Year in Review 2010 Outline – January to June

JANUARY

Rt. Hon. Manuel Esquivel knighted by Queen Elizabeth II

The Former Prime Minister of Belize and Leader of the United Democratic Party, Rt. Hon. Manuel Esquivel, was among Commonwealth Caribbean nationals appointed to the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire on the occasion of New Year Honours by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II. Rt. Hon. Esquivel served two terms as Prime Minister of Belize: first from 1984-1989 then 1993-1998. He was bestowed the honour of being a Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George for his “services to Politics and good Governance.

Also receiving honours were Henry Vallon Young Sr. who served as Minister of Tourism from 1993 to 1998 under the United Democratic Party. He was bestowed the Honour of being Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his “services to Politics and Entrepreneurship”. Reverend Charles David Goff and Mr. Romel Tiburcio Perdomo were bestowed the honour of being Officers of the Order of the British Empire: Reverend Goff for his services to religion and Mr. Perdomo for services to Business and Entrepreneurship. Five others were appointed to be Members of the Order of the British Empire: Kenneth Wilfred Morgan, for his services to Culture and Entertainment; Eulogio Cano for services to Teaching and Social Development; Antonio Duncan McPherson JP for services to the Community; Philip Norman Timmons JP for services to the Police and Community and Samuel Alexander Rhaburn for services to Politics.

Former Guatemalan President arrested heading to Belize

Former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo was arrested after he tried to make his way into Belize. An issue of the “Latin American Herald Tribune” reported that Portillo was arrested “as he was getting ready to board a boat that was going to transport him to Belize”. The articles stated that the boat was provided to him by friends.

Authorities captured Portillo at a beach in northeastern Guatemala after he was being sought for several days. Portillo’s arrest came after the U.S. requested his extradition on money-laundering charges. The 58-year-old former Guatemalan president who served that country from 2000-2004 was indicted by a Grand Jury in New York on charges of embezzling millions of dollars of public funds during his tenure as president. It is alleged he diverted 1.5 million dollars in donations from the Taiwanese government from a program called “Libraries for Peace”. The monies were allegedly funneled to accounts controlled by friends and family of the former president living in the U.S. and other countries.

Problems with Product Quality at BSI

In January the Ministry of Agriculture moved aggressively at trying to placate discontent that was occurring in the sugar industry at the start of the crop season. CEO in the Ministry of Agriculture, Gabino Canto, explained that the ministry met with the cane farmers association and went on to meet with BSI after. During the meetings, the ministry sought to get the concerns of the cane farmers and pass them on to BSI. Canto explained that the main problem may be communication difficulties with the Cane Farmers Association and BSI; he added that in meetings with BSI it has been revealed that since the sugar crop season began the factory had doubled its grinding capacity. The factory is grinding sugar cane at four thousand tons per day while in the past that was at about two thousand tons per day. However, because of poor crop quality, the increase grinding capacity has not translated to increase in sugar production. Reports from BSI indicated that there is 11.5 percent mud in the sugar cane being delivered this year as opposed to 5.8 percent last year. Another point of contention between BSI and the cane farmers is the long wait that they have to endure when delivering the cane. The Ministry continued to provide assistance via the Sugar Industry Control Board but there influence is limited.

Increase in Duty Free fuel allocation for Cane Farmers

Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Hon. Dean Barrow, approved the waiver of Import Duty and General Sales Tax to a maximum of $2.00 per gallon on 1,051,472 gallons of diesel fuel to cane farmers. Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Gabino Canto explained that the assistance comes as a result of the Government of Belize through the Ministry of Agriculture giving direct financial assistance to the cane farmers. That assistance, in particular in the area of fuel has been increased as last year cane farmers were allotted 800 thousand gallons of fuel for the delivery of cane. This year that allocation went up to 1,051,472 gallons representing a direct cash subsidy of $2.5 million dollars to the cane farmers.

This fuel allocation assisted cane farmers in the transportation of sugar cane to the Tower Hill Factory. Canto says that the controlling mechanism for the issuance of fuel was set up by the Sugar Industry Control Board which issued certificates to cane farmers specifying the amount of fuel that they should receive at the pump. The waiver of Import Duty and General Sales Tax to a maximum of $2.00 per gallon was in effect until the end of 2010 Sugar Crop season.

Belizeans Rise to Support Haiti

A devastating earthquake shook Haiti on Tuesday January 12. Thousands died and the struggle for food and basic supplies after the disaster might have been as catastrophic as the quake and aftershocks that plagued the poor country.  The people of Belize responded quickly to assist the people of Haiti. Various sectors made donations to the relief efforts of the Belize Red Cross. NEMO assembled search, rescue, medical and other skilled personnel and channeled them through the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) to assist Haiti.

Several private sector representatives contributed to relief efforts. Some of the earliest to step forward were the Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) which donated BZ$20,000 to the Caribbean Electric Utility Service Corporation (CARILEC) Haiti Recovery Fund. BEL employees also made monetary contributions which were forwarded to the Belize Red Cross. Symposium Oil Limited of Belize made a donation of 15 cents for every gallon of gas purchased at their Shell stations countrywide. That was in the range of $20,000. SMART donated $10,000 to the Belize Red Cross.

Travellers Liquor, Belize Telemedia Limited, Wave Radio and the Belize Red Cross hosted a Telethon that raised over $50,000. In addition, Telemedia challenged its staff of 600 to donate to the Haiti relief effort and the company matched dollar for dollar, the support of the staff.  Channel 7 and Krem Radio hosted a concert at the Bliss with a host of Belizean artists to raise funds. Channel 5 held a benefit concert that raised thousands of dollars capped off by a huge donation from Belize Natural Energy. The Sagicor Group of Companies made a donation of $250,000 to the relief efforts. There were many other efforts to support the people of Haiti in their time of need.

New Anglican Primary School inaugurated in Belmopan

The new St. Ann’s Anglican Primary School was officially inaugurated on Wednesday, 20 January, 2010. The project was implemented by the Social Investment Fund and financed jointly by the Government of Belize, through the Commonwealth Debt Initiative, and the Anglican Diocese of Belize, which constructed the foundation of the new school building.  The total cost of the project is estimated at $427,875.00. St. Ann’s Anglican Primary School opened its doors to the public in September 2008 at the lower flat of the Anglican Training Institute building near to St. Ann’s Church in Belmopan but growing demand for new classrooms encouraged the Anglican Diocese to build a new school building. Furniture for the new school was also provided.

