And while the administration at Bishop Martin High School is at odds with its teachers, at Muffles College High School one female teacher is fighting to remain employed. The third form teacher was placed on administrative leave after nude pictures of her were leaked in January. The administration at the school asked the teacher to […]
Our effort to reach someone at the RECONDEV for comment was unsuccessful. We touched base with the Belmopan City Council and they told us that they didn’t know anything about the incident until it was reported to them this morning. According to City Administrator Ralston Frazier, the Council had absolutely no part in the dismantling […]
The myriad of complaints on the way things run at the Vital Statistics are well-known. Aside from the long lines and missing records, the issue of political interference has been a recurring complaint. Earlier this week, a video surfaced showing a well-known U.D.P. runner identified as Michael Flowers from the U.D.P. secretariat, very much within […]
On Tuesday the Belize Council of Churches came out in support of taking the Belize/Guatemala disputer for final resolution at the International Court of Justice. In a statement, the Council said that the matter should be resolved at the ICJ as it is in the best interest of Belize and the people. The council represents […]
Senator Elena Smith and General Secretary for the B.N.T.U. Keisha Young say that Education Minister Patrick Faber misspoke. In an interview aired on Wednesday, Minister Faber reportedly was speaking on the ongoing negotiations between the Ministry and the union as it relates to hardship allowance when he said that negotiations were on track. Minister Faber […]
Aside from the spate of violence there was another unfortunate incident in Punta Gorda where a baby was injured. Eighteen-month-old Vela Usher was transported to Belize City and is hospitalized at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital following a fire on Tuesday evening at her home in Punta Gorda. According to the toddler’s mother, twenty-five-year-old Aaronie […]
PUP Belize City Councillor, Micah Goodin remains without a portfolio tonight. After being benched following an altercation with City Administrator Stephanie Lindo-Garbutt, Councillor Goodin took to Facebook to respond to the Council’s unified position on the incident. Councillor Goodin posted that he was being used by the ‘bigger heads’, stating that “the bigger heads loved […]
For a long time the top brass of the Belize Police Department was viewed as an all boys club. Across the world there is a hyper-masculine culture that plays out in police departments, from policies to promotions. In Belize, there has never been a female commissioner since the first Belizean commissioner in 1969 – the […]
In 2018 a butane gas explosion rocked the Mopan and Mahogany Streets neighbourhood in Belize City when a faulty butane cylinder exploded in an apartment building. Three persons were injured including twenty-two-year-old Grayson Cadle. Cadle received second and third-degree burns to more than seventy percent of his body. After a few days at the K.H.M.H., […]
It has been two years since the Social Security Board embarked in a consultation process to seek support for the adjustment of the Board’s contribution and pension scheme. The S.S.B. is critically close to what experts call the ‘period of equilibrium’ where total income equals total expenditure. In order to avoid a financial crash, the […]
Legal changes have also been made to the submission period for sickness and injury benefit claims. According to Doctor Young, the submission period has been extended from four days to fourteen days. Doctor Young says that because of the short period in which employees were being asked to file claims, many had been disallowed due […]
Over the next ten years, the S.S.B. would have been renewing almost four hundred thousand cards and as you can imagine, this takes a lot of money and staff time. So the S.S.B. also made changes to the life term of its card. Starting this year, social security cards won’t expire. According to Doctor Young, […]
The Belize Council of Churches has come out in favour of going to the International Court of Justice and is offering prayers for a settlement of the dispute. After carefully examining the evidence, and the pros and cons, the Council issued a statement saying that “a favourable vote on April tenth, 2019 to submit the […]
So while the churches are in the yes corner, the National Trade Union Congress of Belize says its membership is free to exercise a conscious vote. The N.T.U.C.B. has been holding discussions with its wider membership involving the other unions. Today, President Marvin Mora told News Five about why they took that position. With the […]
But when it comes to his personal decision, Mora says he leaning toward a no. He’s been acquainting himself with past rulings by The Hague on similar cases of territorial disputes. Here’s how he put it. Marvin Mora, President, N.T.U.C.B. “I have not been able to arrive at a decision. I have more leads […]
Corporal punished has been banned from schools for more than a decade. In 2017, Minister of Education Patrick Faber told the media that corporal punishment in schools will not be allowed. Minister Faber also said that “if at the end of the day it is found that in fact corporal punishment was utilized by a […]
There are forty-three days left before the April tenth I.C.J. referendum and logistics are still being worked out. The Elections and Boundaries Department is still carrying out preparations for what will be a historic day. According to the department, in an effort to ensure the integrity of the referendum, it is extending an invitation to […]
While on Open Your Eyes, Tamai and Singh responded to concerns regarding the Vital Statistics Unit. As we have been reporting, many electors are complaining that they are being disenfranchised from re-registering because Vital Stats does not have birth certificates for them. According to Tamai a little over two thousand five hundred persons have not […]
Concerns regarding the daily operations at the Vital Statistics Unit have been mounting for years. Those who have visited the Unit go through a hellish and frustrating experience. Today, the experience may have intensified for some after the system at Vital Stats crashed. A release says, “the Management of the Vital Statistics Unit informs the […]
In other news…A reform in the trade license fee is expected to be rolled out across the country in 2020. The legislation has been completed and according to Belize City Mayor Bernard Wagner, it has the full support of all municipalities. Mayor Wagner says that businesses of all types will benefit from the reform. […]
Next Tuesday at eight p.m., Channel Five will be launching “Mapping the Guatemalan Claim: a News Five Flashback.” The series will run through to the April tenth referendum and is part of our coverage of this historic event. As Belize prepares for the referendum, Channel Five is producing a limited season retrospective of our news […]
On Friday night at the Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts, well-known anthropologist Doctor Herbert Gayle delivered a public lecture entitled Failure of Suppression. Breaking down crime and violence into dollars and “sense,” Doctor Gayle spoke of how the system has failed to reduce crime nationally and regionally and looks at ten basics for a […]
According to Doctor Gayle, the region has only one violence reduction success and that is through the concept of community policing. He is of the belief that hard-line policing is failing the region. It is best to focus on education for boys, empowerment for girls and community-based initiatives tied with violence interruption groups. Dr. […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s statement aimed at Justice Courtenay Abel at last week’s business forum, has been met with dismay. The People’s United Party is first to publicly interpret it as contempt of court. The party equates the statements as a scandalous and contemptible attack against a sitting justice deliberately designed to interfere with cases […]
Councilor Micah Goodin has been benched from his responsibilities with the Belize City Council, following an altercation during which he dressed down City Administrator Stephanie Lindo-Garbutt, before leaving City Hall in a fit of rage. Goodin had gotten a budget green lighted for a pending sporting initiative which he had proposed to caucus the night […]
