The National Party Council of the PUP will meet this Saturday morning at Independence Hall as scheduled. In fact we have learnt that twenty-nine of the thirty-one constituencies have already sent in the names of their delegates. Interestingly, Said Musa from Fort George and Francis Fonseca from Freetown, two of the five parliamentarians who on […]
There was a buzz since the beginning of the week that PUP party leader, John Briceño, would be holding the party’s national convention in late September rather than November, when it was originally scheduled. To political insiders, an early convention meant that his leadership was under challenge and any potential contender would then not have […]
In the opposition party, there have been constant challenges to John Briceño’s leadership since he won hands down the leadership of the People’s United Party after its crushing defeat at the national elections in 2008. By and large, the PUP has not closed ranks and the newspaper of what is known as the well financed […]
Since the release of the 2008-2009 Audit Report earlier this month there has been public disquiet regarding government expenditures. The report—tabled during the last sitting of the House of Representatives—recognizes several areas of concern including dubious transactions that have grown exponentially over a four-year period. In 2005 that figure stood at one hundred and forty-two […]
The Auditor General’s Special Report on the Issuance of National Land Leases and Titles between September 2007 and February 2008 reveals numerous questionable transactions in the Ministry of Lands. As we have reported, in the majority of the cases, lease and purchase applications were approved without the recommendation of the Commissioner of Lands and Survey. […]
Last Friday in the House of Representatives, a special report by the Auditor General was tabled on land transactions in the period of September 2007 to February 2008. One thousand five hundred cases were examined by the audit which revealed a breach of established practices at the Ministry of Natural Resources in the months prior […]
At the House meeting on Friday, Prime Minister Dean Barrow introduced a bill that most elected officials probably don’t want you to know about because it gives you measurable power over that politician. The bill provides for the recall of the divisional representative before the completion of his term in office. In other words you […]
A special sitting of the House was held today in Belmopan. Today’s sitting ended shortly after mid-day and was not characterized by the bows and arrows that are usually slung across the aisle. The government tabled a report by the Auditor General which showed that under the past administration in the period between September 2007 […]
It will be another two and a half years before elections are due for a new government, but the ruling United Democratic Party is already lining up its thoroughbreds for the big race. On Sunday the U.D.P. went north, in the backyard of the leader of the PUP, for its National Convention at the People’s […]
Earlier we told about Sunday’s U.D.P. convention which elected Patrick Faber, as chairman defeating John Saldivar by a huge margin. Faber had just assumed his post when he indicated that he has ambitions to climb the political ladder. He says he envisions himself effectively filling the post while still keeping his ministerial duties, but it […]
Earlier in the week, we reported on the Dr. Herbert Gayle’s Report on Male Social Participation and Violence in Urban Belize, which like the Police Department’s Harold Crooks Report, will be mouthed by social partners as well as political pundits for a long time. Gayle’s report scrutinized the shortcomings of the education system which has […]
Minister Faber is also one of the names on the ballot for this Sunday’s convention of The United Democratic Party in Orange Walk Town. Faber will be going up against the likes of his cabinet colleague, John Saldivar and Ruben Campus, a former minister and an old hand in Orange Walk politics. The three are […]
Marcel Cardona, the area representative from Orange Walk East took on the U.D.P. strongman and Deputy Prime Minister, Gaspar Vega, last week. Cardona mounted a protest to say he was being deprived of the education subsidy for his constituents and that instead, Vega’s constituents were benefiting. We caught up with Cardona over the weekend. Marcel […]
Orange Walk East Area Representative Marcel Cardona was ousted from Cabinet as Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture in 2009 and since then he has not been a happy camper with his party. Cardona is expecting a challenge by at least two contenders in his constituency and it is generally believed that he no longer […]
In other political news, Patrick Faber says the U.D.P. will be holding its national convention in Orange Walk Town at the beginning of August. And while the leadership of the party is not up for challenge, recently appointed Minister of Police Doug Singh, is relinquishing his position as U.D.P. chairman. The top brass within the […]
The UDP’s expulsion of Belize City’s first female Mayor, Zenaida Moya Flowers, has severe implications for the management of the City Council. Moya had thirty days to appeal her expulsion from the party. She sent a letter to the ethics and integrity committee, however, it was not a formal appeal, and so hopes of her […]
There’s an update to the ongoing saga involving the retirement Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh. As we have reported, the CJ will be demitting office at the end of September, within days of reaching the retirement age of sixty-five years. Following a meeting with Prime Minister Dean Barrow, on June seventh, Conteh informed the Executive of […]
On May twenty fifth she was booted from the political party that she supports and promised she would appeal. This came after her very bold comments about her party leader and Prime Minister Dean Barrow on the steps of the Magistrate’s Court following her arraignment on October first, 2009 on twenty-two counts of Uttering a […]
Village council elections were held in the past weeks throughout the country. Most of the villages were hotly contested and both parties at one point or the other claimed the upper hand. The interesting element this time round was the number of independent slates that contested the vote. According to a release from the governing […]
A detailed and bureaucratic plan layered with numerous committees and subcommittees was unveiled this morning as Restore Belize, the government’s strategy to address violence and social ills plaguing the country. It is to be chaired by the prime minister, financed by the financial institutions and will involve a wide gamut of organizations, schools, churches, and […]
Senator and newly appointed Police Minister, Doug Singh, faced the press for the first time today as he stepped up to the podium at the Prime Minister’s press conference. It’s Singh’s first day on the job to tackle the biggest crisis facing the government, but is he up to Restore Belize? News Five asked Singh […]
At the press conference Prime Minister Dean Barrow also defended his choice of B. Q. Pitts as the Attorney General. According to the P.M., Pitts is well respected by his colleagues in the judiciary and can produce legislative as well as judicial reform very quickly. Pitts, also spoke briefly on the podium and said that […]
Still on the reshuffle, the Opposition, People’s United Party, chided it today calling it a feeble game of political musical chairs. It expressed disappointment saying “after many months of speculation and uncertainty, and a virtual standstill in Ministerial performance given the premature disclosure by the PM three months ago of his impending shuffle, the actual […]
It had been in train for some time, and today Prime Minister Dean Barrow finally announced the changes to his Cabinet. They were neither sweeping nor inspiring. But at a time of severe pressures on the Government coffers, the changes increases Cabinet to twenty-three members and affects six ministers in the old deck. To cut […]
When he made the announcement, the Prime Minister said that the changes would tackle some of the pertinent issues facing the country, particularly in crime and violence. The removal of Minister Carlos Perdomo as head of the police was long in coming. He however, retains responsibility for defense. The PM announced that he has drafted […]
