But before the hurly burly of the House, three amendments were proposed by the Prime Minister Barrow: to replace the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice as the final Appellate Court and to appoint an attorney who is not a member of the National Assembly as Attorney General. But the most controversial deals […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow “We don’t want to make a move, be premature and then find we have to come back to the House a month or so thereafter because either the prices had gone very much higher than at the point where we intervened or perhaps that they have gone very much lower. The […]
The People’s United Party has made two nominations to the Integrity Commission. A P.U.P. release states that Leader of the Opposition, John Briceño, in accordance with the Prevention of Corruption Act, has written to Prime Minister Dean Barrow, to recommend that the names of Attorney, Magali Marin and Accountant, George Swift, be forwarded to the […]
Turning to political news, Saturday’s Central Party Council of the P.U.P met as scheduled at Independence Hall. The rumored challenge against the leadership of John Briceño did not materialize and the agenda for the meeting dealt with reports from the B.Y.M. , the Order of Distinguished Service and the independent Miranda Report, a document that […]
With municipal elections behind, the Belize Mayor’s Association has elected a new executive body. At a recent orientation workshop held at the Biltmore Plaza Hotel, Corozal Mayor Hilberto Campos emerged as president for 2009-2010, his VP is Mayor Simeon Lopez of Belmopan, while Mayor Floyd Lino of Punta Gorda Town is the secretary and San […]
In the course of the budget debate yesterday in the House of Representatives, the Minister of Public Service, John Saldivar dropped a bombshell when he said with much bravado that he had intercepted an e-mail from the Leader of the Opposition, John Briceño. The matter sounded alarm bells because of the legalities at hand. But […]
And we did get a reaction from the People’s United Party in respect of the intercepted e-mail. Calling it morally reprehensible and a gross violation of privacy, the P.U.P. says that in many countries such an act would be considered as cyber piracy, an offense punishable by imprisonment. And according to the P.U.P., in preparing […]
In other news from Belmopan, the Governor General has administered the Oath of Allegiance to Nemencio Acosta of the Corozal North Constituency and appointed him as Minister of State in the Ministry of Human Development and Social Transformation at the Belize House in Belmopan City. Acosta takes over the post temporarily from Juan Coy, the […]
There is more on yesterday’s budget debate in the House of Representatives. In the afternoon, Orange Walk East Area Representative, Marcel Cardona, who was recently ousted from Cabinet as the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, took the floor and he did not spare any words for his own government for ignoring his constituency. And […]
And while Cardona was critical of his government’s performance in his area, Minister of State in the Ministry of Health, Arthur Roches proved to be a man of few words with the shortest speech of the day: sixty seconds tops. Arthur Roches, Minister of State in the Ministry of Health “Like my colleagues on this […]
It is perhaps one of the shortest budget debates and also one that ended on a different note when P.M. Barrow counseled the Leader of the Opposition, John Briceño, to hang in there in the face of alleged challenges to his leadership. This had to do with an early departure from parliament by the members […]
Briceño, having said his piece, paved the way for the remaining area representatives to rise in support or critique… and while most ministers stuck to words, the member for Belize Rural North did show and tell. Here’s a look at the words and the props. John Saldivar, Area Rep., Belmopan “The United Democratic Party received […]
Many controversies plagued the Belize City Council in the past months particularly in the period leading to the March fourth elections. The discord ranged from garbage collection to public squabbles amongst councilors and City Council employees. But now City Hall is attempting to strike a different note and this morning at a press conference, the […]
In other news from City Hall, councilors have been designated their new portfolios. Yesterday we reported that the Deputy Mayor is Dion Leslie. Leslie is also in Charge of Public Relations and Special Events; Roger Espejo is responsible for Sister City Relations, Investment and Works on the North Side; Dean Samuels will handle Works on […]
This afternoon, the office of the Prime Minister announced that Juan Coy, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Human Development and Social Transformation from the Toledo West Constituency has been suspended for intervening in an incident involving uncustomed goods being brought into Belize and which reportedly ended up with Coy. The incident happened […]
But in Belize City, one politician has moved up the ranks. In a close vote at City Hall late this evening, first time politician and newly elected City Councillor, Dion Leslie, edged out Wayne Usher, a second-time slugger and staunch supporter of Mayor Zenaida Moya, in his bid for Deputy Mayor. Leslie, who received nine […]
On the issue of crime, the People’s United Party today issued a release in respect of daily shootings, murders and in particular the recent grenade attack on comptroller of Customs, Gregory Gibson. The release says that “the party views with great concern the recent explosion of violent crime and lawlessness in our community. While the […]
She endured a rough ride leading to the municipal elections but Belize city U.D.P. Mayor Zenaida Moya pulled through and made history, becoming the old capitol’s first two-term female mayor. Moya took the oath of office today along with ten councillors who will run the city for the next three years. At today’s swearing in […]
A day after he was stripped from Cabinet, Marcel Cardona is talking and he is laying blame on the deputy prime minister. While Cardona is refraining from giving interviews, he released a promised statement which was hand-delivered today to our newsroom. The ousted minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, says in the release that he […]
For weeks speculation had been rife that a Cabinet reshuffle would be imminent after the municipal elections. Well today, the first order of business, even before Cabinet met, was the announcement of the anticipated reshuffle, the first for the Barrow Administration. It did not amount to a major shake up in Belmopan and the loser […]
This morning Prime Minister Dean Barrow presented his second budget to the House of Representatives for the fiscal year beginning April first. For 2009-2010 the Prime Minister is budgeting over eight hundred and seven million dollars in revenues and grants, with eight hundred and fifty-nine million in expenditures. When you do the math, that means […]
According to Prime Minister Barrow, the economic challenges facing the country are even greater for 2009-2010 due to the two natural disasters of 2008, the rapid slump in the world price of petroleum and the financial meltdown occurring across the world. Nonetheless, the P.M. says his government will bring the nation out of the crisis… […]
The Opposition will get a chance to put Barrow’s offering under the microscope when they debate the budget on March nineteenth. But today we asked Party Leader John Briceño and Deputy Leader Mark Espat for their initial impressions. Mark Espat, Deputy Leader, P.U.P. “I think there are two sides to the coin, so to speak. […]
The official statistics are saying that the voter turnout in Wednesday’s elections was within average, forty-eight percent. In Belize City, however, it was lower than in 2006, in fact by as much as seventeen percent. So who went to vote and what motivates voters? That is what Jose Sanchez set out to find. Jose Sanchez, […]
The red wave that washed across Belize in the last municipal elections in 2006 and in the 2007 general elections, continued to hold with relative ease in yesterday’s municipal elections. In fact in terms of the number of seats, it was a repeat victory for the U.D.P., winning sixty-four of sixty-seven seats countrywide. The fiercest […]
