The Prime Minister has come under fire for proceeding with the vesting act while the employees at the FCIB are still trying to negotiate an exit package. But he says that the vesting act has absolutely nothing to do with the future of the employees. And to buy more time for the employees, Barrow says […]
While parliamentarians were winding up the first of two consecutive house meetings to formalize the sale of FCIB’s assets to Heritage Bank Limited, CWU President Audrey Matura-Shepherd was appearing before the media. A press conference was held this afternoon during which she responded to recent comments made by Prime Minister Barrow regarding the union’s role […]
Matura-Shepherd says that all the fuss about a collective bargaining agreement is merely a diversion from the real issue at hand, a severance package that should be given to all employees who will be terminated from FCIB as a result of the buyout. Audrey Matura-Shepherd, President, Christian Workers Union “Has the prime minister addressed […]
Is there anything that can be done under the law that can provide an alternative to the peremptory measures being taken by government in ratifying the sale of FCIB’s assets? That’s what we asked Matura-Shepherd, in her capacity as an attorney, bearing in mind the uncertainty surrounding the exit package. Isani Cayetano “As an […]
No House sitting in recent memory has lacked the requisite name-calling ad tawdry insults, and today there was more of that, aimed at Christian Workers Union president Audrey Matura-Shepherd. Member for Mesopotamia and U.D.P. Party whip, Michael Finnegan, did the honours, blaming Matura-Shepherd for the employee situation at FCIB while getting in a thinly veiled […]
One more thing on the settlement of B.T.L. At today’s sitting, firebrand area representative for Toledo West, Oscar Requeña also got in some shots at Prime Minister Dean Barrow for the settlement – money which he says could be used in more critical areas, like in the health system, for instance. Oscar Requeña, Area […]
Around two p.m. on Monday, the lifeless body of Guatemalan national Oscar Ik was discovered in some bushes forty-five miles outside of Punta Gorda, near Corazon Creek in the Toledo District. The twenty year old vendor, who lived in Guatemala and would travel across the border to Belize to sell clothes, was making a delivery […]
A third person linked to an alleged gun assault that occurred back in August was arraigned this morning before Magistrate Ladonna John. Belize City resident Barry Johnson was charged with Aggravated Assault with a Firearm upon Delbert Palacio. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was remanded to the prison until October twenty-sixth, 2015. […]
A wide range of issues came up during Monday’s press conference when Prime Minister made the announcement that he had reached settlement with the previous owners of Belize Telemedia six years after he nationalized the telephone company. The media wanted to know if relations were on the mend with Lord Michael Ashcroft who was personally […]
The issue of the accommodation agreement between signed between government and the previous owners of the B.T.L. has been the elephant in the room. So how does it factor in the settlement reached a few days? The PM says that he won’t honor. Reporter “Do you regret the emotive language that you used upon […]
But according to the PM, if it forms part of the valuation to the compensation, then some ground will have to be found. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “They have long since gotten, as I said, enforcement orders from the U.S. I am telling you, there’s nothing that Belize has there to attach. And so […]
The Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this week with a series of activities that are being held across the institution to commemorate that milestone. Since assuming the post of Chief Executive Officer earlier this year, Dr. Adrian Coye has been instrumental in facilitating the unionization of K.H.M.H. employees. You would recall […]
Acts of sexual violence against boys and girls are constant despite a number of new measures in place that provide more protection to victims and make it harsher for perpetrators of the crime. One way to prevent this scourge is through awareness and getting people to reject all forms of sexual exploitation. This morning, a […]
This past Saturday, thousands of spectators gathered along the two-mile stretch of road as the 2015 Carnival Road March got underway from Caesar Ridge Road to the B.T.L. Park on Newtown Barracks. In the end, only a total of six junior bands and six senior bands were eligible to compete this year and following several […]
Six years after the first nationalization of Belize Telemedia, Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced this afternoon that an agreement had been reached to settle compensation for the telephone company which the government first nationalized in 2009 and then in 2011. In the period leading up to the settlement, rounds of costly litigation have taken place. […]
The settlement of B.T.L. comes on the heels of the settlement for the nationalization of the other utility company, Belize Electricity Limited. But unlike B.E.L., there were numerous issues outstanding between government and the Ashcroft group of companies including an arbitration award. Part of the settlement involves a loan which has now ballooned to close […]
Forty-eight million U.S. dollars settles the BCB award. PM was also clear that B.T.L. will eventually take responsibility for the payment. The government will make the initially payment and some nineteen million dollars will come from the Petrocaribe to do so. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “It is now forty-eight million U.S. The Dunkeld […]
Now, as it relates to the actual compensation for the nationalization of B.T.L., the PM agreed to rely on the NERA valuation of a dollar and forty-four cents per share which represents sixty five point three million dollars. But an Arbitration Tribunal is to determine the final amount of the award and government will then […]
Government gets to pay some one hundred and sixty two million dollars but how much has it spent on legal fees? There has always been speculation on that figure and at this afternoon’s press conference at the Biltmore Plaza, where cabinet also met prior to the announcement, the PM turned to the Financial Secretary, for […]
After a week away from classes, only a small amount of the four hundred students returned to the classrooms at Faith Nazarene in San Ignacio this morning. Having reached an agreement late last week with School Management, the Ministry of Education and the Teaching Services Commission, all teachers were back inside the classrooms. But outside, […]
There were several violent incidents over the Carnival weekend in the city and in rural Belize district as well as in the south. But we start with a murder that occurred in the May Pen Village off the Phillip Goldson Highway near mile twenty-four. On Saturday morning, forty-two year old Carl McCulloch made a gruesome […]
Back to the Belize District. As many as four persons were hospitalized for injuries sustained in the gun violence that started around nine-thirty on Saturday night. An off-duty female police officer was socializing with her common-law husband and friends in front of her house on Curassow Street when a gunman opened fire and her common-law-husband, […]
Two hours later, police were called out to Antelope Street where two persons were injured in another shooting. Around eleven-thirty p.m., at least two gunmen reportedly fired a barrage of bullets at the house of twenty-one year old Andrea Buller and twenty-five year old Kendale Sanchez, hitting them to various parts of the body. Buller […]
The first two shootings on south side Belize City, it would appear, prompted a swift reaction from Eastern Division South and this morning between three a.m. and ten a.m., a joint police operation comprising of the Mobile Interdiction Team, the Special Patrol Unit and the Gang Suppression Unit rolled out in the George and Antelope […]
But there was a third shooting in the Old Capital, this time on north side. Nineteen year old Gary Young was shot on the wrist and a sixteen year old minor was shot on the buttocks at the corner of Barrack Road and Pickstock Street. According to Young, they were approached by three men, an […]
