Today’s Senate meeting in Belmopan was supposed to be routine but from early on, it was clear all was not well in the Members’ Room. The sitting started forty-five minutes late and tonight we understand the delay was caused by concerns raised by government senator, Anthony Chanona. According to our sources, Chanona’s dilemma regarded the […]
The issue of crime and violence was on everyone’s mind today, including area representatives meeting at the National Assembly in Belmopan. And while numerous suggestions on how to resolve the situation are sure surface in the days to come, as part of his address, Leader of the Opposition Dean Barrow presented a six point proposal. […]
In political news, tonight it appears a senior official of the Belize City Council has tendered his resignation again and is attempting to switch loyalties to the People’s United Party. According to Dale Trujeque, effective today, he is no longer the Human Resources Manager at City Hall. But more shockingly, the key player in the […]
Over the last two decades the nature of politics and the media has changed to the point where Belize appears to be in a state of permanent electioneering. Yet even though it’s sometimes difficult to figure out where one campaign ends and the next begins, viewers will have noticed that recently the intensity of the […]
Since July, there has been a buzz of political commotion countrywide as candidates and their canvassers make sure that eligible voters living in their constituencies have registered or transferred into the division. And while the two mass parties are already trading pot shots in the media and on the street, the independents are also soliciting […]
Earlier in this newscast we interviewed the Prime Minister about the latest developments surrounding the D.F.C. Commission of Inquiry. His comments today about the report of Justice Lord and its impact on the work of the Commission were the first since he received the document on Monday, largely due to the fact that he was […]
The notice of mass resignation of six senior managers threatened to send the Belize City Council into a tail spin, but after a series of closed door meetings, tonight it appears a truce has been brokered. The talks began at five-thirty Thursday evening and included three sides: the United Democratic Party executive, headed by Dean […]
Could six of the city’s top employees come together and submit a joint letter of resignation … without the mayor having a clue that anything was wrong? That’s the question tonight as Mayor Zenaida Moya tries to deal with the biggest challenge of her sometimes controversial term of office. She spoke late this evening to […]
With less than eight months to go before general elections it would be extremely surprising if the government in power did not initiate capital projects designed to influence as many votes as possible … and it would be equally shocking if the party out of power did not complain of the underhanded and unfair use […]
Mark Espat, the Albert division representative who was a no show at Sunday’s national P.U.P. convention, has finally explained his absence … sort of. Speaking by phone with News Five this afternoon the former Minister of National Development said that he and Ex Defence Minister Cordel Hyde met with Prime Minister and P.U.P. Leader Said […]
It provided major media drama back in January when the Belize City Council successfully agitated for government to hand over one U.S. dollar from each cruise passenger’s head tax to defray wear and tear on the city’s infrastructure and services. When government capitulated we thought the matter had been settled, but today Mayor Zenaida Moya […]
Over the last three years the People’s United Party government has lurched from crisis to crisis … with words like Social Security, D.F.C., and U.H.S. permanently associated with the perception of flawed and failed governance. But in politics, like show business and sports, what you’re most remembered for is your latest performance. And for the […]
But while the P.M. was away, one issue that has been gathering political steam concerns possible reforms to the Senate. News Five’s Janelle Chanona reports. Anthony Chanona, P.U.P. Senator “People want to have greater participation in what is happening in their country. Anybody who wants to deny that is basically in the dinosaur age, Belize […]
Reaction to the name Ralph Fonseca is always extreme … it seems you either love him or hate him. And tonight as the area representative has finally announced his plans for his future in electoral politics, those feelings are bound to cross political lines and divide the nation. First the basics: Fonseca will run as […]
In news from the world of politics, the People’s United Party has finally announced the dates for its last two constituency conventions. Belize Rural Central voters will gathers on Sunday, June twenty-fourth in Hattieville to select their standard bearer. According to P.U.P. Secretary General Henry Usher, incumbent representative and Minister of Home Affairs Ralph Fonseca […]
In political news out of Belmopan, this morning the new members of Prime Minister Said Musa’s Cabinet were officially sworn in as ministers. Florencio Marin was first to take the oath in the presence of Governor General Sir Colville Young. Marin now has responsibility of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Rodwell Ferguson was […]
For the first time since his latest and most dramatic cabinet reshuffle, this morning Prime Minister Said Musa explained why Mark Espat and Cordel Hyde are no longer in his Cabinet and gave the rationale behind the resignation of the Deputy Prime Minister. Appearing on Love F.M.’s Morning Show, the P.M. told hosts Carmen Barrow […]
As the dust begins to settle following the latest Cabinet reshuffle, the People’s United Party is looking very much like a house divided. But this morning, P.U.P. Chairman Francis Fonseca dismissed that interpretation, asserting that even though opinions might differ, his new ministerial colleagues and former Cabinet members are united in a common cause: winning […]
The newly constituted Cabinet met this morning and we are informed by the Government Press Office that the meeting–attended by all members except Foreign Minister Lisa Shoman–went smoothly and the new ministers, as well as old ones with new portfolios, are getting down to business.
And while those political leaders were talking, so too were the new inductees into the former ministers club, a body whose membership yesterday doubled to a total of four. This afternoon John Briceño and Eamon Courtenay visited our studios where they individually explained to News Five’s Stewart Krohn why they did what they did and […]
While Eamon Courtenay may be contemplating a career in electoral politics, John Briceño is a veteran who plies his trade in one of Belize’s roughest political neighbourhoods. To give up the perks and power of the Deputy Prime Minister’s office, not to mention a ministry that controls any election’s most important commodity–land–did not come easily. […]
The changes in Cabinet have prompted reaction from just about every sector of society, but the most vocal response–not surprisingly–has come from the Opposition United Democratic Party. This morning, U.D.P. Leader Dean Barrow maintained that the P.M. must take the blame for the latest fracture in his Cabinet. Dean Barrow, Leader of the Opposition “I […]
In terms of sheer numbers it was by no means the biggest Cabinet reshuffle ever engineered by Prime Minister Said Musa … but when it comes to impact, the political projectile launched this afternoon from Belmopan resembled a roadside bomb in Baghdad: powerful, unexpected, and lethal. But in Belizean politics–unlike Iraq–death is often in the […]
And while Dean Barrow will continue as an attorney in the A.C.B. claim, his comments earlier this week as Leader of the Opposition have prompted a response from Prime Minister Said Musa. During a press conference on Monday, Barrow declared that his United Democratic Party would “take all appropriate action” if the P.M. does not […]
He has come under fire from the P.U.P. for the alleged conflict between what he does as a politician and the cases he takes as a lawyer. Whether those criticisms are valid or not, Leader of the Opposition, Dean Barrow will no longer have to deal with them. A release from the United Democratic Party […]
