After two weeks on remand, freelance reporter, Roy Davis, left the courtroom today a freeman. Two weeks ago, Davis was convicted of wounding Joyceln Davis when he punched her on the face. Davis pleaded for leniency but the Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith ordered him to pay McClari two hundred dollars by next week Friday […]
NICH in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) is hosting a two day film festival. It is a cultural exchange program that will open with a reception on Friday. On Saturday and Sunday the program will open to the general public, featuring cultural invitees and artists. Three films will be showcased […]
On October eight, the Constitution and Foreign Affairs Committee met in Belmopan. On the table were amendments to the Criminal Code, officially proposed to strengthen the protection of children against sexual offenders. It’s the worthiest possible goal, say government and social proponents – and the churches agree. They just don’t exactly agree on some of […]
On October tenth, Belizeans joined in on the celebration of World Mental health Day. This year’s theme focused on Mental Health & Older Adults. And while the aging population certainly faces a number of challenges from memory loss, Alzheimer’s and even depression; the people who take care of their daily needs are also at risk. […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow left the country today for Los Angeles California and was hoping that he would have accepted Elvin Penner’s resignation from the U.D.P. and as area representative for Cayo Northeast. Well, Elvin has left the building…but contrary to reports that he will not be coming back to Belize to face the music […]
As we told you, Penner will be back in Belize on Sunday and he is not resigning as yet. Via phone today, he also told News Five that he will be meeting with his constituents in next week. The Prime Minister points out that the Constitution makes it clear that barring resignation or crossing the […]
On Tuesday, attorney Arthur Saldivar handed over a bagful of immigration documents to Police – including files and binders. Those documents were allegedly in Saldivar’s possession for over a week. He claimed that he salvaged them after a cover-up operation was launched in the Immigration Department to destroy them. Those documents, in fact, are what […]
By midday Thursday, Eric Chang will probably no longer be the Deputy Mayor of Belize City. That’s the word coming out of City Hall today. Chang had been given an ultimatum by the Council that he needed to let them know his position by last Friday. He did speak to the Mayor, but News Five […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow has made it abundantly clear that his initial position to give former Minister of State Elvin Penner a second chance, has now changed following disclosure of further irregularities at the immigration department. While Barrow has asked for Penner’s resignation that is not forthcoming since Penner has indicated that he will remain […]
But the prospects, according to August, are less than likely that the People’s United Party will emerge victorious if a bye-election should be called since he claims that the opposition is struggling to garner the required thirty percent of signatures necessary to trigger Penner’s recall. The three-step process, August says, will see the P.U.P. grappling […]
Tonight’s question is: Even if Elvin Penner resigns as Area Representative should be still face criminal charges? Yes or No. Send your comments and responses using your SMART phones to 8686 or post your vote on our e-poll at channel5belize.com. You can also send an email with your comments to questions@channel5belize.com.
As we continue to dig into the immigration scandal, we unearthed the following detail. The signature of former Director of Immigration, Ruth Meighan, remains a fixture in all passports currently being issued. Meighan was transferred to the Ministry of Finance earlier this year, in February. Notwithstanding the interim appointment of senior public officer Maria Marin […]
After much public outrage and an overwhelming demand for a criminal investigation into the illegal issuance of nationality certificates and passports at the Immigration and Nationality Department, the Belize Police Department has been called in to investigate. The extent of that investigation is not known, but no less than the commissioner of police says they […]
At Tuesday’s press conference, the P.U.P. also disclosed that voters are reporting that inducements are being offered by the ruling party not to sign a recall petition. Likewise, there are threats of victimization should they support the recall of the area representative Elvin Penner. Opposition Leader, Francis Fonseca, pointed out that voters in the constituency […]
There is still debate on whether or not the Prime Minister had the legal authority to allow Elvin Penner, as a Minister of State, to sign nationality certificates and passports. The Opposition said on Tuesday that it is considering launching a legal challenge on this. But according to Prime Minister Dean Barrow, he had rocked […]
Bradley also pointed out that Penner could not be removed from Cabinet because he is a minister of state and could only attend cabinet sittings by invitation. Bradley turned to section forty-four of the constitution to back up his argument. Dickie Bradley, Attorney “There shall be cabinet of ministers for Belize which shall consist […]
Two men from the Corozal district have been hit with a slew of charges after an attempted rape on a minor. The sixteen year old girl from Xaibe Village told Police that on October tenth she was walking home on the San Roque Road at around three in the afternoon. She observed when three men […]
Today one man lies critically injured in the K.H.M.H. and five others are recovering from wounds they received at the hands of a machete-wielding family in Cristo Rey, Corozal. According to reports, six youths were on the bleachers in a park in Cristo Rey making noise. Villager Guadencio Che approached them and asked them to […]
The Fisheries Department is reporting a major bust of undersized lobsters. A total of four hundred and thirty-one undersized lobsters were confiscated and four persons were detained. They have been identified Luigi Marin, Gerald Foreman, Hubert Palacio and Mark Sewell. The four are well known fishermen from the area south of Caye Chapel. This afternoon, […]
The 2010 Census on Population and Housing was officially launched today in a glossy report, even though the findings were released since 2011. Still yet there is interesting information. In 2010 the population stood at approximately three hundred and twenty-four thousand five hundred, we say approximately because the head count was not all inclusive; by […]
There are new developments from the ongoing immigration corruption saga which makes a bye-election in Cayo Northeast a strong possibility. But here’s the biggest, first…Elvin Penner has been asked to resign as area representative of Cayo Northeast, effective immediately. That bombshell was delivered by his political boss this morning at a press briefing in Belmopan. […]
We’ll get to the recall process in a few, but first the evidence. According to the PM, it was enough for him to act immediately, and he has the unanimous agreement of his Cabinet who flanked him this morning at the press conference. So it must have been damning indeed. But we can only speculate, […]
So what of the man in the hot, dark seat? Elvin Penner earned distinction in 2008 when he became the first Mennonite to be elected to the House of Representatives. But now he is a public and political pariah – caught up in the middle of an immigration scam which may eventually result in criminal […]
If Penner does the unthinkable and refuses to resign that leaves a recall as the only process to get rid of him. For the past week, the P.U.P. has been trying to get the eighteen hundred signatures to trigger the recall. In that week, the U.D.P. has been actively campaigning to derail the recall process. […]
With the decision, the evidence and the recall out of the way, the PM also fielded other queries and suggestions. One of those is that Penner has enjoyed the protection of the U.D.P. thus far because if he falls, he might not go alone. There are persistent and credible reports that other ministers are partaking […]
