For the second year in a row Youth Voices, in collaboration with the Global Parish Project, is holding its Documentary Story-telling Summer Program. Over fifteen youths will learn photography and videography techniques to help tell their stories via Spoken Word. The youths started the summer camp a week ago and today News Five caught up […]
A new Chief Justice has been named to succeed Abdulai Conteh whose tenure was cut short last September and is now on serving on the Bahamian Court of Appeal. The new chief justice is a Caribbean national of Guyanese/Antiguan nationality. Justice Kenneth A Benjamin will begin official duties on September fifteenth. He takes the bench […]
The fate of the sugar industry has been the subject of several high level meetings over the past week. The Honduras based Banco Atlántida has proposed a buyout of majority shares in the Belize Sugar Industry, an investment of ninety million US dollars that could make the difference to keep the mill grinding. Who controls […]
The employees trust comprises the Belize Workers Union, which owns eighty-one percent of Belize Sugar Industries Ltd. The union is led by Harris Patten and it is holding a special meeting with Prime Minister Dean Barrow on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the issue of shares its membership owns in the beleaguered company. Patten says that […]
As we said, Public Consultation on the Ninth Amendment Bill will begin in the next two weeks; the Eighth Amendment Bill, however, has now been formally withdrawn. And though several attorneys from different sides of the political divide have expressed their concern regarding the Ninth Amendment Bill, News Five posed the question to Godwin Hulse, […]
The proposed Ninth Constitutional Amendment was crafted to take action, in this case, to protect government’s usurping of B.E.L. and Telemedia from private ownership. The extent of that proposed law, however, would dangerously place beyond dispute any future amendments to the Constitution which will no longer be exposed to review in the courts. The piece […]
Discussions on this newscast about the deterioration or proposed amendments to section eight and nine of the constitution would not be complete without one on section seven. That section of the constitution prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. To combat crime, the current administration has decided that implementation of the death penalty […]
At Friday’s sitting of the House of Representatives, Prime Minister Dean Barrow introduced a dangerous amendment to the constitution that is also being described as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. On the heels of the nationalization of B.E.L. and the re-nationalization of Telemedia, the PM made it clear that measures would be implemented to enshrine […]
The calls to put an end to the ninth amendment bill, does not start or stop with Oscar Sabido. Attorney Arthur Saldivar says although many Belizeans may find government control of utilities acceptable, how the bill seeks to bring about that control is appalling. The bill calls for amending sections two and sixty-nine of the […]
Arthur Saldivar’s objections were heralded by Hubert Elrington, another attorney that often speaks out on constitutional issues. Elrington sat at his side in a joint interview and put the proposed amendment into further context. He said that if passed, the National Assembly is going to have power that will exceed that of the constitution. Whoever […]
On Friday afternoon, Prime Minister Dean Barrow along with officials from the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association met with a delegation from Banco Atlantida to discuss the purchase of the financially embattled B.S.I. The Honduras based bank has an interest in acquiring majority shares in the company which is owned by the employees’ trust that […]
More compelling stories are surfacing about persons who have been defrauded of their properties. There are the well known cases of businessmen Israel “Pie Marin”, William and Jimmy Quinto as well as US senator David Hale and Canadian national Andre Jervais, who had titles to land but later found out that it was not the […]
A marketing committee has been appointed by the Ministry of Agriculture to tackle the cross border sugar trade that has been causing a shortage in local stores. According to a release, the committee includes representatives from the ministry, B.S.I. and the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association. The task is to work along with the Bureau […]
Councilor Wayne Usher is a known ally of Mayor Zenaida Moya Flowers. The council has gone from one controversy to the other in its current term, but Usher is making an early bid for re-election. We usually don’t cover the campaigns of individual councilors, but we were there when he announced his candidacy today. Usher […]
“Cyaa Tek it Nuh More” is the locally produced movie made over the past year by a group of Belizeans who had access to a semi-functional video camera. The group entered their first production into the Belize International Film Festival 2011 and won an award for being the most promising local talent. As part of […]
A frightening constitutional amendment, the ninth such, was tabled in the House of Representatives this morning for a first reading. It is by far, the most radical and far reaching amendment that any government in Belize has ever tabled. It appears that the Government of Prime Minister Barrow is intent on passing this amendment that […]
The amendment is a radical departure from the current Constitution and is likely to be the subject of heated debates and challenges in Courts by human rights advocates, the Bar Association and others. In the bid to entrench ownership of the utilities in the government hands, the Prime Minister resorted to nationalist fervor to sell […]
Before the prime minister introduced the constitutional amendment, the House sitting opened with an unusual sight and it came from area rep, Marcel Cardona, who has been banished to a seat on the opposition side. During the last sitting of the House on July fourth, a member of the gallery, an avid supporter of the […]
Turning to electricity, a delegation of officials from the recent government-acquired Belize Electricity Limited met with senior executives of Comision Federal de Electricidad of Mexico to negotiate new terms of a new agreement for the purchase of energy from the state-owned company. Led by former Prime Minister turned government advisor Manuel Esquivel and B.E.L.’s C.E.O., […]
Every year the biggest technical college in Mexico accepts students from Belize, who earn their degrees through scholarships provided by that country’s government. The selection process for 2011 was recently completed and fifteen students are now preparing to head north for up to four years of studies in subject areas including tourism, nursing, food production […]
The CARICOM heads of government have finally selected a new Secretary General to replace Sir Edwin Carrington who vacated the post since last year. The new SG of the regional body is Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, a fifty-six year old Dominican national. For the past six years, LaRocque has served as Assistant Secretary General for Trade […]
Earlier in the week we told you about Bahdi “Bob” Bounahra, the Belizean who made waves internationally at the World Series of Poker and secured a spot among the finest players, raking in at one point nine million chips from Costa Rica’s John Hewitt. This year is Bounahra’s seventh year playing in the No Limit […]
Banco Atlántida of Honduras has been doing its due diligence since January 2011 to acquire the Belize Sugar Industries (B.S.I.). The factory is broke and needs forty million dollars to pay loans to the ING Group and FirstCaribbean Bank. A meeting is scheduled for Friday following the Special House sitting between the Prime Minister, the […]
But the United Cane Farmers Association, which won a court ruling in favor of separation from Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association (BSFCA), says that they have not had any discussions with the PM nor have they been invited to meet with the bank. Via Phone: Wilfredo ‘Willie’ Magana, Chairman, United Cane Farmers Association “I had […]
The Council of Churches has made it clear that it opposes the case filed by the United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM), which is challenging section fifty-three of the criminal code. UNIBAM is seeking to have the law declared as unconstitutional, claiming that it criminalizes sexual relationships between same gender couples. It’s an extremely controversial matter […]
