Five months from today, on February ninth, 2020, Patrick Faber and John Saldivar will go head to head for the leadership of the ruling United Democratic Party. The U.D.P.’s National Leadership Convention will take place at the Belize Civic Center where Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Party Leader Patrick Faber recently launched his leadership campaign. […]
Turning to the leadership fight in the U.D.P….Patrick Faber has launched his bid for leadership of the party. That convention is set for February of next year. Faber already has a number of colleagues who have openly supported him. But then there are those new comers, like Dennis Garbutt, who are not elected but who […]
Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber hosted a convention on Sunday at the Civic Center. While the convention was to endorse him as representative for the Collet Division, which he has won for four consecutive terms, it was more about the man who wants to succeed Prime Minister Dean Barrow as leader of the UDP. The […]
Of the thirty-one constituencies across the country, only seven were represented at Faber’s endorsement convention leading some to believe that the Deputy Prime Minister may not have been able to shore up enough political support from his colleagues in the U.D.P. While those numbers were put to him based on the four area representatives and […]
Prime Minister Barrow’s departure from office ahead of his retirement from electoral politics in November 2020 has been announced on previous occasions; however, a definitive timeline is yet to be made public. While it was previously stated that he would step down several months before the upcoming general elections to allow for his successor to […]
Doctor Louis Zabaneh and Isabel Bennett were today sworn in as Senators for the Opposition, People’s United Party. Doctor Zabaneh and Bennett replace former Senators Paul Thompson and Valerie Woods. Their appointments were confirmed via press release from the party which stated that Leader John Briceño consulted with the party regarding the appointments. The junior […]
The Government also borrowed ten million U.S. dollars from the Inter-American Development Bank for natural disaster emergency contingencies. G.O.B. approached the bank for financial assistance to facilitate the execution of projects designed to alleviate the potential impacts that catastrophic natural disasters would have on the country’s finances. The millions of dollars will be focused on […]
The Belize City Council during this time of the year faces cash flow problems caused by the ‘seasonal nature of tax collections’. Earlier this year, instead of resorting to high-cost traditional overdraft bank facilities and extensive property discounts, the Belize City council decided to float a municipal paper which was authorized by Central Government. The Belize City […]
Another matter that has been in days has to do with a debt write-off. The Finance and Economic Committee of the House on Tuesday approved a motion for the unpopular write-off of a loan granted to Joshua Perdomo, the son of the sitting Cabinet Secretary, Carlos Perdomo. Four cabinet ministers, John Saldivar, Hugo Patt, Edmond […]
Opposition Leader John Briceño has returned to office following a road traffic accident that he was involved in three weeks ago. Upon his return, Briceño met with the party’s leader to consult appointments of new senators. Via press release this evening the P.U.P. confirmed the appointment of Isabel Bennett and Doctor Louis Zabaneh as Opposition […]
Patrick Faber will be holding an endorsement convention for the Collet in early September. He is also the Deputy Leader of the United Democratic Party and his hope is to lead the party and succeed Dean Barrow. The U.D.P.’s date for its National Leadership Convention is Sunday, February ninth, 2020. It will take place at […]
The Belize Youth Movement, which is an arm of the People’s United Party, says it is appalled at the write-off of forty thousand dollars owed to the government by the highly connected Joshua Perdomo. The motion for the write- off was introduced last Friday at the sitting of the House of Representatives by Prime Minister […]
On Friday, a number of write-off motions, including the waiver of a forty thousand-dollar debt owed by Joshua Perdomo, were brought before the House of Representatives. Joshua is the youngest son of former Minister of Police and present Cabinet Secretary Carlos Perdomo; he was granted study leave to pursue a Master’s Degree in Forensic Genetics […]
The House sitting on Friday was chock full of write offs. Aside from debt write-offs, a general pardon has been granted by G.O.B. to a handful of landowners who are considerably behind on land and speculation taxes. The amnesty, which is the third such exercise since the United Democratic Party took office in 2008, continues […]
In responding to Hyde’s criticism, Prime Minister Barrow says that the vast amount of properties acquired by the so-called big landowners took place under the tenure of the People’s United Party. Likewise, he says that there is a process in going about reacquiring land and that oftentimes that series of action is frustrated by legal […]
Government’s fifty million U.S.-dollar loan from Taiwan to upgrade the Sarteneja Road will be administered through a Taiwanese company in Guatemala. It’s an interesting bit of information revealed during Friday’s house meeting. Overseas Engineering and Construction Company will act as the special purpose vehicle to oversee the project, presumably in the manner in which Belize […]
The Port of Belize Limited is looking to expand its operations and its principals have put together a presentation to be made before Cabinet’s investment subcommittee in the days ahead. But that did not stop Cayo South Area Representative Julius Espat from raising the issue in the House of Representatives on Friday. In the context […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow, in responding to Espat, admits that while Waterloo has written to government informing of its intention to expand its docking facilities at the Port of Belize, he is not directly involved in any negotiations. PM Barrow says that C.E.O. Audrey Wallace responded on his behalf to inform Waterloo that Cabinet’s investment […]
The Belize City Council, led by Mayor Bernard Wagner, has gotten government’s approval for a municipal paper; a means of short-term financing that is useful in improving CitCo’s cash management system. The municipal paper will provide the cash-strapped council with an opportunity to improve its cost structure by considerably lowering its financing costs. This follows […]
Friday’s house meeting wasn’t without its share of banter and potshots. While there were a number of heated exchanges across the floor, the funniest tit-for-tat came by way of Caribbean Shores Area Rep Kareem Musa and PM Barrow. Musa mocked the prime minister about his age and PM Barrow wasted no time in responding to […]
The House of Representatives met today in a special sitting during which several bills, including the Belize City Council (Municipal Paper) and the National Liquefied Petroleum Gas Project, were brought up for second reading. The session, we note, did not see the attendance of Opposition Leader John Briceño who is still recovering from injuries received […]
According to Prime Minister Dean Barrow, the idea of forming a public/private partnership goes beyond party lines since a majority of those who make up the board, as well as other stakeholders are affluent members of the People’s United Party. The purpose of this agreement, he says, is to ensure that the price of butane […]
The much needed upgrading of the Corozal/Sarteneja Road, as well as the construction of the Pueblo Nuevo and Laguna Seca bridges, will be done using a loan of fifty million U.S. dollars from Taiwan. While the rehabilitation of that forty-seven mile stretch of road is long awaited, there is some controversy surrounding the monies that […]
Vocal in his objection to how these monies will be spent, in the absence of a contractor general, is Lake-I area rep Cordel Hyde. Not only is he apprehensive that there may not be proper accountability for the expenditure of these monies, Hyde also says that it will serve to expose the so-called fraud that […]
Kareem Musa’s visit to Mainland China two weeks ago is still the subject of much debate in political circles across the country. While it may have died down in the news this week, it is being resurrected following the Prime Minister’s take on the unsanctioned visit and the impression it gives in light of Belize’s […]
