The United Democratic Party currently controls sixty-two of the sixty-seven seats on municipal councils countrywide. Since 2006, it has never gone below a two-thirds majority of such seats. But, might voter fatigue be setting in as the municipalities go to the polls again in a month’s time? Prime Minister Dean Barrow appeared exceedingly confident of […]
And finally from Prime Minister Dean Barrow tonight, the march is on toward his sunset as a political force. With elections due by the end of 2020 or early 2021 and his three-term limit as Prime Minister up, he has decided to leave electoral politics altogether. But since last year, the hints have grown that […]
At the age of twenty-two, he is thrusting himself into electoral politics to serve his people. This ambitious young man, Cristian Castellanos is attempting to topple a seasoned and trusted mayor of a town that has traditionally gone U.D.P. for many years. Castellanos is taking on Marconi Sosa on March seventh. The age and experience […]
On Monday, we gave you a brief look at the two mayoral candidates for Dangriga. U.D.P.’s Francis Humphreys is the incumbent, a well-known figure in the town having served as a teacher and principal in the town for many years. His political rival, Derrick Velasquez, says he is in touch with the issues in the […]
Over the past week we’ve been featuring the mayoral candidates contesting the March seventh municipal elections. Today, we reached out to the mayoral hopefuls in Dangriga. Incumbent Francis Humphreys is up again for the U.D.P., whilst newcomer Derrick Velasquez is throwing his hat in the ring for the People’ United Party. The candidates say that […]
On Thursday, People’s United Party senators Eamon Courtenay and Valerie Woods brought public attention to the lack of accountability and transparency in government expenditures. This is in respect of monies that were reportedly spent on relief and cleanup in the wake of Hurricane Earl in 2016, as well as unbudgeted funds that were also made […]
Accompanying the Finance and Audit Reform Act are Fiscal Transparency and Responsibility Regulations. That set of guidelines contains sixteen steps, including a fiscal outlook and mid-year review report, none of which have been presented to Auditor General Dorothy Bradley. While the citizens of Belize clamored for these measures to be put in place to ensure […]
In an unprecedented move, six of the non-government parliamentarians, including church senator Ashley Rocke, sided with Senator Eamon Courtenay on Wednesday when a call was made to bring the Financial Secretary before the upper house. While the People’s United Party is devising a plan of action, business senator Mark Lizarraga has turned in a report […]
Earlier we heard from Private Sector Senator Mark Lizarraga on dated government expenditure that has just gone before the senate. Senator Osmany Salas, who represents the N.G.O. community, also spoke on government’s extreme tardiness in bringing forward the expenditure for approval from the senate. It has been seventeen months since Hurricane Earl devastated parts of […]
The twin towns of San Ignacio and Santa Elena are in full gear for the March seventh municipal elections. Both parties are on the ground campaigning house to house and holding small assemblies. Like in other municipalities the issues are of national importance as well as local. The area is commonly known as the red […]
Earlier this week, News Five sat down with outgoing Belize City Mayor Darrell Bradley in his final days as head of the municipal government. The two-term mayor spoke candidly about the need for good governance, as well as the doing away with corruption in public office. Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor “We need strong […]
Is the Barrow Administration guilty of breaking the Finance and Audit Reform Act? It’s an admission that Financial Secretary Joseph Waight reportedly made before the Senate on Wednesday, in respect of expenses related to Hurricane Earl and Belize Infrastructure Limited, BIL. That piece of legislation was brought into existence by government back in 2010, and […]
With the FinSec’s purported confession that the Finance and Audit Reform Act has not been complied with, is there a course of action that can be taken against government by the opposition? Eamon Courtenay, P.U.P. Senator “Anybody can make a complaint and I won’t speak for the other parties, I will speak for the […]
Many of the opposition’s detractors will perhaps say that the People’s United Party is simply looking to capitalize on political mileage ahead of the March seventh municipal elections, given the timing of this matter. Senator Courtenay addresses that criticism; he also says that someone in government must be held responsible for breaking the law. […]
Nearly every municipality in Belize now has its own multi-purpose center or sporting complex upgraded or built from the ground up by the special purpose vehicle Belize Infrastructure Limited. The most recent of these is the thirty-four million dollar colossus known as the Belize City Center, which remains shuttered until a management company can be […]
Our series on the campaign trail today took us to the northern municipality of Orange Walk where a split council headed by a P.U.P. mayor controls the everyday operations of the administration. Former U.D.P. mayor Phillip De La Fuente has thrown his hat back into the political ring, after having challenged the mayorship back in […]
There was a single bill brought from the House of Representatives for passage through today’s meeting of the Senate, the first for 2018. The General Revenue Supplementary Appropriation 2016-2017 Bill proposes to formally appropriate some thirteen point nine million dollars already spent in 2016, apparently on relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Earl. Quite apart […]
Senator Courtenay requested that Financial Secretary Joseph Waight be called into the Committee of the whole Senate after debate on the second reading of the Bill, which he was. But before that the Government’s senators tried to insist that it was all much ado about nothing. Both Senator Stephen Duncan and later Godwin Hulse admitted […]
Wrapping up the debate, Senate leader of government business Godwin Hulse conceded that the bill was perhaps out of time, but he pointed out that there are other means of assessing the figures involved. And, he added, the value received on the ground was the most important factor of all. Godwin Hulse, Leader of […]
The public hearings of the Senate Special Select Committee on Immigration concluded last December after thirteen months of witness testimony interspersed with lots of drama and theatre. Now, the hard work of compiling its results into a comprehensive report with recommendations to the Immigration Department and others begins. We got an idea of what to […]
Tonight we begin a series related to the upcoming March seventh municipal elections. We were on the campaign trail in San Pedro, where the U.D.P. Town Council has been in office for fifteen years and Mayor Daniel Guerrero is seeking a third consecutive term. If you know the island, politics is a passion and supporters […]
Belize City Mayor Darrell Bradley is set to demit office in the next five weeks and is currently in the process of transitioning back to private life as an attorney. Over the past six years, he has remained at the helm of City Hall, having succeeded former Mayor Zenaida Moya. Since then, the mayor acknowledges […]
The hallmark of Bradley’s success at City Hall is perhaps the floating of the municipal bond, monies which were used to concretize over a hundred and sixty streets across the city. That project, though welcomed in some quarters, was also criticized by Bradley’s detractors who complained that the funds used to undertake the paving of […]
As we said earlier, the outgoing mayor is easing back into private life, with a renewed focus on other career interests, including his law firm. But, politics is still very much a part of his personal and professional identity. Bradley says he will use his time as a private citizen to re-strategize a political approach […]
The municipal election season is drawing closer and already most of the major political parties’ candidates are on the campaign trail. Participation from the alternative and independent movements has been less in evidence. But one man who never seems to stop campaigning is Ernesto Torres. The driving instructor is a constant presence on the radio […]
