The House of Representatives had a full agenda for its special sitting today. It is the second sitting since the start of the new year convened primarily to avoid blacklisting by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force. But the big stories tonight take us outside the House where the Prime Minister took questions from […]
In recent months, the Elvin Penner passport scandal followed by the visa hustle, the Castro Airports Authority cheques and the “hotbed of corruption” in the land departments, among others, have shaken the Barrow Administration to its core. And the Prime Minister has been found defending every scandal because of the razor-thin majority in the […]
While the Prime Minister was short on details outside the House, Minister of State Edmond Castro was long on prose as he rose for the first time since the BAA check scandal broke to give a statement. Castro has come under persistent fire also because of the visa hustle. Today, he rambled for twenty minutes […]
All sittings are generally ‘special’ in nature, and this one was no exception. It offered a little good, some bad and more than the usual ugly. There’s a whole lot to get into tonight, including a nasty exchange of words between members. But first we go to the man of the hour, Edmond Castro. […]
The United Democratic Party is in the middle of conventions to select what they refer to as caretakers in the fourteen constituencies where that party does not have an area representative. This past weekend, the battleground was in Orange Walk East, where Elodio Aragon Junior defeated David Constanza. All indications are that Aragon Junior was […]
There’s a lot of hard news out of the House of Representatives, but there was also a prolonged exchange, which has become a trademark of every sitting. That was provided during an exchange between three members from Orange Walk. It started out with allegations of land corruption by member for Orange Walk South Jose […]
Last Tuesday, former FIU director Marilyn Williams was appointed as the new chair of the Integrity Commission, after approximately four years of the agency being defunct. The Prime Minister told us today that they are serious about activating the Commission, and members have already been selected. The appointments will be announced at the sitting […]
Throughout the month of January, the unions took to the streets calling for an end to corruption and salary adjustments. Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Barrow announced that based on projections, teachers and public officers were looking at a salary adjustment of not less than three percent when they receive it in July. Well, […]
While the issues outside the House after the proceedings took center stage, there were several important matters raised inside the House. Premier among those has to be the Firearms Act, which has been the subject of prolonged and massive outcry. There have been myriad complaints and much distress expressed since 2008, when the perceived […]
Seven bills were passed today in the house. But the real purpose of today’s House Sitting had to do with a threat by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force. In November, the CFATF announced that it would be blacklisting both Belize and Guyana for non-compliance in addressing deficiencies in the laws on money laundering as […]
There are two very disturbing cases of sexual assault involving minors to report on tonight. The first reportedly happened in Bullet Tree Falls, Cayo, on Tuesday evening where the mother of a three-year-old infant reported that her daughter was assaulted by a minor who came over to their home earlier that day. The Guatemalan mother […]
On Tuesday, we reported on a garbage situation at the Punta Gorda Hospital involving the accumulation of medical waste inside the storage facility. The incinerator which is used to consume the refuse has reportedly been out of service for several months, forcing the hospital administration to transport trash from PG to the Southern Regional Hospital. […]
The Rotary Club of Belize’s annual Gift of Life Program is underway at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Since Monday, the visiting doctors have been attending to a growing number of children requiring medical attention for heart conditions. The program is also extended to adults and where necessary, the patients are sent overseas for further […]
To help raise the much needed funds to keep the Gift of Life Program alive, the Belize Rotary Club is putting off its annual production…a play entitled Every Rose has Thorns. The comedy, written by Saint Vincent national, Dillon Bergin, opens this Thursday at six p.m. inside the Bliss Centre for the Performance Arts and […]
