Leader of the Opposition John Briceño and Senator Eamon Courtenay met with Reverend Roosevelt Papouloute and Bishop Phillip Wright this morning, ahead of the churches’ meeting with the Prime Minister. The meeting was to discuss the issue of a Senate Select Committee and to garner support from the religious community. Briceño and Courtenay are both […]
Senator Eamon Courtenay explained that for a defeated motion to be re-introduced in the Senate they would have to approach the president and ask for a suspension of the rules. Once successful, the proposal can be brought forward a second time and vote would be taken. They intend to do so at a Special Sitting […]
Earlier we heard from Mayor Darrell Bradley supporting the senate select investigation. Today, he was asked about the immigration irregularities that were exposed in the audit, for which an investigation is required. The audit named ministers, past and present, who irregularly intervened in the issuing of visas, nationality certificates and passports to persons who did […]
Bradley took a strong position in respect of corruption. The mayor believes that elected official have to stand against corruption. Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor “I was very, very clear that I think that if there is any march supporting anti-corruption in a very non-political way that is something I think every elected official […]
After his comments on the audit report earlier this week in support of a senate select investigation, Belize City Mayor Darrell Bradley was criticized over the airwaves of his own party. Some U.D.P. operatives were spinning the notion that Bradley should not have taken a public position that is not in line with the government’s […]
But will Belize City Mayor Darrell Bradley be sanctioned by his party for his candid position on calling for a Senate Select Commission? The outspoken head of municipal government has openly gone against a Joint Select Committee to investigate the Immigration Department. Today, PM Barrow threw the mayor under the bus, saying it was tactless […]
The Auditor General’s special report into the issuance of passports, visas and Belizean nationality names quite a number of elected officials, including Prime Minister Barrow himself. He is cited in the seven hundred page document for recommending citizenship for his brother-in-law who lives in Sweden. The audit also names Speaker of the House Michael Peyrefitte […]
This is the second audit that has been conducting by the Auditor General on the Immigration Department. Given the obvious widespread irregularities committed by persons and all that has been revealed in the most recent report, some are of the opinion that the police should conduct a full fledged investigation into the findings of the […]
The House Meeting held two weeks ago, by all scope of the imagination, was epic. Cayo South area rep., Julius Espat was literally picked up and carried out of the Chambers and, when he further refused, was manhandled by security forces. The Leader of the Opposition was also assaulted in the process and a media […]
This morning, the Belize Progressive Party gave the media an update on their ongoing People’s Referendum poll on social issues. The poll takes two forms: an online poll being conducted along with the news outlet Breaking Belize News; and a petition being signed by Belizeans to create a mock referendum on several social issues. Both […]
The Progressives are also planning, among other initiatives, a nationwide tour to take their message to the Belizean people. We hear more from the party’s chairman, Paco Smith. Paco Smith, Chairman, B.P.P. “As the only viable solution to the red and blue debacle that has plagued our nation for the last thirty-five years, your […]
The People’s United Party has not shown its muscle in the city for long years, but today it did and impressively so. The crowd was massive as the national protest snaked from the Constitution Park to B.T.L. Park on Newtown Barracks. Supporters from all corners, as well as from the City came out to protest […]
The P.U.P. stepped out of bipartisan bilateral talks with Guatemala for some time now. They said it was in protest of the Barrow administration’s mishandling of the situation and that the party was not being kept in the loop. Months later, with Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales now breathing fire at an adverse finding […]
Briceño says the P.U.P. can contribute to the discussion on Guatemala, but the government must come to them in seriousness. He also addressed the question on whether Guatemala would grant an apology, however grudging, for their slurs on the Belize Defence Force and generally on Belize. John Briceño, P.U.P. Leader “We have the people […]
Blink and you may have missed them, but Geovannie Brackett led members of his Citizens Organized for Liberty through Action and other activist organizations in their own section of the People’s United Party’s rally in Belize City today. We asked Brackett this afternoon in an interview: is he concerned that such a close alignment may […]
One last thing from the Leader of the Opposition…The Barrow administration is beleaguered by a number of successive scandals, the latest being the findings of the Auditor General’s special report on the Immigration Department. The fact that the U.D.P. government is presently overwhelmed by allegations of corruption harkens back to a point in time when […]
The People’s United Party is hosting a national protest this Wednesday in the city. The party says enough is enough and that the government has been reeling from scandal to scandal on a number of national issues. The P.U.P. has not recently organized a mass protest, so the numbers and muscle will be interesting factors. […]
The P.U.P. has also organized a petition to have Belizeans sign on or to ask and encourage—either individually or organizations that they belong to—to write their area reps or directly to members of Government to have a senate select inquiry, which is the mechanism under the constitution to investigate the immigration scandal. Valerie Woods, […]
The People’s United Party senators called a press conference at Independence Hall in Belize City this afternoon and they went straight to the point. According to Senator Michel Chebat, there has been a concerted effort by the Prime Minister and the Immigration Minister, Senator Godwin Hulse to cover up the fraudulent activities at the Immigration […]
According to Special Audit, Dahlstrom applied for nationality on the fifth of April 2012 and noted on his application that he “eventually wants to reside in Belize.” He was recommended for nationality on October twenty-second 2012 and Minister Hulse signed the nationality certificate that same day. One day later, on October twenty-third, he applied for […]
One other issue that is a priority for the P.U.P. is their call for a senate select investigation. That motion was presented in the senate, but defeated seven to five. The Opposition senators recalled that when the U.D.P. was in Opposition twelve years ago, they too had proposed and was granted a Senate Select Investigation […]
The Minister of Immigration Godwin Hulse is persistently coming under the microscope. At the sitting of the Senate Meeting last Wednesday, the P.U.P. senator requested that he recuse himself from voting on the motion for a Select Senate investigation into the immigration fiasco. Hulse was minister of immigration for some time during the period under […]
The Senate on Wednesday rejected a motion for a senate select investigation into the Immigration scandal. On Thursday, the Prime Minister announced that the Chamber of Commerce would support a bicameral investigation. The N.T.U.C.B., however, says it was taken by surprise when it found out that the business community has opted for a Joint Select […]
Trade unionist Elena Smith is the last senator standing among her social partner colleagues, based on an informal process of elimination conducted by Prime Minister Barrow on Thursday. During a press conference to discuss the Auditor General’s report, PM Barrow disregarded senators Ashley Rocke and Mark Lizarraga as potential chairs of the Joint Select Committee. […]
Senator Ashley Rocke has come under intense scrutiny from the churches, whom he represents in upper parliament, since voting against the Senate Select Taskforce. In the aftermath of that critical vote, other organizations, including the N.T.U.C.B. continue to criticize the embattled pastor for his reversal in the vote. While President Mora admits that the matter […]