FEBRUARY

40% of BTL’s Net Income Declared as Dividends

Shareholders of Belize Telemedia were happy on Thursday, February 25, when the company for the first time in a very long time declared dividends to its shareholders. For the year ending March 31, 2009 BTL realized a profit of somewhere in the region of just under 20 million dollars. The company declared 40 percent of that to the shareholders of the company as dividends. Among those shareholders are 900 which represent a shareholding of five and a half percent of the company. It is noteworthy that in November of 2008 BTL paid dividends to its 94 percent shareholders (which represent various Ashcroft related holdings) some 70 million dollars in dividends; far in excess of what the company actually made in profits. Under the new administration of the company, the small shareholders finally received their rightful share of BTL’s profit making.

Protests to control citrus’ power

The dispute between the Citrus Growers Association and the management of the Citrus Products of Belize Limited reached boiling point in Pomona Valley when more than one thousand citrus farmers, workers, and truckers made their way to the highway in front of the CPBL Factory in Pomona Valley to launch a protest. The protestors flocked to the front of the CPBL Factory on foot carrying placards, on tractors honking horns, and in the back of trucks.  The placards said they want CPBL Chief Executive Officer Henry Canton, CPBL’s Chairman Mike Dunker, and Director Frank Redmond off the board.

The protest was timed to coincide with the visit of Richard Cozier and Sir Allan Fields, two executives from the Barbados based Banks Holdings Limited, which has a 46% stake in the Citrus Products of Belize Limited and who sits on the Citrus Product of Belize Limited’s Board of Directors.  The Growers maintain they are entitled to five directors on the Board because they have 51% interest in the company. But despite that controlling interest, the Citrus Growers have been unable to appoint or remove the three directors.

The issue was taken in front of the court and played out even nastier later in the year.

Tropical Gaming’s Lotto License Expired

Tropical Gaming Company’s Lotto license expired on February 24, 2009. Lotto was not played for a while because of contract negotiations. According to Lincoln Blake, Senior Economist in the Ministry of Economic Development, the goal was to retrieve more revenues and provide more regulation of the game. He said that Lotto players need to be protected and their winnings need to be guaranteed. The negotiations were productive and Tropical Gaming received a contract extension.

Ministry of Education Recommends Taskforce on Corporal Punishment

The section of the Educational and Training Bill addressing the issue of corporal punishment was under heavy scrutiny. Being mindful of the concerns raised by the BNTU and others with respect to the removal of Corporal Punishment from schools, the Minister of Education proposed the establishment of a working group made up of Ministry of Education officials and education stakeholders whose task would be to identify, recommend and devise a plan for the introduction of alternatives to corporal punishment for achieving discipline in our schools and developing self-disciplined citizens.  This working group was established with representation from various stakeholder groups including the BNTU, Managing Authorities and Parents.

The Minister of Education decided to put delaying provisions in the Education and Training Bill for the section dealing with the removal of corporal punishment from schools. This was to allow for a period of not more than six (6) months for such plans for the introduction of alternatives to corporal punishment in schools to be developed by the working group and for implementation of such plans to commence.

Scholarships for Belizean Educators

On Friday, February 5, Minister of Education Hon. Patrick Faber and Vice President of Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts, Dr. Edward Minnock signed a memorandum of cooperation in which three scholarships will be provided to Belizean educators.

In December of 2008, Minister of Education Hon. Patrick Faber along with Deputy Chief Education Officer Carol Babb visited the state of Massachusetts where they met with officials of Bridgewater State University in order to start a partnership between Belize and that college. The memorandum called for the provision of three graduate level scholarships offered to Belizean educators to study in the U.S. in areas of Special Education, Early Childhood Education and in Literacy. The Ministry selected Nadera Ross to continue her studies in Early Childhood Education, Lurleen Betson Gamboa in Literacy, and Paula Lizarraga in Special Education.

The memorandum also saw an additional five undergraduate students currently enrolled in programs at local sixth forms or universities pursue studies at Bridgewater. The expense was taken care of by the college with assistance from Belize’s Ministry of Education. In addition to the scholarships, student exchange programs between Belizean and Bridgewater students are included in the memorandum with the hopes of broadening the horizons of students in both countries. There will also be visits from lecturers with workshops organized to train Belizean teachers in necessary areas.

Bridgewater State University is the newest member of the Consortium of Belize Educational Cooperation COBEC.

Scholarships Available for Women with Entrepreneurial Aspirations

The Embassy of Mexico hosted the presentation of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Business Training Program. The program provides scholarships for business studies to 100 women from Mexico and Central America. The purpose of the program is to develop and strengthen the entrepreneur abilities and potential of women around the world. The 10,000 Women Business Training Program seeks to support business ideas and established businesses owned by women.

The presentation of the program to Belize was headed by the Ambassador of Mexico to Belize, Luis Manuel Lopez- Moreno. Representatives of the Belize Family Life Association (BFLA), the National Committee for Families and Children, the National Women’s Commission, PAHO, WIN Belize, YMCA and the Women’s Department attended the opening of the program.

Belize Delegation returns from Youth Conference in Suriname

A team of Belizeans returned from a Caribbean Youth Summit in Suriname. The summit was held to finalize a report which stemmed from the 27th meeting of Heads of Government in July 2006 that mandated the establishment of a Commission on Youth Development which was tasked with undertaking a full scale analysis of the challenges and opportunities for youth in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and making recommendations to improve their well-being and empowerment. The Commission was established in March 2007; the commissioners were appointed from the CARICOM member state and Belize’s representative was Mr. Alberto Vellos. Joining Mr. Vellos on the Belize Delegation was Anita Zetina, Officer in Charge of UNICEF in Belize, Sherlene Tablada, youth representative of UNICEF and Youth Ambassadors Kera Bowen and Dylan Williams. Minister of Youth and Sports, Hon. Elvin Penner represented the Prime Minister of Belize.

At the summit, the participants worked together to develop a Plan of Action to implement the recommendations made by the CARICOM Commission on Youth Development. This Plan of Action was included in the final report and delivered to the Heads of Government. Minister Penner said that he believes the recommendations and subsequent policies developed from the report will contribute significantly to the advancement of youths in Belize and the rest of CARICOM states.

MARCH

PM Presents Recovery Budget

On Monday, March 15, the Prime Minister of Belize, Hon. Dean Barrow, presented his 2010/2011 Budget to the House of Representatives. The title of the speech was “Recovery Today, Prosperity Tomorrow”. A fitting title because the core objective of the Budget is to “nurture national recovery and return to secure and sustain growth”.

With the Government debt at $2.2 billion; the foreign debt at $1.9 billion and economic growth crippled by worldwide recession, the government was forced to construct a fairly conservative budget. There was a $60 million deficit and Belize’s economy contracted by 0.8% in 2009. It could have been worst considering the fact that the Caribbean and Latin American region experienced an estimated 1.8% contraction. Tough decisions had to be made and the Prime Minister did so but not before ensuring that the marginalized Belizeans would be offered relief.

