Vasquez’s family issued a release earlier this week. In the aftermath of death of the sixty-year old and the celebration of World Mental Health Day, the family is asking that G.O.B. “takes decisive action and commits to the establishment of an acute unit at the K.H.M.H. to provide short-term urgent care to persons experiencing an […]
The IMF’s preliminary report on Belize’s economic says that the recovery is moving at a glacial space. During the first three months of the year, the G.D.P. grew by an unusual five point two percent. The second quarter, however, recorded a zero point eight percent decline. Officials from the International Monetary Fund were in Belize […]
The debate got testy among Senators on Wednesday when Write-off Number Two Motion was introduced. The write-off is for forty thousand dollars owed to the Government of Belize by Joshua Perdomo, son of Cabinet Secretary Carlos Perdomo. Perdomo was approved twenty-seven months of study leave to pursue a Master’s degree in Forensic Genetics at the […]
An important piece of legislation that went before the Senate on Wednesday as passed to get rid of the blacklisting by the European Union that hangs over Belize. The European Union determined in March to blacklist Belize as a tax haven. The E.U. says that Belize has significant shortfalls when it comes to laws that […]
Several agencies, including the Inter-American Bank and Complete Caribbean, have partnered to conduct a new social innovation challenge in Belize known as ‘Chang Dah Story.’ The challenge was launched today and seeks to support the development of solutions to address social and environmental problems that the vulnerable youth population is facing. Participants will be challenged […]
It was a rare occasion in the Senate today. The upper chamber voted against a motion to write-off forty thousand four hundred and seventy-four dollars and eighty-eight cents owed by Joshua Perdomo, the son of Cabinet Secretary Carlos Perdomo. The motion was brought to the Senate after the House of Representatives approved the motion last […]
At the end of the debate, a division was called by Senator Chebat to document the vote of each senator. As we said, seven of the thirteen voted against the write-off. While the Senate did not approve the write-off, Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte says that money motions cannot be defeated by the Senate. As we […]
Also voting against the write-off was Senator for the Private Sector, Mark Lizarraga. According to Lizarraga, while it was expected that the Senate would not be able to block the write-off, the point was to represent the interest of the Belizean people. Mark Lizarraga, Senator for Private Sector “We know that in the past […]
Still on the unpopular Joshua Perdomo write-off, the Leader of the Opposition John Briceño has written to the House Speaker Laura Longsworth taking issue with the conduct of the debate on October fourth. Briceño tells the Speaker that he and other parliamentarians were denied the right to debate or comment on the write-off and that […]
Senators also debated the amendment to the Contractor General Act. The amendment removes the limitation which barred any Contractor General to return to the public service after his or her term concludes. This, according to the government, made it quite difficult to find a replacement for Godwin Arzu, whose contract was not renewed after senators pointed out […]
A project to electrify Caye Caulker Village will cost the Belize Electricity Limited some thirteen point six million dollars. The monies are being borrowed from the Caribbean Development Bank on certain conditions including that the loan shall be guaranteed by the Government of Belize. The objective is to improve electricity reliability and increase capabilities on […]
In 2009, Brads Gaming Company Limited owned by Kim Jen Chee was granted a management contract to manage the lottery programme which rakes in millions of dollars in administrative fees and taxes to G.O.B. The privatization increased government’s take and while Brad’s share is not known, it is surely a pretty sum. There is now […]
Brackett has since written a letter to Prime Minister Dean Barrow seeking information on the boledo deal. He is also advocating for the tender process and for information on who really owns Brads, a popular hang-out for U.D.P. politicians at the bottom of the BelCan Bridge. Geovanni Brackett, Concerned Citizen “When exactly does this […]
Brackett says he will lobby the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Senators and other social partners to get answers on the situation around the popular boledo. At today’s senate meeting, Business Senator Mark Lizarraga says that he too has issues with the way G.O.B. grants contracts. Mark Lizarraga, Senator for Private Sector […]
The U.S. Government, through the CARSI-ESF grant programme, has awarded seven hundred and fifty thousand U.S. dollars to three organizations in Belize. Since 2007, over nine million U.S. dollars have been awarded to civil society groups. Today’s funding is just one part of over forty million U.S. dollars awarded through the CARSI programme to Belize. […]
Former firebrand COLA President, Geovanni Brackett also chimed in today on the Hilltop property debacle where the headquarters of the P.S.U. was sold even though negotiations were ongoing with the Belmopan City Council. A Corozal company, Simplex Designs Limited, acquired the property and the P.S.U. is now facing eviction. Brackett is known not to mince […]
There is more tonight from the Public Service Union in respect of its former Hilltop property. The union says it will not be moved from its Hilltop headquarters in Belmopan. A few days ago, the P.S.U. President Gerald Henry received a letter from attorney for Simplex Designs, Estevan Perrera, telling the union that it had […]
Henry says that the P.S.U. has hired the services of Courtenay Coye LLP and the documents should be filed before October thirty-first. He says that the union will not vacate the property because that would mean that they are giving it up. Gerald Henry, President, P.S.U. “I believe that this week the legal team […]
Last week, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams indicated that Sergeant Shawn Walton and Constables Edward Pitterson and Bernard Cayetano are being recommended for dismissal from the force, resulting from the death of Nestor Vasquez Junior. The sixty-year-old died in June of massive injuries to his head sustained while he was locked up in a cell […]
In August, P.S.U. President Gerald Henry completed the first three weeks of his countrywide familiarization tour. Henry met with public services across the country, in government departments in every district. When he arrived at the Belize City branch of the Belize Tax Service Department the doors were closed and Henry was not welcomed. Henry says […]
Earlier today when we caught up with the P.S.U. president, we asked him about his recently concluded tour nationwide. President Gerald Henry visited government ministries and spoke to dozens of public service officers about work conditions. The P.S.U. says it is extremely concerned by much inaction, complete lack of respect, willful neglect, hazardous environments, and […]
According to Henry, the government needs to prioritize its spending more appropriately to areas where it is urgently needed such as health. Gerald Henry, President, P.S.U. “I always point to the fact that there is so much money being spent on these additional roads and streets, eight million for the Fabers Roads and I […]
The government side of the House last Friday gave final approval to the write-off of forty thousand dollars to Joshua Perdomo, the son of the Cabinet Secretary. As soon as the motion was presented, it came under criticism from the Opposition, as well as from other sectors. Today, the B.Y.M., which is the youth arm […]
At Friday’s House meeting, Area Representative Julius Espat made a presentation on the political interference in the election process. Tensions quickly heightened during a meeting on September twenty-eighth in Georgeville, Cayo. Representatives of twenty-two villages of that district met with officials from the Ministry of Human Development including former U.D.P. Minister Ruben Campos. The meeting […]
The Public Service Union is not giving up its headquarters in Belmopan so easily. Last month, attorney Estevan Perrera sent the P.S.U. a letter on behalf of Simplex Designs Limited, which acquired the property. The letter told P.S.U. President Gerald Henry that the property must be vacated by October thirty-first, 2019. Perrera warned the P.S.U. […]
