At the House, Pickstock area representative Wilfred Elrington fiercely opposed the extension calling out his own government for not doing enough to help the marginalized youths. The discussions of poverty and crime were part and parcel of the discussions about the south side and it trickled over to the Senate today. Here’s a look at […]
Back to San Pedro….there is no community spread of the virus, but a number of persons are being tested. As you heard, a female police officer from Corozal is hospitalized with COVID-19. Her history shows that she was in San Pedro for a court case and she had attended a church service. Now, police officers […]
Today, while a News Five crew was in Blackman Eddy Village, located on the George Price Highway near the cut-off to the Iguana Creek Bridge, they caught up with the chairman of the village, who says that the residents have also not been spared from the effects of COVID-19. Despite a list of names being […]
Road works continue on the George Price Highway in the west where at the cut off to the Iguana Creek Bridge a roundabout is being built. While the much needed infrastructural development along the western corridor is welcomed by the village along the stretch, in Blackman Eddy Village, it is not without its challenges. Chairman […]
The C.W.U. has just signed a C.B.A., but not all is well in the union. Two outspoken stevedores came forward today to highlight issues they have been having with the union since 2017. One of the stevedores, Cyril Fuller, says that monies have been deducted from his pay and collected by the Christian Workers Union […]
According to Fuller, several discussions were had with C.W.U. President Evan “Mose” Hyde regarding his concerns. Fuller says that he had hopes that Hyde would address his concerns, but that did not happen and so Fuller remains a disappointed stevedore. Hipolito Novelo “Do you believe that this time around under the presidency of Mose […]
The Director of Health Services touched on a wide range of issues today. Now, as the P.G.I.A. gets ready for reopening on August fifteenth, the Ministry of Health says that a large number of Belizeans are also getting ready to travel. But for their travels, they require a test to present to the countries where […]
As for the tourists who will be coming into the country on August fifteen and thereafter, Prime Minister Dean Barrow says they will have to follow the laws that have been put in place to ensure the safety and security of the Belizean public. PM Dean Barrow says that if tourists do not want to […]
On the matter of the Philip Goldson International Airport, the debate got heated on Monday between Leader of the Opposition John Briceño and leader elect of the U.D.P., Patrick Faber. Since his election as leader elect, Faber has mostly been doing party work. So when he called on Briceño for his party’s position on the […]
The Supreme Court last month ruled in favour of Lord Michael Ashcroft to provide expert input in the case of redistricting. He is an interested party in the case by the Belize Peace Movement, which is asking the court to order the Elections and Boundaries Department to carry out a redistricting exercise so that constituencies can […]
Four percent of the population in Belize is not registered at birth. An initiative to change that was launched today. The Belize Vital Statistics Unit, in partnership with the UN Refugee Agency, U.N.H.C.R., and the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, launched a new campaign to promote birth registration in Belize. The long term goal of […]
Belize recorded its highest number of new COVID-19 cases over the weekend. It has sent the Ministry of Health on high alert since schools and the Philip Goldson International Airport are scheduled to reopen in a matter of days as the situation goes downhill. So, an alarming nine new cases between Saturday and Sunday drove […]
Today at the National Assembly building, Prime Minister Dean Barrow expressed his frustration with border jumpers, who continue to present serious threats. Most of the persons infected with COVID-19 are either border jumpers or have been in contact with someone who crossed illegally. Contrabandistas continue to operate along the northern and western borders, Belizeans continue […]
There are three positive cases reported in the Corozal District; two persons arrived via the northern border entry point as part of the repatriation process and are in hotel quarantine. They are also asymptomatic. The third person is a female officer attached to the Corozal Police Station. She is one of two persons in the […]
Also in the north, the Orange Walk Town Council has temporarily closed the market in that municipality. The reason is because a COVID-19 patient’s family in the Orange Walk District was conducting business at the market and now the area needs to be sanitized. Today, we spoke with Mayor Kevin Bernard who shares that while […]
Even as there is a spike in the number of cases, government is preparing for the reopening of the Philip Goldson International Airport on August fifteenth and the soft reopening of the tourism industry to international tourists. Today, four bills were introduced and passed in one sitting. The Electronic Transactions Amendment seeks to promote the development of […]
While parliamentarians adopted the extension to the period of public emergency in the south side of Belize City, the motion, which was also tabled at the House of Representatives today, was hotly debate. The continued increase of crime, especially murders, has prompted the Barrow administration to extend the State of Emergency for an additional sixty […]
According to members of the ruling United Democratic Party, Belize is not the only country in the region that has used legislation to curb crime. Jamaica and other Caribbean countries have imposed state of emergencies on certain communities in order to deal with major crimes. The government says that the extended S.O.E. will produce the […]
Minister of Foreign Affairs Wilfred Elrington knocked his own government during today’s sitting. Elrington is a senior member of the United Democratic Party, which took over the reins of the government in 2008. So for twelve years, Elrington has been minister, but as he departs from politics, Elrington has chosen to be very frank about […]
As Elrington concluded his rant against his party and the government, Cayo South Area Representative Julius Espat brought it to Elrington’s attention that after three terms in office, Elrington failed along with his party. Espat described the Foreign Minister’s remarks as hypocrisy at its highest. Julius Espat, Area Representative, Cayo South “Talk is cheap. […]
Disagreeing with some of Elrington’s comments was his cabinet colleague, Michael Finnegan. Finnegan pointed out to Elrington that the Samuel Haynes Institute of Excellence was built to arrest the societal problems in south side Belize City, but apparently it has also failed to do so. Michael Finnegan, Area Representative, Mesopotamia “I listened to my friend member […]
The Port of Belize and the Christian Workers Union made history on Sunday when they signed the first Collective Bargaining Agreement. It’s the first C.B.A. in sixteen years after countless negotiations and demonstrations and strikes that span multiple presidencies. But the culmination of the signing was rather relaxed and amicable, despite the contentious past two […]
It has been a rocky journey to the signing of this first ever collective bargaining agreement for the stevedores. The relationship between the two deteriorated two weeks ago when more than thirty employees became redundant and tensions escalated at the compound. So what did it take to get this C.B.A.? Is it the violent confrontation […]
The collective bargaining agreement was signed on Sunday afternoon. By this morning, there was a request for an urgent meeting for stevedores to file a grievance to the Labour Department. A letter, signed by Arlette Hutchinson, is seeking the meeting for a breach of “Duty for Fair Representation’’ against the C.W.U. Hutchinson writes that two […]
The C.W.U. and Port of Belize have signed a Collective Bargaining for the stevedores. On Tuesday, the C.W.U. is set to begin a new round of negotiations for a new C.B.A., this time it’s for the staff of the P.B.L. Today, they decided to take that cry to the streets in a demonstration which ended […]