The new budget included five carefully calibrated tax measures. It included an Increase in Business Tax for the supply of Electricity Services from 1.75% to 6.5%. This is expected to yield $10 million. An Excise Tax was imposed on locally produced crude oil. This is projected to yield $1.8 million to be used to increase road maintenance on the Western and Hummingbird Highways which are used for the transport of the product to Big Creek. A social fee of 5% is now levied on the value of all goods and services imported into an Export Processing Zone. The fourth measure was to recover $4.2 million in outstanding tax arrears owed to the Government of Belize by the former owners of BTL and wealthy landowners. The fifth measure was an increase in the General Sales Tax from 10 to 12.5%.

The Prime Minister reluctantly raised the General Sales Tax but included relief measures for low income Belizeans to cope. He withdrew GST and import duties from a host of items, in particular foodstuff. The most immediate tax relief will be seen through the extension of the Income Tax threshold from $19,600 to $26,000 per year. This means that any individual making less than $26,000 per year or $500 per week will not be asked to pay taxes. The Prime Minister will also remove GST from electricity consumption for customers using up to $200 of electricity per month.

Other features of the budget included a Conditional Cash Transfer Program which is being funded initially with $4 million from local resources. It will target the most deprived and disadvantaged in urban and rural areas and assist families with cash in exchange for participation in developmental activities such as immunization, school attendance and family education. $1 million was allocated for a Food Assistance Program which will provide subsidies for the cost of basic food items to poor senior citizens and marginalized women and children. Several youth programs were in the budget including a Countrywide Apprenticeship Program that will pay young people to learn a practical trade by way of apprenticeship to skilled crafts persons. $1 million was in the budget for the immediate extension of the Belize City Urban Rejuvenation Project. The Southside Poverty Alleviation Project was amplified as well. $500,000 was used to refurbish the old bus terminal on Magazine Road which will be used as an Education Facility for Early School Leavers from the Southside of Belize City.

Relief to Farmers and Cane Truck Drivers

The Prime Minister decided to increase a duty free fuel allowance that this government introduced. It was $2 per gallon and the PM increased that amount to $2.50 per gallon. The difference between the duty waived at the pump and the $2.50 allowance will be paid to the farmers in cash by the Government of Belize. He also waived GST on equipment and materials needed by farmers; example, rice for sowing, banana plants, banana, cable-ways, irrigation pipes or plastics and tractor parts.

PM Acts to Lower Rates at Commercial Banks

When a country is in a recession, especially one caused by the banking system, the right move is to lower interest rates on both savings and loans. When the interest rates for savings is lowered, it prompts individuals to withdraw their funds and invest in the market. When interest rates for loans are lowered, it encourages individuals to borrow and spend. Therefore, the market is active and the economy picks up. There are no regulations on commercial banks that allow the Government to force an interest rate decrease. The banks in Belize have been struggling because of excess liquidity; basically, they had nothing to invest their money in- people are not borrowing much. PM Barrow passed a package of bills in the House which included the Treasury Bills (Amendment) Bill which allows the Government to issue more Treasury Notes and Bills. This gave the banks an instrument to invest in. They could invest in more Treasury Bills and Notes which will earn them an interest over time. The move was a gesture by the Prime Minister to ease the burden on the banks and in turn he expects them to ease the burden on their clients.

Collet Residents Received Housing Grants

Belizeans from across the country have benefited from the Venezuelan grant housing improvement program. On Friday, March 12, the Area Representative for the Collet Division, Hon. Patrick Faber, and the Minister of Housing, Hon. Michael Finnegan, held a brief ceremony at the middle of Iguana Street Extension to distribute housing grants to over 75 members of the Collet Division. Hon. Patrick Faber said that it was the third phase of distribution in his division. He said that he and the people of Collet decided that instead of building houses, they would maximize the amount of grants distributed by focusing specifically on home improvement. Based on this decision, more than 250 residents of the Collet Division have now received vouchers for home improvement supplies. More grants were distributed to the residents of Collet in the early part of the new financial year.

Business Magnate Barry Bowen dies in plane crash

Sir Barry Bowen¸64, and four other people, including two young children were killed in a tragic plane crash in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye. Sir Barry Bowen was piloting his Cessna 206 aircraft with a Rolls Royce turbine engine for the 15 minute plane ride from the Belize City Municipal Airstrip to San Pedro when it crashed in the marsh and swamps of the DFC Subdivision on the southern tip of San Pedro.  Bowen was flying home from Belize City along with four passengers; Mike Casey, and his wife Jill Casey, along with the couple’s two children, 2 ½-year-old Makayla and five month old Bryce to San Pedro for a fundraiser at his Island Academy. Sir Barry Bowen had more than forty years flying experience and flew daily from his home in San Pedro to work in Belize City. A State Funeral was held in his honour.

APRIL

Belize Retains Cocaba Silver Cup

The Court of Arbitration for Sports ruled to have Belize retain the Cocaba Silver Cup won by Belize’s National Basketball Team in August of last year in Cancun, Mexico. Belize had recruited seven players with Belizean parentage who were born outside of Belize to represent the country. However, FIBA regulations state that players must acquire the legal nationality of that country by the age of 16. In FIBA’s view the article made the seven players ineligible; however, under Belize’s constitution persons with Belizean parentage automatically become Belizean citizens at birth.

In November of 2009 the BBF took its case to the FIBA Appeals Tribunal in Geneva, Switzerland where there was a ruling against Belize. Thereafter the matter was taken up before the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland. At the conclusion of the hearing CAS handed down its ruling on April 20 reversing FIBA’s Appeals’ Tribunal ruling and also ruled that the cost of arbitration is to be borne by FIBA and it should also contribute eight thousand Swiss Francs towards the BBF’s legal costs.

Gold Medal Winners Return from Panama

Members of Belize’s National Athletics Team returned from Panama to a warm reception for winning four gold medals at the IX Central American Games. They were met at the Phillip Goldson International Airport by the President of the Belize Olympic Committee, Ned Pitts, as well as representatives from the Belize Sports Council.

Trecia Flores won Belize’s first gold medal on April 16 in the long jump competition. She did it by breaking Maria Pies’ record with a jump of 5.97 meters. Jonathan Williams represented Belize in his event of specialty, the 400 meters hurdle, and won the gold medal in dominating fashion. Williams also won the silver medal in the 110 meter hurdles. Belize’s most decorated athlete at the Games was Kaina Martinez. She came home with gold medals in the 100 and 200 meters event. She also placed second to Flores in the Long Jump competition.

