Accusing the Leader of the Opposition in particular and the Opposition generally of ignorance of the role of the Council, Prime Minister Dean Barrow gave them credit for several of the bills introduced in the House earlier this year and debated today, as well as being supported internally and externally as Belize positions itself to […]
We have been covering the Cultural Heritage Bill’s passage through the House of Representatives. It is intended to present a regime for registration and maintenance of historical assets including buildings, and is a quid pro quo for the Downtown Rejuvenation Project focusing on the Commercial Center, City Hall and House of Culture/Government House. Fort George […]
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture Patrick Faber hit back with a reminder that both Liberty Hall and the Supreme Court were in some disrepair years ago. He countered the allegation that the National Institute of Culture and History (NICH) was all about cocktail parties and not about advancing living culture, pointing to efforts […]
Two topics addressed on the adjournment are carrying a lot of currency at the moment. While Belize City has been mostly crime and murder-free for a few weeks, there has been a spike in murders across the Cayo District dating back to 2016. It has been largely concentrated in the villages immediately west of the […]
The Cayo South Area Representative also called out the officer commanding Belmopan, Senior Superintendent Howell Gillett. Gillett told News Five on Monday that while the search was continuing for murder victim Mark Mendez, police would actively pursue those who burned tires on the highway last Saturday for causing a disruption of traffic activity. The senior […]
As we reported on Wednesday, unemployment ticked up to nine percent year to year according to the Statistical Institute of Belize’s Labour Force Survey done twice annually. Additionally, just under seventeen percent of the force are measured to be “underemployed,” either under or over-qualified for their respective jobs. More tellingly, close to three in every […]
Five years ago, the minimum wage for working Belizeans was raised to three dollars and thirty cents. In that time, the cost of living has increased hundredfold, exacerbated by high gas prices and other shocks to the economy. Last week, there was a small protest and rally in Belize City by Belize Leaders for Social […]
Former Minister of Natural Resources and area representative of Orange Walk North, Gaspar Vega, made his long-awaited return to the House of Representatives after being absent since August. It wasn’t for long, since he left around midday without speaking to anyone including reporters. But his name came up on the adjournment, when fellow area representative […]
Municipal elections are set for March seventh, 2018. There are nine municipalities and a whopping sixty-seven seats to fill; eleven in both Belize City and Belmopan. The U.D.P. is in a feverish pitch to have applications submitted to meet its party deadlines in the municipalities they control. Today was the deadline for applications for the […]
The United Democratic Party is gearing up for the upcoming municipal elections in Belize City. Eight councilor candidates are so far officially in the run for local government in March 2018. On Wednesday of last week, the existing councilors, with the exception of Alifa Elrington-Hyde and Phillip Willoughby, signed up on the party slate. Interestingly, […]
With the 2018 municipal elections only several months away, the UDP Belize City Council slate is already shaping out. On Wednesday, eight councilor candidates submitted their names ahead of the upcoming deadline. While that ticket does not as yet include incumbent Mayor Darrell Bradley, or councilors Phillip Willoughby and Alifa Elrington-Hyde, the party is moving […]
Is Belize City Council’s Superman Willoughby in or is he out of the U.D.P. Municipal? Last night, you heard Councilor Dion Leslie say that the current U.D.P. city councilors are united to offer themselves as a team on the U.D.P. ticket for the 2018 municipal elections. That united effort was seen on Wednesday when eight […]
He remains Sergeant-At-Arms or Mace Bearer of the House of Representatives. But while the Senate Committee is meeting, Clerk of the National Assembly Eddie Webster announced today, Brian “Yellow Man” Audinett is disallowed from attending its sessions. Writing to the various chiefs of news media houses attending and broadcasting the hearings, Webster stated that the […]
The Municipal Elections are coming up next year and the U.D.P. is getting in gear in Belize City where it has been controlling city hall since 2006. Today, majority of the current U.D.P. City Councilors went in to the headquarters to submit their application for the March 2018 elections. Darrell Bradley who has been Mayor […]
As much as one hundred and thirty million U.S. dollars is being sought by the former owners of Belize Telemedia Limited from the Dean Barrow administration. It is the final figure for legal costs arising of the settlement of the takeover of B.T.L. in 2009 and again in 2011. These costs were to be claimed […]
The Government and particularly the Prime Minister have in the past tried to shove off at least part of the responsibility for the B.T.L. debacle to the shoulders of the P.U.P. But the party has resisted such insinuations, each time squarely pointing the finger back at Barrow himself. Party leader John Briceño did so again […]
There is also the question of economic shock caused by the B.T.L. payments. The Government recently re-negotiated the Superbond, but has accumulated close to a hundred million dollars in debt from unpaid arbitration awards to several companies, which it is refusing to pay. The national reserves are hovering above danger point as the country waits […]
The People’s United Party has called for the removal of Minister of State Edmond Castro, following the revocation of his visa by the U.S. State Department. The Belize Progressive Party called for further investigation of the reason for the recent revocation of Castro’s U.S. visas, which he says were about to expire. The B.P.P. states […]
We also asked Chairman Smith to comment on the May seventeenth showdown between supporters of the Belizeans Against Courtenay movement, particularly House macebearer Brian “Yellow Man” Audinett, and the press, resulting in his being temporarily banned from the proceedings. He now faces sanction from the National Assembly Staff Committee and his own party, the U.D.P. […]
Last week, Minister of Foreign Affairs Wilfred Elrington broke the news that Guatemala expects to have its referendum on taking the Belizean claim to the International Court of Justice later this year in November. Belize, meanwhile, continues its own public education campaign. The Guatemala issue has not been as prominent in national affairs while the […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow broke his silence today in respect of a raft of issues plaguing his administration. First, there is the embarrassing cancellation of Edmond Castro’s diplomatic and tourist visas, despite the reasons given by the Minister of Transport and NEMO to downplay its significance. Castro is on record stating that the revocation of […]
In her testimony before the Senate Special Select Committee on Wednesday, whistleblower Alvarene Burgess attested that the U.S. Embassy is in possession of an audio recording in which Castro can be heard transacting immigration business on behalf of government. Could this be the basis on which his visas were revoked? According to PM Barrow, there […]
Is the owner of the Belmopan Bandits, Minister of Defense John Saldivar, justified in using coast guard vessels to ferry members of his basketball club to San Pedro on game day? He has issued a statement addressing the use of the gifted resources and Rear Admiral John Borland, Commander of the Belize National Coast Guard, […]
The use of the boats, says the prime minister, isn’t a decision that he would have taken; however, he says that Saldivar will not be using those vessels for future private excursions. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “My own opinion, my own sense of what ought to be done and what ought not be done […]
The conduct of Yellow Man during the May seventeenth meeting of the Senate Special Select Committee has been widely condemned, following verbal threats he made to members of the media at that hearing. His fate as sergeant at arms of the House of Representatives now hangs in the balance, pending a decision by the National […]
