As befits the month before town board elections, Representative Finnegan and the UDP have also been attacking the Government on other fronts: notably the recent purchase of equipment by the Ministry of Works for projects in the Toledo District. According to a UDP release, Finnegan requested on January twenty-fourth that Government provide him with the […]
While members of the citrus industry will have to rely on unions to help them meet their demands for higher wages, domestic workers and shop assistants will have their pay reviewed by the new wages council. This week Cabinet Ministers discussed the recently established council, chaired by Phyllis Cayetano. It will advise government on a […]
Prime Minister Said Musa and Minister of Economic Development Ralph Fonseca were in Cancun on Friday for a meeting of Western Hemisphere Finance Ministers. Prime Minister Musa led a session on “Improving the Stability of the International Financial System”, addressed a range of issues such as exchange rate regimes, debt management, and private sector involvement […]
Last week a News Five investigation revealed that a member of an Indian terrorist organization purchased a Belizean passport while incarcerated in a Canadian prison. Since that time, a number of reports have reached our newsroom of other “economic citizens”, whose past activities in their home countries raise grave doubts about the vetting procedures used […]
The government has announced its time frame for implementing the recommendations in the Political Reform Commission’s yearlong study. Last week the Prime Minister Said Musa and his Cabinet Ministers reviewed the report at length and indicated they accepted sixty-three of the one hundred three recommendations and will keep the remainder under review. The time frame […]
While residents of Maya Mopan dealt with the aftermath of a fire, it was business as usual at the Meeting of the House of Representatives. Bills were introduced to establish an autonomous board for the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, to create the University of Belize, and to register non-governmental organizations. Among those bills getting a […]
The final report was presented to Prime Minister Said Musa earlier this month, he in turn distributed it to Cabinet and yesterday they endorsed more than fifty percent of the recommendations submitted by the Political Reform Commission. This week’s Cabinet briefing says the ministers gave their support to sixty-three of the one hundred three recommendations […]
It was big news in the opposition newspaper…but the subject of the article says it’s not true. Today’s Guardian, the voice of the United Democratic Party, reported in two separate stories that Belize’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Michael Ashcroft, will by month’s end resign his post. According to the Guardian, the departure was part […]
When the legislation to legalize casino gambling in Belize was passed late last year, it appeared that there were many questions left unanswered. Now almost two weeks after the first casino opened at the Princess Hotel, Cabinet is belatedly trying to provide some answers. In the briefing for this week’s meeting, we learn that Cabinet […]
In other Cabinet news, the bill for the establishment of the University of Belize was approved for presentation at the next sitting of the House of Representatives. The bill will bring together five tertiary level institutions and establish a board of trustees for the development and management of the university. After presentation to the House, […]
They decided not to recommend replacing the Queen as the Head of State; they don’t feel it’s time to remove the Governor General, nor do they believe electing a president would be a change for the better. But while the Political Reform Commission appointed a year ago by the Prime Minister appears to have taken […]
In Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting Ministers came one step closer to making the proposed University of Belize a reality by agreeing on its legal framework. The ministers also considered an act to provide for the establishment, management and development of the national university, which will be tabled at the next meeting of the House of Representatives. […]
The Political Reform Commission will present its final report to the Prime Minister Said Musa tonight in Belize City. The fourteen-member commission, headed by Dylan Vernon, was appointed by the P.M. in January of 1999, and asked to examine all areas of governance in Belize and make recommendations for improvements. The commission’s work included holding […]
When Florencio Marin announced his resignation from Cabinet last month to take over the chairmanship of the Corozal Free Zone it was a matter of some speculation as to who, if anyone, would succeed him. Today the mystery ended when government announced that veteran politician Valdemar Castillo would get a seat at the big table […]
When he wasn’t honoring the nation’s newborns Prime Minister Musa managed to find time to state his views to the Belizean people. In his eighteen minute Millennium Address the P.M. touched on a variety of issues, both foreign and domestic. He pledged to increasingly involve the NGO community in government’s work and promised to include […]
While all is quiet tonight on the political front it appears that the first working day of the New Year will feature some fireworks of a partisan nature. Minister of Housing Dickie Bradley told News Five that construction will begin on Monday on land near the BelChina Bridge, land that was given to the United […]
Last week the House of Representatives met for the last time this year and on Tuesday it was Cabinet’s turn to tie up loose ends. Florencio Marin, who officially retires from Cabinet at the end of the month to take up his appointment as the Chairman of the Commercial Free Zone, reported on the Panama […]
The House of Representatives held a special sitting today to meet for one last time in 1999. The Belmopan City Council Bill was introduced following the residents’ decision last month to become a city, the Dangerous Goods Act was amended to prohibit the delivery of butane gas in bobtail trucks in developed areas after two […]
Eleven months after it was appointed by the Prime Minister, the Political Reform Commission announced it will meet its one-year deadline shortly and will present its final report in January. After almost twelve months of study, public consultations, and deliberations on improvements that can be made to Belize’s democracy, the commission will share its recommendations […]
On Tuesday came the startling announcement: Florencio Marin had resigned from the Cabinet. But today at a Mayor’s Association meeting in Corozal, Marin told the Government Press Office he believes he accomplished what he set out to do as Minister for Sugar Industries and Local Government and it is time to move on. Prime Minister […]
Florencio Marin’s resignation was not the only item on the agenda of this week’s Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Cabinet ministers participated in a gender sensitization session conducted by a facilitator from the Pan American Health and World Health Organizations. The session which was arranged by the Department of Women’s Affairs centered on policy issues relating […]
Belmopan may look the same today, but the outlook of its residents will be changed forever. The final tally in Wednesday’s referendum for cityhood showed that the majority voted yes. However the turnout was low, a mere thirty-six percent of the registered two thousand six hundred seventy-six voters, just under a thousand people, caring enough […]
Infrastructure improvements and boosting the economies of the Stann Creek and Toledo Districts were the focus of discussion at this week’s Cabinet meeting in Belmopan on Tuesday. Cabinet agreed to provide two million dollars for street resurfacing and construction in towns all over the country. San Ignacio, Orange Walk and Belmopan will get three hundred […]
Voter turnout in Belmopan can only be described as “low” with the count at five fifteen, forty-five minutes before the polls closed putting it at just under thirty-two percent. Only eight hundred forty-six of the eligible two thousand six hundred seventy-six voters went to the Belmopan Comprehensive School to cast their vote in the nation’s […]
On Wednesday Belmopan residents will go to the polls to decide whether their home will be recognized as the capital “city” as it has always been called. Since it was established in 1970, the capital has been governed by the Reconstruction and Development Corporation, an appointed board. But some “Belmopanese” have felt the community would […]