PUC gives BWSL 12.1% water rate increase

The Public Utilities Commission formally announced that it would be granting a 12.1 percent increase in water rates to the Belize Water Services Limited.  The Full Tariff Review Proceedings started on October 1 of 2009 and the final decision approved rates and tariffs as well as the company’s business plan for the Full Tariff Period running from April 1 to March 31, 2015. On October 9, BWSL applied for a tariff adjustment of 25%; however, the PUC made an initial decision on November 17 and approved a 10.6 percent increase in tariffs. Thereafter, BWSL objected to the PUC’s decision and an independent expert was hired who recommended a 17.2 percent rate increase. The PUC then made its final decision.

In arriving at its final decision, the PUC approved $40,453,000 in capital investments to be applied during the Full Tariff Period. This investment will be enough for BWSL to address critical expansion that is necessary as well as maintenance that the company needs to do to ensure water supply across the country.

Belize and Jamaica Hosts TRADEWINDS 2010

TRADEWINDS is an annual exercise to strengthen the capabilities and cooperation of partner nations. Approximately 450 members of the armed forces from the United States, United Kingdom, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Suriname came to Belize to take part in the first phase of Tradewinds 2010.

The exercise has been in existence for over 26 years now. Belize and Jamaica were joint hosts in 2010. The event was separated into two phases, green in Belize and blue in Jamaica. The green phase provided a tactical level training venue to exercise core infantry skills, policing and investigative techniques, hazardous material identification and handling, and vessel boarding party operations. In this training, both civilian and military forces will prepare for chemical disasters, gas contamination, bombs and other terrorist attacks. This took place from the 12th to the 26th of April at Price Barracks in Ladyville.  The blue phase will take place in Jamaica. It focused on maritime interdiction and search and rescue operations with an emphasis on command and control.

Energy drink claims life of Veteran television Journalist Keith Swift

On Monday April 19, Channel 7’s television reporter, 30-year-old Keith Swift, was found dead inside his apartment by roommate Mark Bowman.  Bowman noticed that Swift’s keys were in his room door’s lock and with the assistance of a friend Bowman entered the room and found Swift dead on the floor of his room. In the room an opened can of the energy drink “Monster” was found. The post mortem conducted on Swift concluded that he died as a result of brain hemorrhage causing blood clots that led to a heart attack. Dr. Mario Estradabran told Swift’s family members that he died almost instantly. His stomach was empty other than with contents of what is believed to be orange juice and the energy drink. Estradabran says it is likely that the energy drink was a contributing factor.

Swift had been an employee with Channel 7 from November of 1998 to August 2001 after which he left for Florida International University in the U.S. to pursue his studies. He returned to Belize to again work with Channel 7 up to the time of his death. Keith Swift was also a contributor to the Guardian Newspaper from May 2008 up until the time of his death.

MAY

Ashcroft Challenges BTL Nationalization

Legal arguments began on Tuesday May 25 between attorneys for Michael Ashcroft and the Government of Belize following challenges being made on the Nationalization of BTL. Attorneys for Ashcroft, Eamon Courtenay and Godfrey Smith opened their arguments before Justice Oswell Legall asking that the legislation by which BTL was nationalized be declared unconstitutional. They argued that government acted contrary to the constitution’s property rights and as such the action was discriminatory.

Attorney Lois Young assisted by Deanne Barrow argued that government’s actions were in the best interest of the people of Belize. Young went into detail giving a chronology of events that led to the eventual nationalization of the telecommunications company. She argued that a primary force behind the nationalization was the fact that BTL, through its owner, was refusing to pay taxes. But more than that she argued that there were mounting legal challenges which government had to contend with on a regular basis. She continued explaining that legal challenges were constantly being made by Ashcroft and cited that as far back as December of 2004 the then Prime Minister Said Musa had indicated that dealing with Ashcroft and BTL meant having to deal with a “quagmire of litigation.” The level of litigation involved argued Young was another determining factor for the nationalization of BTL.

On August 24, 2009, the Government of Belize passed legislation in the national assembly to nationalize Belize Telemedia Limited.
PRIVY COUNCIL jurisdiction ends in Belize

The jurisdiction of the Privy Council to hear appeals from Belize was abolished with effect from 1 June 2010. This followed from the Orders issued by the Prime Minister, Hon. Dean Barrow, to bring into force the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act and the Caribbean Court of Justice Act with effect from the said date.  These Orders were published in the Belize Gazette dated 1 May 2010.

The Caribbean Court of Justice replaced the Privy Council as the highest Court of Appeal for Belize. This did not affect any appeals pending before the Privy Council on 31 May 2010. The Caribbean Court of Justice, commonly known as “CCJ”, was established by Caribbean countries on 14 February 2001.  So far, only Barbados, Guyana and Belize have joined the CCJ.

Westernhaven to pay $11.5 million for Damage to Reef

On Monday, April 26, the Chief Justice of Belize delivered his judgment on a case which he dubbed to be one of “the most technical cases to ever come before the court”. This is the case of the Government of Belize against Westernhaven. The ship, Westernhaven, ran aground near one of Belize’s most significant protected areas, near Caye Glory, which is a protected area and the spawning site for endangered species, the Nassau Grouper. The grounding chased schools of Nassau Grouper out of their spawning environment and destroyed thousands of square meters of Belize’s most pristine corals.

The defendant had already conceded the fact that compensation must be made to the Government of Belize for the damage to the reef. However, the figure they had in mind was US$2.5 million. Furthermore, they had no intention to actually pay for the damages. Instead, they wanted to pay for the replacement of the reef with artificial corals. According to Deanne Barrow, Lead Attorney for the Complainant, the issue then was whether the Chief Justice would view the incident as “damage to property” or “injury to the environment”.

Before Chief Justice Conteh rendered his decision, he said that Belize cannot continue to sacrifice its natural resources such as the Belize Barrier Reef for commercial interest. He then revealed his decision which orders the owners of the Dutch registered vessel to pay $11,510,000. This was much less than the over $30 million that GOB had requested, but it was a huge victory nonetheless.

SSB Gives $50,000 for Haemodialysis Ward at KHMH

On Tuesday, May 25, the Social Security Board joined the fight against kidney related illnesses and donated $50,000 to the Ministry of Health for the renovation of the designated site for the Haemodialysis Unit at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital in Belize City. The Cabinet approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Health and the World Organization of Renal Therapies (WORTH). WORTH is a non-profit organization whose goal is to bring dialysis treatment to people in developing countries almost free of cost. The MOU requested that Belize construct Haemodialysis units and the SSB donation came as a result.

