And tonight’s question is: Do you support a curfew for children? Send your comments and responses using your SMART phones to 8686 or post your vote on our e-poll at channel5belize.com. You can also send an email with your comments to questions@channel5belize.com
The budget for fiscal year 2016/2017 was discussed at length by the Senate this morning, succeeding a two-day heated debate in the House of Representatives a week ago. Dubbed “Stability in a Time of Change,” G.D.P. growth is forecast at one point five percent with a deficit that expanded to five percent. While the proposed […]
The Opposition, for its part, describes the budget as both uninspiring and insipid and therefore the party cannot lend its support to the budget that has ballooned into a massive deficit. Led by Senator Eamon Courtenay, the People’s United Party proceeded to pick holes in the budget, particularly criticizing government’s failure to consult with its […]
With government and opposition senators weighing in on the budget in detail, one complimenting the financial plan and the other altogether condemning it, what is the union’s outlook for the year ahead? The wage bill for teachers and public officers will balloon to four hundred million, but the lack of consultations in crafting the budget […]
There are reports tonight that U.S. immigration agents have arrested more than one thousand suspects and have charged them for attempted murder and witness tampering in an anti-gang sweep. The operation called Project Shadow was aimed at international gangs operating in the Los Angeles, Atlanta, San Francisco, Houston; and El Paso, Texas areas, according to […]
Assistant Superintendent of Police Selvyn Tillett was robbed at gunpoint on Valentine’s Day and relieved of his son-in-law’s pickup truck while in his hometown of Benque Viejo. ASP Tillett was held up by a pair of armed men who stole the white late model vehicle and fled across the Guatemalan border. Despite prompt and efficient […]
During today’s lengthy Senate debate, the church also had its say on the pros and cons of the annual budget. While Senator Ashley Rocke did not altogether pan the 2016/2017 budget, he did note that allotment for the churches has been discontinued. Instead, government has opted to contribute charitable funding to what are being described […]
The domestic cost of fuel went up again earlier this week with the cost per gallon of regular inching closer toward the nine dollar cap. While the cost per gallon of diesel has increased to seven dollars and seventy-one cents, a difference of twenty-one cents since it last went up in December. The good news […]
The eighth class of recruits of the Belize National Coast Guard graduated this morning at the Williamson Compound in Ladyville. The intake of forty-six trained for three months to prepare them to assume a military role. The seamen will take on a range of duties within the naval unit. News Five’s Isani Cayetano was on […]
Well-known Pastor Scott Stirm has come under some fire in the wake of the release of a video which has gone viral. In the edited video, Stirm is speaking to an audience at SP Ministries in the U.S. The section of that video which has caught fire is one in which Stirm makes reference to, […]
The debate on the 2016/2017 budget ran the full two days allocated in the House, and was closed with the Prime Minister’s presentation at around eight on Wednesday night. For the most part, with some notable exceptions, the lengthy session was civil, a call that had been made by leader of the Opposition John Briceño […]
But the PM reserved special insult for Cayo South Representative Julius Espat. In his presentation Espat played on the Old English definition of barrow which he claimed referred to a castrated pig. Barrow claims that while he expects nothing different from Espat, he could not leave those comments unremarked. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “The […]
And then to the budget for the fiscal year 2016/2017! Starting with the leader of the Opposition, members on that side of the gallery claimed that based on all relevant statistics, the economy was in a recession, and the so-called stability budget was only a rhetorical farce. Prime Minister Barrow lashed back, accusing the Opposition […]
A major plank of the Opposition’s debate in the House was agriculture. They pointed to situations in the papaya, shrimp, citrus, sugar and banana and put the blame squarely on the shoulders of Government. Orange Walk South Area Representative Jose Mai led the charge on that front, blaming government’s inattention and neglect on what he […]
Prime Minister Barrow says that criticism is unfair based on the many factors which are completely out of government’s control. Additionally, he states that any claim that his administration has neglected the agro-productive sector is untrue, since it is this administration which has done the most for stakeholders in that sector. Prime Minister Dean […]
We close tonight’s coverage of the 2016/2017 budget debate with something we’ve hardly before been privileged to witness. The sessions in the House are always confrontational and testy, often hostile and very personal. But on Wednesday, the usually acerbic U.D.P. Whip and representative of Mesopotamia Michael Finnegan was nothing but love. Finnegan maintained throughout the […]
Easter, like Christmas, is a special time of year. While many celebrate the birth of Christ on December twenty-fifth, they also mourn his death on Good Friday and honor his resurrection on Easter Monday. The Christian festival is a time for religious worship, as Christ, the only son of God gave his life to wash […]
The exodus from mainland to the cayes began earlier today, with dozens of private vessels heading out to San Pedro, Caye Caulker and other secluded locations. While Belizeans take to water this Easter weekend, it is important to remember the primary rules of boating safety. Commander John Borland of the Belize National Coast Guard outlines […]
Day-two of the budget debate started promptly at nine this morning. All eyes have been on the representative for Orange Walk North, Gaspar Vega. In the biggest political news of this time, Vega resigned abruptly as first Deputy Leader on March eighth. He wrote to the Party Chairman and copied his resignation to the Prime […]
There has been rampant speculation that Vega’s resignation is a result of the Ministry of Lands being removed from him after general elections of November fourth, 2015. One very popular trend of thought is that frustrated by the loss of stature within the Party, Vega wanted to send a very strong message to the Prime […]
Today’s session in the House of Representatives, the second day of the new budget for the fiscal year beginning April first, was led by Area Representative for Pickstock Wilfred Elrington. But for him, as for his colleagues before, issues took precedence over any actual debate in the figures in the budget book. For Elrington, the […]
The head of this country, Prime Minister Dean Barrow, has condemned the aggressive actions of the Guatemalans at the Sarstoon, not only in the wake of this last incident but on a previous occasion when Guatemalan military attempted to stop a BTV expedition from entering the river. In separate press conferences, the Prime Minister has […]
Still on the issue of the Sarstoon, Guatemala’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded fast and furious to a release from the CARICOM Secretariat in which the region expresses support for Belize in the backdrop of the recent incursions in the Sarstoon by the Guatemalan Armed Forces. The GAF blocked the Belize Territorial Volunteers and […]
Representative for Caribbean Shores Kareem Musa had one of the longest and one of the most passionate presentations of day-two of the budget debate. In his first budget presentation, Musa turned his attention on the legal fees contained in this document, and budgets past, claiming that tens of millions have gone to three select lawyers […]
Musa also turned up the heat on Belize Telemedia Limited, nationalized by the government in 2009. While the government touts this acquisition in consecutive budgets as one of the stellar achievements of its time, Musa claimed in his presentation that perhaps the company should be renamed BPL, or Barrow Pinata Limited. Kareem Musa, Area […]
