He was one of four ministers ejected from the Prime Minister’s Cabinet this week and today Eamon Courtenay has announced his subsequent resignation from the Senate following a letter delivered to the P.M. on Wednesday. Courtenay and six of his colleagues, including the deputy prime minister, created political high drama in August, when they resigned […]
The hot topic of the day was definitely politics as the details and possible impacts of the latest changes in the Musa Cabinet reverberated throughout the country. While some went “public” on the local talk show circuit to express their opinions, it seems most are holding their breath to see which corner will react first. […]
From the red corner, tonight the Opposition United Democratic Party is also waiting to see who will play which card in this political poker game. According to Leader of the Opposition, Dean Barrow, the high stakes are indicative of serious instability within the ruling party. Dean Barrow, Leader of the Opposition ?Public perception is crucial. […]
It was a move spoken about in closed door discussions and secret meetings for weeks now but this afternoon, Prime Minister Said Musa confirmed the rumours. Four ministers have been removed from his cabinet. In a press release issued at four thirty this afternoon, the Office of the Prime Minister stated, “The cabinet will be […]
Christmas eve is a funny time to announce a purge of the nation’s cabinet, and don’t worry you will not hear one announced tonight. But something is definitely afoot in Belmopan. No one is speaking on the record and several alleged targets are denying knowledge but it appears that Prime Minister Said Musa is finally […]
He is a popular musician, poet and songwriter, but if Kenny Morgan has his way, Belizean History will remember him as the man who sparked a mass rejection of the PUP Government. Morgan managed to make the transition from artist to frontline activist by his actions in the gallery of the National Assembly on Friday. […]
Our style of democracy, modelled after the British, has many positive features and by and large continues to serve us well. But at its most basic the Westminister system is essentially a dictatorship of the ruling party. And while that enables Government to act quickly and decisively, it also means that when Government governs badly, […]
It looks more like a financial straight jacket than meaningful reform but Cabinet yesterday endorsed new legislation to severely limit its power to borrow money. A press release outlining elements of a soon-to-be-proposed finance and audit bill indicates that the National Assembly will have to approve any loan greater than ten million dollars. It also […]
They have done an excellent job of exposing the weakness of Government’s financial management…but tonight the Opposition United Democratic Party will put forth its own version of how to set things right. In a format that they call a town meeting, UDP leaders will meet the public tonight at seven at St. Mary’s Hall in […]
And while the Minister of Tourism hopes that the Carnival controversy is now behind us, a far larger problem–one that’s not going away any time soon–is the matter of government’s financial situation. With deadlines rapidly approaching for some major payments on its own loans as well as those guaranteed for others in default, it is […]
We began tonight’s newscast–like we have on many nights over the last few months–on the subject of finance. A number of factors have combined to mark today as what may be looked back on as the point at which the Government of Belize snapped out of several years of economic denial and finally began to […]
The last regular meeting of the House of Representatives was on July sixteenth. Since that time the political temperature has risen sharply, with Prime Minister Said Musa facing near constant assaults from within and without over a number of pressing issues. Until today, however, many of those questions had yet to be debated in the […]
With Herbert Panton off to study law in Guyana a vacancy was created for a UDP appointee on the Elections and Boundaries Commission. That space has now been filled by veteran politician Dean Lindo. Lindo, an attorney and former leader of the United Democratic Party, was sworn in this morning by Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh.
It may be a quarter century late but Government will soon be formulating a national energy policy. That decision was made by Cabinet on Tuesday following a yearlong study on a national energy plan. That study, partly financed by the United Nations Development Programme, recommended that an Office of Energy be established within the Ministry […]
As copies of the controversial Carnival contract continue to circulate throughout the country, tourism investors, average businessmen and the woman on the street are all voicing their opinions of the signed document. While one industry insider calls the agreement “frightening”, at least one Member of Parliament says based on what he’s read, he is proceeding […]
After months of speculation, the contract signed between the Government of Belize and the Carnival Corporation is now in the public domain. And using copies provided by the website “freebelize.org”, the United Democratic Party has launched its criticism of the Musa administration for what they say is the reality behind the details contained in the […]
A release from Cabinet reports that at that body’s regular Tuesday meeting a number of decisions were taken. Among them: the implementation of a code of ethics for justices of the peace along with criminal penalties for those who go astray and the creation of an accrediting body to facilitate operation of the CARICOM single […]
It’s a political organisation that takes its history seriously and today, on its fifty-fourth birthday, the People’s United Party paused to celebrate, not just with a toast, but with a book. The author is veteran photographer and former Chief Information Officer Norris Hall. The subject is the father of the Nation. Patrick Jones Reports. Patrick […]
He presides over a sixteen member Cabinet in which at least seven ministers neither trust him, nor enjoy his trust. The Opposition, numerically weak and hardly in fighting trim, has him on the defensive. And the public, although employed in record numbers with the lowest tax burden in modern history, appears at best indifferent and […]
And while in Belmopan the Senate was deciding on its future course of action, in Belize City members of the media were treated to the first public thoughts of a member of the group of seven ministers who resigned and then came back to Cabinet. Following a morning off-the-record group chat, Minister of Works Joe […]
The United Democratic Party, still riding high on the success of the March for Belize a week and a half ago, today picketed the offices of the Belize Social Security Board countrywide. Secretary General Philippa Griffith Bailey says the UDP is determined to keep pressuring the government of Prime Minister Said Musa to launch an […]
With a successful mass protest under its belt the Opposition United Democratic Party, not to mention an aroused public, is now faced with the task of how to exploit allegations of financial mismanagement by government, the Social Security Board and Development Finance Corporation. Today the UDP made its plans clear by calling for an independent […]
And while the government of Belize will have to take whatever heat may result from any guarantees offered to Prosser, a late release just received from Cabinet outlines that body’s plan to make good on the Prime Minister’s various pledges of greater accountability and transparency in the management of the nation’s finances. I will read […]
For Opposition Leader Dean Barrow the question arises, even after a successful demonstration, “where do we go from here?” On Friday he was asked by News 5’s Stewart Krohn how any future UDP government would handle the nation’s finances. Dean Barrow, Leader of Opposition “Quite honestly there are several possibilities. I could take it on […]
In the week since Prime Minister Said Musa and seven dissident cabinet ministers managed to kiss and make up, not a single member of that body has spoken to the press…until today that is. This morning Minister Ralph Fonseca, a key player in the political drama, as well as the ongoing controversy over the nation’s […]