The plan seeks to establish a Haemodialysis unit at both the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital and the Loma Luz Hospital. At the handing over ceremony on Tuesday, Chief Executive Officer of the Social Security Board, Mrs. Merlene Bailey-Martinez, and Minister of Health, Hon. Pablo Marin emphasized the importance of living healthier lifestyles.

Ministry of Health receives Grant from World Bank

The Ministry of Health received a grant from the World Bank valued at US$501,744.00 for an Avian and Human Influenza Detection and Response Project.  The Ministry of Health will use the funds to strengthen Belize’s ability to detect and respond to potential H1N1 influenza epidemic and build the overall surveillance capacity of the health system. Funds from this short-term grant will be used to strengthen the country’s ability to detect influenza by expanding and improving existing surveillance activities by providing training to health professionals to work at ports of entry, establish diagnostic laboratories at air and sea ports, and acquire medical supplies for the collection of samples from probable cases. It is expected that Belize will complete the execution of the Avian and Human Influenza Detection and Response Project by June 2011.

Solid Waste Management program begins

The Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Natural Resources, Beverly Castillo, along with Director of the Solid Waste Management Authority, Gilroy Lewis, and other personnel from the solid waste management authority were at the old Belize City Dump site for the official launching of the solid waste management program.

The preliminary work began in Belize City for the closing down of the existing garbage dump at mile 3 on the Western Highway. The work entailed the improving of the existing site by covering up the exposed garbage to reduce the risk of fires in the area. Government invested some US$ 650 thousand out of a total US$14.78 million which will see the closure of dumpsites in San Ignacio; San Pedro, Ambergris Caye; Caye Caulker and Belize City. The intention is to have transfer stations established at the existing dumpsites for garbage to be moved to a sanitary landfill located at mile 24 on the Western Highway where recycling and composting activities will be conducted. From an environmental perspective the inadequate management of solid waste creates adverse effects to the environment, soil, water resources and also poses a health hazard.

The first phase of the project was completed in June.

JUNE

UDP Dominates PUP in 2010 Elections- 128 to 45

There were 190 Village Council Elections this season. The United Democratic Party performed excellently by winning an impressive 128 villages. The independent candidates had a marginal impact in the elections by winning 17 villages and impacting many others. Though inexplicable, there were 45 villages that decided to trust the PUP once again.

The 2010 elections saw villages that were die hard PUP villages turning to the UDP and those that were battlegrounds becoming ruby red. Most recent examples of these were the UDP’s success in the village of Progresso and the destroying of the opponents in Succotz. Succotz may stand out as the most impressive victory of 2010 as the UDP won the chairmanship by a total of 741 to 299 votes.

Restore Belize Opens Secretariat

Project Restore Belize opened its secretariat. Headed by Marydelene Vasquez, the office of the program is housed at the Fisheries building located on Newtown Barracks. On Wednesday June 16 representatives of the media were invited to the offices to get their input on the program. Similar meetings were held with various stakeholder groups to get ideas and recommendations from as wide a cross section of the Belizean public as is possible.
At the meeting, Vasquez shared the goals and objectives of the program as well as asked representatives of the media to give their suggestions. She also explained that the offices are already functioning with the hiring of an administrative assistant as well as two program officers. Those program officers were Nelma Mortis and Marie Munoz. They will be tasked with running public education campaigns as well as devising strategies for public/private partnerships as well as the cataloguing of existing programs and coordination to better achieve overall objectives.

Project C.U.R.E. ships $800,000 in medical supplies to Belize

Project C.U.R.E. and Belize Natural Energy (BNE) joined forces with the Ministry of Health to ship medical supplies to the Western Regional Hospital in Belmopan. Project C.U.R.E’s main patron is the Global Ambassador for Special Olympics and Special Envoy for Women and Children, Mrs. Kim Simplis-Barrow. Project C.U.R.E. has reached more than 120 countries worldwide through donations of medical equipment and supplies to support healthcare systems.

Approximately $800,000 in medical supplies and equipment was provided to the new Emergency wing at the Western Regional Hospital. Since 2005, Project C.U.R.E. has been working with health partners in Belize to deliver an estimated $9 million in supplies and equipment to hospitals throughout the country. The program has been highlighted by Mrs. Barrow’s powerful address in the United States at Project C.U.R.E.’s third annual First Lady’s Luncheon, in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2009, which secured donations of medical equipment for Belize valued at $2 million.

Over 70 youths receive certificates in Life Skills Training

Over 70 young persons from Belize City and surrounding areas received certificates after completing an intense 72-hours skills training program organized by the National Kriol Council. The skills training is part of an organizational strengthening/cultural entrepreneurial training project of the National Kriol Council (NKC), which was implemented by the Social Investment Fund.  The project was financed by a $171,000 grant from the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF5).

The skills training program has equipped participants  to identify skills and talents that can be utilized to enhance their self-esteem and set themselves firmly on the road to becoming independent entrepreneurs by using their entrepreneurial potential  and  talents to generate income.  The training areas included basketry, sewing, traditional dance, bamboo craft, drama, script writing and drumming. The Council will promote and market the services and arts and crafts produced by the trainees.

Brukdown King and Icon Wilfred Peters dies

Belize’s Brukdown progenitor, Wilfred Peters, died after being admitted to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Peters was admitted after he began experiencing shortness of breath while at his North Creek home in Belize City. Doctors at the KHMH treated Peters for three days for heart problems and he eventually succumbed to his illness.

The 79-year-old Peters had become a legend in Belize with his trademark music of Brukdown made more iconic by his use of the accordion in his compositions.  Peters began his music career as early as age seven when he became proficient in playing both the guitar and accordion. By the time he reached his early teenaged years he had become popular being requested to play at special events in Belize. In the prime of his music career Peters played in various international concerts including major music festivals in Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean and North America.

A State Funeral was held in his honour.

(Part two of 2010’s year in review will be available in next week’s edition of the Guardian)

-1 1 0 40 12/30/2010 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 12/30/2010 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 3 0 1510 robots= author= 2713 Mensaje de Año Nuevo del Primer Ministro mensaje-de-ano-nuevo-del-primer-ministro Mis compatriotas Beliceños:

Cuando le di la bienvenida al 2010, traté en manera particular de enmarcar un sentido de propósito, de promesas y de posibilidades que un año nuevo siempre trae. Dije en aquel momento que la recesión mundial, que ya había comenzado a embargar a Belice en la segunda mitad del 2009, correría su curso; que nuestras dificultades económicas llegarían a su pico pero se reducirían para el fin de año. Pues, me complace decir que tenía razón. He aquí lo que dice el “Centro del Caribe de Dinero y Finanzas: “en la primera mitad del 2010 la mayoría de los países Caribeños reportaron un crecimiento negativo o lento, con la excepción de Belice (3.5%), Guyana y las Antillas Neerlandesas (0.8%).

