The Senate held its first meeting for 2017 – but it almost didn’t proceed after a major monkey wrench was thrown into this morning’s meeting in Belmopan. Both the Referendum and N.G.O. Act were up for debate and passage and there was debate on those bills which will we bring to you later on. But […]
There followed a rough-and-tumble debate about the necessity for the amendment, especially when it was pointed out by several Government Senators, most notably Stephen Duncan, that not having the N.G.O.’s Senator in place would not hamper the Senate’s duties, whereas the postponement would. Newly-appointed Senator and Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte took his oath and was […]
The Senate withdrew into a closed session at the request of lead Government Senator Godwin Hulse, and returned approximately fifteen minutes later insisting that the motion was out of order. But Senator Courtenay maintained that the result was what they had wanted: for the record to record the injustice done to the N.G.O. community and […]
The Ministry of Immigration and Nationality, headed by Senator Godwin Hulse, and in particular the Immigration Department, has been on the permanent hot seat for several months now. This is in light of the revelations made in the Auditor General’s Special Report issued in May of 2016 and made public three months later. The Minister […]
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the Government’s appeals against arbitration awards upheld in lower courts in Washington, D.C. earlier this week. Caribbean Investment Holdings Limited and Belize Social Development Limited are claiming between them one hundred million dollars in judgments handed down by the London Court of International Arbitration – judgments in which […]
Finally today, government spoke of the international hoax that is the multimillion dollar Puerto Azul tourism development project. It was endorsed by the G.O.B., particularly by the Minister of Tourism Manuel Heredia Junior and Minister of Economic Development, Erwin Contreras. The proposal to construct a seven-star, exclusive resort on Northern Two Cayes and Sand Bore […]
Should government apologize internationally for openly backing a fraudulent endeavor which promoted the Blue Hole and other aspects of the World Heritage Site as the principal attraction for tourists? According to Hulse, much thought hasn’t been given to that notion, neither did government consider dismissing the proposed project altogether when the investors failed to produce […]
The Superbond has been on everyone’s minds this week. The Government has been told by bondholders that without a medium-term plan to address credit risk in light of the third restructuring in a decade, they would not consider the plan presented to them for restructuring. While Government has committed to giving the bondholders what they […]
If debate of the amendment to the Referendum Act at Friday’s meeting of the House of Representatives was raw and passionate, the usually genteel Senate was only slightly less so. After all, the future of the nation is at stake, as both Belize and Guatemala prepare for a suddenly looming referendum on taking the claim […]
In December 2016, the Belize National Teachers’ Union and Ministry of Education were ordered to mediation by Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin to resolve a dispute over attempts by Government to withhold teachers’ salaries for the eleven days they were on strike in October. They also hoped to resolve the matter of teachers making up class […]
When the N.G.O. Act amendment came up for debate later in the meeting, the Opposition renewed its attack on the amendment as, as put by lead Senator Eamon Courtenay, is confusing at worst and ambiguous at best, but it does not specifically do what it was intended, which is to provide for the N.G.O. community’s […]
The Government of Belize has contracted with the Republic of China (Taiwan) for fifty million Belize dollars in general budgetary support. While the money is being borrowed from a Taiwanese commercial bank, it is being underwritten by the Government of Taiwan. The House had passed the motion without comment on Friday, but the Senate, especially […]
Police believe they have cracked the murder of fifteen-year-old Jaheem Mahler. Tonight, twenty-eight-year-old Carl Reneau is in custody after being charged earlier today with the Tuesday night murder of the minor. The deadly shooting took place on Iguana Street Extension where the student was riding a bicycle in the company of two other teenagers. It […]
The family of Jaheem Mahler, the fifteen-year-old student gunned down in Belize City, is preparing to put him to rest. But even as preparations take place, there are more questions than answers over the brutal shooting that ended his young life earlier this week. Police today charged a twenty-eight year old Belize City man, who […]
Early this morning, Ladyville police detectives were called out to an area near mile eight on the Phillip Goldson Highway where a body had been spotted floating in the Belize River. The officers arrived to find the body of a man face-down in the water; construction workers in the area say they came out to […]
Today marks nine years since musical icon Andy Palacio passed away. Known across the world, Palacio put Belize on the map and left a rich legacy of the Garifuna culture and music. Palacio released three albums, seven E.P cassettes and a several music videos. At forty-seven years old, Andy was at the height of his […]
