Three witnesses are to be called for Wednesday’s public hearing of the Senate Special Select Committee. But the testimonies of former Deputy Mayor of Belize City, Eric Chang, and former Financial Controller of the Belize City Council, Patrick Tillett, delivered last Wednesday, still resonate. While both men deny untoward involvement in Immigration activities such as […]
It may be a while before any Ministers of Government are called before the Senate Special Select Committee on Immigration, but quite a few, past and present, have had to sweat out recent weeks as their names were called in relation to overweening influence in the activities of the Department. Belize Rural South representative and […]
Exit Dean, enter Shyne? The entertainer-turned-aspiring politician has made no secret of his plans to succeed uncle and mentor Michael Finnegan, who recently announced plans to step down as area representative of Mesopotamia division. After deportation from the U.S., Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s first-born son was appointed as Music Ambassador under the National Institute of […]
Re-registration of voters will be put off until 2018, but the Prime Minister has committed to having it happening before re-districting of electoral boundaries and a referendum on the International Court of Justice, as requested by various parties including, in the House of Representatives on Monday, Cayo South area representative Julius Espat. Prime Minister Barrow […]
The Ministry of Education kicked off its two-day consultation workshop with principals, heads of school boards, and other education partners to engage in a discussion on how curriculums can be streamlined to improve education offering through content and delivery. This is being done to ensure that students who graduate from high schools are adequately prepared […]
Reef Week kicked off last week with a number of activities and it continued over the weekend with a ride, cleanup effort and a swim challenge. News Five tagged along with the folks from the World Wildlife Fund out to Goff’s and English Caye for the yearly reef swim challenge. It is a challenge – […]
The much anticipated 2017-2018 Budget was considered a crossroads for the Government and people of Belize. The country faces heavy external debts including the Belize Telemedia Limited settlement and arbitration awards as well as a weakened economy and low investor confidence; not to mention, the costs of the re-negotiated Superbond and the need to meet […]
His formal remarks will be made in the coming Budget Debate, but today Leader of the Opposition John Briceño offered his first review of the Prime Minister’s Budget, and to say the least, he found it unbelievable. Barrow, Briceño said, offered no explanation for how the Government is able to achieve a primary surplus of […]
Those who enjoy the vices of beer and cigarettes will have a bone to pick with the Prime Minister. But what could cause a potentially larger problem is the reduction of the threshold for payment of the General Sales Tax on electricity bills. Presently, the twelve-and-a-half percent tax is payable on bills above two hundred […]
It’s now official: Superbond 3.0 is a go. Though the Consent Solicitation Offer has been extended to Wednesday of this week, Prime Minister Dean Barrow confirmed that a three-quarter majority of bondholders agreed as of Friday to the new terms – just under five percent interest semi-annually and five soft bullet payments due between 2030 […]
As part of his Budget address, Prime Minister Dean Barrow gave an update on the continued wrangles with the former owners of Belize Telemedia Limited and the owners of the various arbitral awards. He hinted that Government may again go to the Caribbean Court of Justice concerning the second portion of the settlement award for […]
Could today’s Budget presentation be the last for Prime Minister Dean Barrow? He has committed to stepping down as leader of the United Democratic Party at their next convention prior to the 2020 General Elections. But persistent reports have him possibly leaving much earlier, with deputy Patrick Faber waiting in the wings. Though he made […]
The debate on the adjournment is a free-for-all of topics considered by representatives to be of national importance or concern. The Police intervening to stop a horse race meet in Santa Elena Town on Sunday was one such topic today as two neighboring Cayo area representatives squared off over it inside the National Assembly. Cayo […]
Over the weekend, a first of its kind Chiquibul Challenge was put off by the Belize Wildlife and Referral Clinic, which rescues wildlife in the Chiquibul. Friends for Conservation and Development, the co-managers of the largest national park, worked hand in hand with the organization. The event is a fund raiser in support of the […]
The Kidney Association of Belize held its third annual Kidney Walk on Saturday morning under the theme “Save Us Today So We Can Save Others Tomorrow.” This year, World Kidney Day promotes education about the harmful consequences of obesity and its association with kidney disease, advocating for a healthy lifestyle and health policy measures that […]
This evening, it was announced that there is another, possibly final, extension of the Consent Solicitation Offer for the Belize U.S. Dollar Bonds due 2038 or the more common name Superbond. This time the extension is for five days until Wednesday March fifteenth, up to five in the evening New York time and three p.m. […]
As is often the case, the Government has tried to shift blame for the results of the Superbond on the P.U.P. as their predecessors in administration. Alleged “failed” projects cited as proceeds of the Superbond range from the former satellite city Mahogany Heights, to Galleria Maya. But the real purpose of the loans, according to […]
At what cost does the renegotiation of the Super Bond come to Belizean taxpayers? It’s a question that remains to be answered definitively, in dollars and cents. The proposed offer is expected to be approved by bondholders; however, the price tag for doing business with the Creditor Committee will cost a pretty penny. That figure […]
The additional expense, as we’ve mentioned, will be placed squarely on the backs of taxpayers. According to Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wilfred Elrington, it was necessary to restructure the Super Bond in order to save the country from what would have otherwise been a sinking ship. Isani Cayetano “While that achievement is being lauded, […]
The budget for the financial year 2017/2018 will be tabled at the House of Representatives this coming Monday. It is known that government will have to do belt-tightening and increase revenues through various forms in the range of a reported seventy million dollars. Prime Minister Barrow, during a press conference on Wednesday, allayed all fears […]
Despite the prime minister being mum about specific tax increases, it is known that ministries will experience cutbacks in their budgets. Minister of Foreign Affairs Elrington confirms his ministry is being affected. Isani Cayetano “The Prime Minister has mentioned that there will be fiscal constraints by way of belt-tightening and what-have-you. In terms of […]
World Wildlife Fund and local partners marked the start of Reef Week with a symbolic handing over of over two hundred and fifty thousand petitions to the office of the Prime Minister. All these petitions were gathered since April of last year through an online campaign that seeks to get the Belize Barrier Reef off […]
Back to the issue of the super bond…It’s restructuring has been balked at by the Opposition who criticize it as nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Reproach aside, when we caught up with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Wilfred Elrington today, he told us that Belizeans should all be breathing a collective sigh of relief, […]
Our coverage this week of Wednesday’s Senate Inquiry has been extensive, but tonight, we touch on two more issues. A combative Lindsay Wade directly challenged the Senate panel on his guilt or innocence in relation to the removal of eight visa foils from the Western Border office where he worked in 2012. Wade, who says […]
As we have already seen in the Senate Inquiry and confirmed by no less than Minister of Immigration Godwin Hulse, the business of visas, especially for Chinese nationals, is big and often murky. Accountant Patrick Tillett ran a side business as a facilitator for friends in Belize who wanted visas for their countrymen to visit […]