Ya tenemos las cifras para el tercer trimestre. Y nuestro instituto estadístico ha reducido aquel 3.5% de mediados del año a un 2.4% para el período más largo hasta Septiembre, 2010. Pero aún estamos adelante del grupo: y el pronóstico del Banco Central de Belice es que en este año venidero  habrán aún mejores noticias. Ese pronóstico es para un crecimiento del 3.7% en el 2011.

Mis queridos Beliceños: comprenderán el porqué puedo saludar este nuevo año con una rapsodia de celebración.

Aunque las estadísticas son impresionantes nunca dicen la historia completa. Y mi administración se ha preocupado no tanto por el crecimiento en sí, sino por el progreso social y humano que ese crecimiento sostiene. El bienestar de la gente, en especial los pobres y la clase media, siempre será la preocupación central del Partido Unido Democrático. Es en aquel contexto que nos sentimos específicamente bien con el año que termina y  aún mejor para el que comienza.

El huracán Richard nos dio un golpe duro en el 2010. Y en lo agrícola, la industria cítrica fue la más golpeada. Pero el gobierno inmediatamente hizo disponible una donación de 350 mil dólares (trescientos cincuenta mil) para aliviar al pequeño granjero. Y adicionalmente, la Corporación Gubernamental de Desarrollo Financiero (DFC) ha hecho accesible un crédito a bajo interés de  4 millones de dólares a estos pequeños finqueros.

Por supuesto, nuestra más fuerte preocupación después del huracán fue por aquellos que sufrieron daños en sus casas o casas destruidas. Prometí que asistiríamos hasta el último afectado. Y es una promesa que está bien encaminada para ser cumplida. Casi 900 hogares han sido reparados o reconstruidos en Belmopán, Stann Creek, Cayo y el Distrito de Belice. Las intervenciones han sido un poco más lentas en la Ciudad de Belice. Pero aún así el número de casas reparadas o construidas después de la tormenta excede 240. (Doscientos cuarenta). Tomo esta oportunidad en repetir lo que dije antes. Aunque ya hemos gastado casi 6 millones de dólares en dicho proceso, no pararemos hasta que el último afectado reciba ayuda.

Pero el logro más grande del gobierno en el 2010 fue el rescate de la industria azucarera. El sustento de casi 6 mil personas depende de la caña, y consideramos un golpe de gracia que la zafra está comenzando mejor que en cualquier otro año. Aparte de la donación de un millón de dólares y el préstamo de 10 millones a la industria, el gobierno también proveerá no menos de 2 dólares por galón en subsidio de combustible para los cañeros.

Señoras y señores, mis compatriotas: junten todo esto con lograr mantener cientos de empleos y millones en inversión en la zona franca de Corozal; con las transferencias monetarias a los hogares de pariente único; con el programa piloto de asistencia alimenticia en Ciudad Belice: y con el programa de aprendizaje para los jóvenes marginalizados; y con los tres millones de dólares en dinero de préstamos para negocios pequeños. Sumen todo lo antedicho y vean el porqué digo que verdaderamente estamos preparándonos para conquistar todo en nuestro camino en el 2011.

En términos de este año entonces, resalto lo siguiente: Aparte del crecimiento del 3.7 % que el Banco Central pronostica, no habrán nuevos impuestos para los Beliceños. Lo que si habrá será la creación de nuevos empleos, estímulos para levantar la economía, como resultado de los millones y millones en financiamiento de proyectos que este gobierno ha logrado asegurar para la población de Belice.

A continuación está una parte del menú de gastos del 2011:

12 millones de dólares para el alivio de la pobreza a nivel nacional a través del Fondo de Inversión Social; 30 millones de dólares en infraestructuras municipales que será compartido entre cinco distritos y la Ciudad de Belmopán; 62 millones de dólares en dinero de la Unión Europea para el Programa de Desarrollo Rural en el sur, y las medidas acompañantes para el azúcar en el Norte: 30 millones de dólares en el proyecto de alivio de la pobreza en el sur de la ciudad de Belice; 44.3 millones en la carretera desde el “basurero” de las afueras de Punta Gorda hasta la aldea de Jalacté cerca de la frontera; 14.8 millones para la rehabilitación de las existentes facilidades en la frontera del Norte; 10 millones en intervenciones sociales en la ciudad de Belice para ayudar a combatir la violencia de pandillas; y otros 10 millones para las calles, drenajes, y medidas mitigantes de inundaciones en la parte Norte de la vieja capital.

Señoras y señores, mis compatriotas: esta agenda del 2011 está llena de buenas nuevas. Y hasta el crimen parece estar cediendo a nuestra ahora resumida y ahora imparable marcha hacia el progreso. Aunque el 2010 fue un reto, sí vimos un descenso de asesinatos durante de los últimos tres meses del año.

Hay un aspecto, sin embargo, que el sentido de resolución que cada año trae consigo, se necesita ahora. Nuestra salida de la recesión, nuestro crecimiento, nuestro progreso social y económico todos están en riesgo por un extranjero  y su quinta columna local. Justo antes de la Navidad un juez de la Corte Suprema apoyó un arbitraje de Londres de 43 millones de dólares en contra del gobierno y el pueblo de Belice para los intereses de Michael Ashcroft.

Este dictamen es en conexión con el inmoral e ilegal ‘Acuerdo’  hecho por la administración y  gobierno pasado. Bajo ese acuerdo, los bancos de Ashcroft y sus conglomerados serán, contrario a las leyes del país exentos de por vida de pagar los justos impuestos a Belice. Es igual con el Acuerdo insólito de las Telecomunicaciones, también entregados a Ashcroft por el PUP. Y este gobierno decidió, en nombre de la justicia soberana, resistir hasta el final esta perfidia constante. Continuaremos en esto, seguros y con la convicción que esta es una campaña de, por y para la gente.

