The United Democratic Party, which is in its second term in office, is also boasting significant growth in foreign direct investment at a time when the financial climate within the Caribbean is currently unfavorable. Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Santino Castillo, ran through a list of private sector projects that are being […]
While the twenty-five scholarship recipients are looking to bank managers for some guidance, hopefully they haven’t seen or heard the name calling that occurred earlier today in the House by the elected representatives. The moratorium on Rosewood harvesting also became a subject for discussion in the House. The suspension, which came into effect on April […]
The Senate convened its first meeting today following the March seventh General Elections. While the budget for the fiscal year 2012-2013, which was presented in the House of Representatives last Friday, was not discussed the hot button issue on the agenda was a bill for an act to amend the Representation of the People Act, […]
The Opposition side this term is robust with fifteen parliamentarians, some who made their maiden intervention today. While the budget will be debated on July twelfth and thirteenth, we got an early reaction from the Opposition side when we caught up with former Leader of the Opposition and current Orange Walk Central Area Representative John […]
Re-registration of voters is an issue that surfaces in election seasons. Earlier this week, the Peoples United Party held a press conference in which they felt it is time for a re-registration exercise because some constituencies have grown significantly. The Prime Minister acknowledged on Wednesday that certain constituencies have over seven thousand electors but by […]
Earlier this morning, the Peoples United Party lashed out at the Barrow Administration’s three months in office. The ten speakers who spoke during the two hour event were: Francis Fonseca, Julius Espat, Karen Bodden, Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Rodwell Ferguson, Florencio Marin, Michael Espat, Marco Tulio Mendez, Oscar Requeña and Lisa Shoman. The grand old party […]
The Belize City Council today held a press conference to present the achievements of the hundred day plan they had set out upon taking office in March of this year. While they haven’t achieved the hundred items on the list in the first ninety-seven days, they have achieved more than eighty percent of it. One […]
The People’s United Party has lost its first leader. Today, the party expressed its condolences to the family of John Smith, who died on Tuesday in Metairie, Louisiana. Smith, who was ninety-three years old, passed away at home with his wife, Consuelo and their children by his side. In Belize, Smith founded the People’s Committee […]
Major changes were approved today to the executive of the People’s United Party. Here is how the configuration went this morning’s at Independence Hall where Party Leader Francis Fonseca gathered the troops. Firstly, the new faces are mostly elected representatives. Key posts have been eliminated and Fonseca is restructuring his executive to reflect regionalism. At […]
The Orange Walk Town Mayor, Kevin Bernard, came under fire soon after he assumed office for reports of dismissals at the Town Hall. But this morning, Bernard called a press conference to expose irregularities under the previous Town Council. Earlier this month, Bernard revealed that fifteen employees were hastily granted three year contracts shortly before […]
Aside from the heavy overdraft incurred by the previous administration, the mayor also disclosed that the mandatory Social Security contributions and Income Tax deductions were deducted from employees’ salaries but never paid in. According to Bernard, he has also discovered that the former mayor signed off an eighty-eight thousand dollar contract with the defeated Orange […]
It has been a little over a month since the historic March seventh general and municipal elections and lawyers on both sides of the political divide are still pursuing legal action by filing election petitions in the Supreme Court. Today, senior counsels Rodwell Williams and Said Musa appeared before Justice Minnet Hafiz where Musa’s client, […]
From the high seas to the court, an application for leave to present an Election Petition was filed with the Supreme Court by Yolanda Schakron. Schakron was rejected on nomination day to contest the general elections in Lake Independence. Schakron would have been on the P.U.P. ticket and was considered a sure winner, but it […]
Politics was not only played out in Belmopan. In Belize City, sixteen women are ready to enter politics. In the recent general elections, only three women put their name on the ballot for office. One won and was sworn in today as a member of the National Assembly. Two other women have been named senators […]
Speculation was aplenty before the March seventh elections that former Area Representative, Mark Espat, was involved with the U.D.P. campaign and in the Albert Division U.D.P. machinery. The reports suggested that if the governing party was re-elected he would have been given a senior appointment in the Barrow Administration. This morning another media house reported […]
While Prime Minister Dean Barrow was putting the final touches to his Cabinet, the People’s United Party met at Independence Hall. The opposition party has still not conceded the elections because of alleged Election Day irregularities for which it has filed three petitions in court. The P.U.P. is blaming its defeat on Mark Espat and […]
Abelardo Mai handsomely won the Orange Walk South division for the P.U.P. on March seventh. But in less than forty-eight hours, many reports, text messages and calls went across the country with one common message that Mai was locked up in a Chetumal jail because of an illegal weapon. The rumors started when the newly […]
There is finally a woman in the House. Three women: Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Patty Arceo and Carolyn Trench Sandiford, entered the race for the general elections. All were fielded by the People’s United Party. Attorney Balderamos Garcia, edged out Michael Hutchinson, her contender in Belize Rural Central, to become the only elected woman representative. It […]
The U.D.P. lost eight of its seats and at times during the night it appeared that the P.U.P. might have won. The PM admitted it was a close call and he even considered what he would say to the media if the tide had turned. But what caused the loss in of so many U.D.P. […]
He hasn’t formed a new Cabinet and we will not know which of the seventeen representatives will get a portfolio. He did announce that not all of the elected members of the U.D.P. government will sit in Cabinet. Four others will be brought through the senate, which means that the new Cabinet will be fifteen […]
The United Democratic Party was returned to government with a significantly reduced margin. Of the twenty-five seats held by the U.D.P., it lost seven. The pendulum swept completely in the south and the opposition also gained ground in the north and west, giving it a stronger voice in parliament. We’ll look at those details later […]
There were over a hundred campaign promises made by both the P.U.P. and the U.D.P. And now that Barrow is in for his second term, he intends to fulfill a promise that he says wasn’t on the manifesto. He wants to explore the possibility of a national oil refinery. Barrow also intends to seek write-offs […]
The prime minister announced at a press conference that he will take the oath on Friday for his new term in government, but the People’s United Party says it’s not conceding the elections. According to P.U.P. leader, Francis Fonseca, the elections were neither free nor fair and that the electoral process was tainted with irregularities. […]
The P.U.P. is filing three challenges, which Fonseca says might overturn the results. Two petitions are on the razor thin results in the Cayo District and the other relates to Lake Independence where Yolanda Schakron’s nomination was rejected by registering officer, Noreen Fairweather. The director of communications cited allegations of irregularities and abuse. Lisa Shoman, […]
The comments made by the OAS Observer team were not out of the ordinary. The OAS observer mission was well received and felt the experience showed a working democracy. The PM, however, says that some of the suggestions are impractical and that elections are free and fair… but not perfect. Dean Barrow “They want to […]
