkunOlam Belize is organizing an event for Saturday which supports the gender policy as it […]
Forty-eight persons from the public and private sector attended the third part in a business fraud seminar at the Biltmore Hotel today. The organizers say that accountability and honesty in keeping businesses legitimate are important to the development of the private sector. Fraud can severely stress the financial stability of a business and can even […]
The Maya Leaders Alliance has issued its first statement on the customary land rights case, since the Court of Appeal handed down a split decision in the matter last Thursday. The statement succeeds a meeting held with village leaders from all thirty-eight Maya communities in the south. The ruling was delivered by President Manuel Sosa […]
While the membership of the Maya Leaders Alliance was not represented in court on Monday, former chairman Ligorio Coy led a contingent of past Alcaldes from Dolores, Otoxha, Santa Ana and Crique Sarco to Belize City. That group has since defected from the MLA and is now seeking the removal of their names from a […]
There are reports reaching our newsroom tonight that missing siblings Fanny and Jairo Romero have been located in Copan, Honduras and will soon be reunited with their family. The children, who live with their mother in Cowpen in southern Belize, were reported missing on July twentieth. They were last seen in the company of their […]
On Tuesday’s newscast, News Five showed you the brand spanking new transfer facility which makes the old garbage dump look like…well, garbage. These transfer stations have been constructed in San Ignacio and Belize City. And as the name implies, the garbage dropped off at the transfer stations will be transferred to another new and very […]
The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives is the body tasked with examining and reporting on the monies spent by government. That’s a big job and an important – some would say critically important one. But the reality is that the structure of the P.A.C. ensures that the party in government spending the […]
Progress brings problems is as clichéd as it is true, and Belize City residents have been pushed up close to that truth with the ongoing works on streets. But while inconvenience and congestion are problems, they are short term problems. Parking, or lack of access to parking, isn’t so short term and isn’t so easily […]
But if Buckley isn’t too clear on the result of his meeting at the K.H.M.H. today, Chairlady of the K.H.M.H. Board of Governors, Chandra Nisbet-Cansino, was. She told News Five this afternoon that as far as collecting the bill he owes to the hospital is concerned, Buckley will be given all the time and medical […]