Pero quiero regresar a lo positivo, y terminar con la misma nota positiva con la cual comencé. En el curso de subes y bajas, fortunas fluctuantes y cambios dramáticos, una cosa es constante: el orgullo Beliceño y el patriotismo Beliceño. Tal vez sea por ello la razón por la cual Dios ha levantado, en el 2010, esta tierra que queremos tanto. Y cuando recemos juntos en solidaridad nacional para el 2011, seamos optimistas en que él continuará bendiciéndonos abundantemente. Es entonces con esta fe férrea que digo ahora: que viva nuestra Joya, Belice para siempre!  Feliz Año Nuevo a todos! -1 1 0 40 12/30/2010 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 12/30/2010 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 2 0 707 robots= author= 2714 A Bigger Bite a-bigger-bite If by any chance you recently passed through Corozal you will have noticed that the entire district is brightly decorated with red and white banners and posters. While some of these are undoubtedly directed to spread the jolly spirit of Christmas and all, most of the ads have to do with upcoming UDP constituency conventions in that district. I must say that if I were to comment on the intensity of the different campaigns simply by judging on the amount of placards, I would readily admit that these conventions will be as fervent as the OW East election held on December 12.

To add to the pitch, the PUP is also on the campaign move in our northernmost district. I happened to pick up the broadcast of a radio station from Corozal Bay last Sunday and there was a continual political ad endorsing a person I only know by reputation, and a bad one at that. You know, sometimes it galls voters to hear from persons that have done so much damage to our country but still have the cheek to offer themselves for political office without pause or diffidence.

I won’t dwell on his full name at this time, only his past deeds, to warn his divisional voters of what this person is capable of doing. His previous infamous status was the politically appointed CEO at WASA, immediately following the PUP victory in 1998. Prior to this nefarious PUP administration, WASA was a very prosperous statutory body under the able stewardship of Mr. Winston Michael.  The company had no burdensome debts, and was operating from a spanking new headquarters. Everybody thought that WASA was a model on how a government agency should be managed.

But enter the PUP and the house that Jack built was systematically torn down with what seemed to observers as willful dispassion. Many of you will remember when the hitherto unknown Bayo (or something like that) was placed at the head of the WASA table, and the wreck he put on the company’s assets as he ran the company into the ground. After messing it up, with the tacit acquiescence of so-called financial genius, they then decided to sting Cascal into purchasing the utility company at an inflated price. The Government had to subsequently re-acquire BWSL when the foreign investor invoked the buy-back clause.

When even his own Party Executive demanded his removal, Bayo (or something like that) was taken directly under the wings of the growth economics master planner, the “great” Ralph himself. He was then planted at the Central Bank Complex, where he withered away into obscurity and anonymity, yet still enjoying the perks that come with being ranked similar to that of a PUP Minister, and the financial remuneration that go with it. It seems that one day, somebody said enough is enough, and Bayo’s little perch was yanked away, and he returned home with a bowed head. Some say he supported the wrong squad in the G-7 movement, and suffered the consequences after the battle lines were drawn.

Now it seems the humility learnt from that experience, that all that is done in the dark will come to light, has faded away and Nayo wants to go all the way to the Hill for a bigger bite, instead of only the crumbs from being a sidekick. I don’t know what to say except, beware my fellow norteños: you must not allow yourselves to be betrayed twice. These guys have no love for our country, only their pockets. Take care and have a New Year filled with positive commitments. -1 1 0 40 12/30/2010 06:00:00 62 Jamil Matar 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 12/30/2010 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 709 robots= author= 2715 The year that was in sports the-year-that-was-in-sports

The sporting year in Belize started out with the running of the 20th Annual Krem Radio New Year’s Day Cycling Classic which was held on January 1st, 2010. This annual event started from the Corozal Free Zone to the junctions of Mahogany Street and Central American Boulevard and attracted some 75 riders in the Elite category.

At the end of 3:39:37, it was yet another foreigner Guatemalan Carlos Hernandez of Team Zayra Tico Del Sureste that captured first place. Mexican Carlos Manuel Hernandez of Team Depredadores finished second, third place went to Costa Rican Marcos-Arias of Benny’s Megabytes, fourth place went to Mexican Cesar Vaquera of Team Depredadores while Guatemalan Miguel Perez of Zamir Cycling Team finished fifth to round off the top finishers.

On Sunday February 14, the 15th Annual Digicell Valentine’s Day Classic was held from in front of the San Ignacio Hotel to the Benque Border and then onto Leslie’s Imports. In this event, 63 riders participated in the Elite category, and at the end it was Marlon Castillo of Team Zamir that captured first place in a time of 3:28:24. Castillo’s teammate Giovanni Choto finished second, while Mexican Gilberto Santiago-Martinez of Sugar City Boys finished third.

The other segments of this event started from Central Farm and also concluded at Leslie’s Imports.

In the junior category, Mexican Juan Jose Samos Cuellar captured first place in a time of 2:46:04, Deezan Spence of “Clear the Land” finished second in a time of 2:46:04, third place went to Daniel Choto of Cayo High Road, fourth place went to Mexican Melvin Tillett of C –Ray, and fifth place went to Joel Borland.

In the female edition, it was Shalini Zabaneh of Team Sagitun who captured first place in a time of 3:13:27, second place went to Gina Lovell of Team Lovell, and third place went to Jane Usher of Team Police.

The Belize Cycling Association sponsored its 29th Annual Belmopan Cycling Classic on Sunday March 7, 2010. The Elite race started at 8:00 am from in front of the Constitution Park here in Belize City and then travelled to Belmopan City around the Ring Road, and unto Leslie’s Imports at Mile 2 for the finish. The Elite category attracted some 59 riders who started the 99.4 miles event with 46 riders completing the course.

At the end of the event, it was Peter Choto of Zamir Cycling Team who captured 1st place in a time of 4:20:15 seconds.  Giovanni Leslie of Santino’s Belize finished 2nd in a time of 4:20:21, Jose Choto of Western Spirit finished 3rd.

The 11th Annual Junior Cross Country Cycling Classic was held on Sunday March 28, 2010 from the entrance of the Succotz Ferry to Leslie’s Imports at Mile 2 on the Western Highway. This event attracted some 42 riders from seven teams in the 70 miles event which lasted for 3:43:31. At the conclusion of the journey, it was Deezan Spence from Clear the Land Cycling Team who captured first place. Spence has now added his name to the list of winners in this prestigious event.

The 82nd Annual Holy Saturday Cross Country Cycling Classic was held on Saturday April 3, 2010.

This historic event attracted some 95 riders which included a field of 19 international riders. The 139.7 miles event officially got underway at 6:00 am from in front of Leslie’s Imports to San Ignacio Town around Columbus Park and then back to Belize City where the race concluded at the Memorial Park on Marine Parade.

Of the 95 riders that started the historic ride only 46 completed the course. However, after 6:09:22 it was Guatemalan Miguel Perez of Suga City Stars who was the first rider to cross the finish line to capture this year’s coveted Cross Country title. He was then followed by Venezuelan Wilmen Bravo of Zamir Cycling Team who finished 2nd, followed by American John Delong who rides for Subaru/Gary Fisher Team that took 3rd place, followed by Marlon Castillo of Zamir Cycling Team that finished 4th while 5th place went to Gregory Lovell of Santino’s Belize to round off the top five finishers in this year’s event.

