We have only just received the official press release on today’s first business session of the new sixteen member compromise cabinet, but reports from Belmopan are that most of the morning session was taken up by a presentation from the general manager of the Social Security Board, Narda Garcia. Unless there are some secret transactions […]
All eyes will be on Cabinet tomorrow as that newly enlarged and emboldened group gets set to tackle the problem of government?s finances and the public?s lack of confidence in its leadership. And while we are not sure if the session will be characterised by candour or cover up, there are increasing signs that the […]
It has been a long and eventful week for Belize’s ruling politicians and today that week ended with the first meeting of a new sixteen-member cabinet. That body is the product of compromise and it remains to be seen whether it is the type of compromise that pleases everyone…or no one. Any residual stress that […]
At nine Friday morning, the new Cabinet will sit together in its first official meeting since the line-up was announced on Wednesday evening. According to Cabinet Secretary Bobby Leslie, plans were being made all day to take care of the constitutional arrangements; that is the official swearing in of new members Ainslie Leslie, Mike Espat, […]
There’s a new cabinet tonight and while we had to wait a whole day to get it, here’s the Prime Minister in a speech that was embargoed until seven P.M. Statement to the Nation by Prime Minister, Hon. Said Musa My fellow Belizeans, A year and a half ago, in March 2003, Belizeans, in an […]
Joining me in studio tonight is Leader of the Opposition Dean Barrow, who will comment on the Prime Minister’s address to the nation and Cabinet shuffle. Janelle Chanona “Mr. Barrow, I know you’ve just only watched the P.M.’s address in our studio, but your snap analysis of what he said.” Dean Barrow, Leader of the […]
It?s a drama in which the last act keeps being re-written…and the actors don?t know if it?s an episode of the Sopranos or Scooby Doo. The fate of the gang of seven continues to hang in the balance tonight, as latest word out of Belmopan is that “discussions continue”. At two twenty this afternoon, former […]
Aside from supervising the process more carefully, is there anything that the two executives have to say to the public? Narda Garcia, General Manager, S.S.B. ?In the case of S.S.B., I would say that we participated in the whole transaction because we were assured and insured that there was enough level of coverage in terms […]
When the Prime Minster on Thursday delivered the address that was essentially written for him by seven renegade cabinet ministers, it was thought that the wording of the document, calling for “restructuring at the highest levels” with “implementation by month?s end” was sufficiently vague to buy the P.M. at least two weeks time to do […]
With a majority of the cabinet now relegated to life on the backbench the obvious question arises of what happens next. In a phone call late this afternoon Press Secretary Ernesto Vasquez, released the following recording made by Cabinet Secretary Robert Leslie. Robert Leslie, Cabinet Secretary ?Today, August sixteenth 2004, the Prime Minister received the […]
Today none of the combatants in the P.U.P. civil war were talking to the media although a press conference by the seven samurai has been tentatively scheduled for tomorrow. One man who was only too happy to comment, however, was Leader of the Opposition Dean Barrow, who called the resignations "the most fascinating development in […]
On the day after Prime Minster Said Musa?s public commitment to make serious financial reforms and restructure ?the highest levels of government,? the various players and pundits are busy trying to figure out exactly what that means. According to sources within the ?Gang of seven?, that is Ministers Espat, Courtenay, Coye, Smith, Baeza, Hyde and […]
As allegations of scandal swirl around his government?s handling of the public purse and each day brings new criticism and demands for full disclosure of financial transactions, Prime Minister Said Musa today took to the airwaves to state his case. The address lasted just over three and a half minutes and we reproduce it in […]
Those expecting a bombshell in the Social Security scandal were disappointed. Instead of any new revelations of government misbehaviour, the Opposition United Democratic Party’s Press conference this morning simply sought to consolidate the three streams which, they claim, taken together form a torrent of wrongdoing involving the Development Finance Corporation, Social Security Board and government’s […]
The concept of using the public purse to enrich the governing elite is not a new concept–not in Belize and not anywhere. But it appears that the level of financial impropriety by the Government, Development Finance Corporation and Social Security Board on behalf of INTELCO has become so outrageous that the blue and white wall […]
It?s been a point of negotiation for almost a decade, but this week, the Government of Belize and the Belize Fuel Dealers Association have finally come to agree on a new price formula for petroleum products. The highlight of the contract is a four year promise of a fixed rate of return, in the form […]
It might not have had the bombshell effect of a political press release just before elections, but documents released by the United Democratic Party this afternoon came very close. The opposition party says they now have proof that the Government of Belize and the Belize Social Security Board are the guarantors of telecommunications company Intelco?s […]
They flexed their collective muscles in the House of Representatives on Friday, but today the opposition United Democratic Party indicated that all may not be lost in the fight to have the Caribbean Court of Justice as the final appellate court for Belize. U.D.P. Leader Dean Barrow, in a telephone conversation, told News 5 that […]
It was a legislative session that had all the elements we’ve come to expect in our young democracy, from the highest statesmanship to the lowest name-calling. But after all the voices were silent, the government side had to swallow hard and face for the first time what the Rolling Stones sang about long ago: that […]
It’s official: The Privy Council will live on as Belize’s final court of appeal. The reason is that the proposed constitutional amendment to replace that body with the new Caribbean Court of Justice was killed before birth. This occurred last night when the U.D.P. Central Party Council rejected a compromise under which the Opposition would […]
Within hours of the Musa press conference, officials of the Opposition United Democratic Party told News 5 that the decision to vote against the Caribbean Court of Justice was the result of quote “an honest, healthy and critical exercise” that exemplifies the inherent democracy of the inner workings of the party. Member of the U.D.P. […]
While the Caribbean Court of Justice was at the top of the Prime Minister’s agenda this morning, today’s press conference ranged far and wide. Here are some excerpts of the main questions and answers. Has the bond issue failed? Prime Minister, Said Musa “Because of the volatility in the financial markets, particularly with the emerging […]
It may be the first time in Belize’s political history that there has been any suspense over a vote in the House of Representatives. With the Government in need of Opposition support to pass a constitutional amendment to establish the Caribbean Court of Justice, the name of the game is “Let’s make a deal.” Amid […]
Pundits may speculate on the relative popularity of the nation’s two political parties but one point on which both P.U.P. and U.D.P. may agree is that politicians and the process of government are today held in lower esteem then at any point in recent memory. How that situation has come to pass is another story…but […]
And in that spirit of disclosure and transparency on matters of public interest, this morning Prime Minister Said Musa addressed the financial crisis of the telecommunications company Intelco, and the still secret contract the government of Belize signed with the company. Prime Minister Said Musa ?I don?t think people should expect the government to be […]