Belizean Athletes participated in the IX Central American Games in Panama City, Republic of Panama, and cyclist Shalini Zabaneh captured the first medal (silver) for Belize at the games. Zabaneh placed second behind the Costa Rican rider while the Guatemalan rider placed third.

The Belize Cycling Association in collaboration with SOL Belize Ltd sponsored its 21st Annual Female Cross Country Classic on Sunday May 16, 2010.
The race started at 8:30 am from in front of Columbus Park in San Ignacio Town and concluded at the Memorial Park in Belize City. Some 11 riders participated in the 71.1 mile event. At the end of 4:26:21, it was Shalini Zabaneh of Team Sagitun who rode away with the coveted title. During the ride, she also captured the title of Queen of the Hills.

Belize made history during the XIX Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, where for the very first time in the history of the Commonwealth Games that we were able to have two cyclists completed the highly technical and complex Road Race. The Road Race was 12 laps of a 14 km course for a total distance of 168 km. At the start of the race at 1:00 pm in a scorching Indian sun, some 133 cyclists representing 33 countries of the British Commonwealth of Nations and all with vary levels of experience head out from the Free Church Sansad Marg complex for this epic journey.

The entire 168 km race lasted some 3:49:48, in which Australian Allan Davis captured the coveted event. The second rider to cross the finish line was Hayden Roulston from New Zealand, and then followed by David Millar from Scotland. For Belize, Gregory Lovell finished 26 in a time of 3:55:12 some 5:24 behind the champion Allan Davis. Lovell’s teammate and first time participant in an international meet Edgar Nissan Arana finished 46 in a time of 4:06:14 some 16:26 minutes behind the winner.

From the Americas, only the Canadians finished better than Gregory Lovell in the Road Race, while Dan Craven finished 12th in a time of 3:54:08 and his teammate Erik Hoffman finished 16th from Namibia, and South Africa’s Johann Rabie finished 17th placed higher than Lovell. As a country, Belize placed 12th in the overall standing out of the 33 countries that participated in the road race.

The Belize Cycling Association in collaboration with the Ministry of Health sponsored the 14th Annual Alpheus Williams’ Aids Day Cycling Classic on Sunday December 5, 2010. The Elite Open race started at 9:00 am from in front of the Belmopan Comprehensive School and then concluded in front of Leslie’s Imports at Mile 2 on the Western Highway. The 48.6 miles event attracted some 102 riders with 76 of them completing the course. Some 25 riders abandoned the race. The riders rode at an average speed of 28.047 miles per hour.

At the end of 1:43:58, it was Gregory Lovell of Zamir Cycling Team of Orange Walk Town to cross the finish line first to repeat at the back-to-back-to-back champion.  Immediately following Lovell, was Byron Pope of Benny’s Megabytes, followed by Kyne Gentle of Western Spirit, then followed by Leroy Casasola of Santino’s Belize and Juan Flores-Umana of Cayo High Road Cycling Team to round off the top five finishers. In the Youth category, the first rider to cross the finish line was Juan Flores-Umana of Cayo High Road Cycling in a time of 1:43:58. Deezan Spence of Twin Towns Cycling finished 2nd in a time of 1:44:39,while Emir Aiden Juan of Cayo High Road finished 3rd.

In the Junior category, it was Daniel Choto of Cayo High Road Cycling that finished 1st, Kyle Kelvin Gentle also of Cayo High Road Cycling finished 2nd, with Melvin Tillett of Santino’s Belize finished 3rd. Meanwhile, the Female and Masters Categories 4 and 5 riders started from La Democracia Village on the Western Highway and concluded at Mile 2 on the Western Highway in front of Leslie’s Imports.  This 30 miles event attracted some 24 riders with only two not completing the course.

The first master rider to cross the finish line was Barney Brown of F.T. Williams who completed the ride in a time of 1:09:03. Santino Castillo of Santino’s Belize Cycling finished 2nd, while Albert Conorquie Sr. of Typhoon Cycling finished 3rd. In the female category, Kirah Eiley of Team Moya Cycling was the first rider to cross the finish line in this category in a time of 1:25:47. Anthea Sutherland of Truckers Posse finished 2nd, and Shalini Zabaneh of Sagitun finished 3rd.

SOFTBALL:

The Belize Softball Federation released the names of the players who were selected to represent Belize at the IX Central American Games that were staged in Panama City, Republic of Panama, from April 8-15, 2010. The players who were selected to the National Women’s Team included Barbara Cadle, Greta Davis, Joline Davis, Tania Davis, Shadalee Ho, Elaine Humes, Lanisha Jones, Lisa Jones, Ruth Lamb, Martha Rhys, Francine Salazar, Janelle Smith, Sherette Vernon, Marsha Will and Karlee Bradley. The coaching staff consisted of Head Coach Gregory Moguel, coaches Edith Lizama and Floyd Flowers.

Meanwhile, the National Male Team players were: Jason Belisle, Carlyon Flores, Milton Flores, Bryan Grant, Derrick Jones, Marconi Leal, Keith Madrill, Leroy Martinez, Michael Middleton, Jerome Neal, Patrick Rowland, Richard Stephenson, Troy Williams and Dion Richards. The coaching staff was headed by Head Coach Nelberth Flowers and coaches Eric Neal and Leslie Rogers. On May 28, 2010, the Belize Biltmore Plaza Hotel played host to the official Induction Ceremony of Philippa Griffith-Bailey to the International Softball Federation’s Hall of Fame.

Griffith-Bailey was elected to the ISF Hall of Fame during the 24th World Softball Congress held on the island of Margarita, Venezuela, in October of 2009. She was elected to the Administrator’s category. The evening’s programme was filled with leading softball personalities from the 1960’s and 1970’s delivering tributes on behalf of Griffith-Bailey. One such tribute was delivered by Mrs. Verolyn Bailey-Richards, the first Belizean player that hit a home run in international competition. Tributes were also delivered by Pat Bennett former Commissioner/President of Belize Softball Federation and the former Minister of Youth, Sports, Information and Broadcasting Hon. Elvin Penner.

The keynote address was delivered by Mr. Edward “Ned” Pitts, President of the Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association, while the official induction was conducted by Mr. Don Porter, President of the International Softball Federation.

The XX National Women’s Softball Championship was played from August 27 to 29, at Rogers Stadium the home of softball in Belize and the results are now recorded in the archives of Belize, where for the very first time, the Roaring Creek “Grace Kennedy” Softball Team emerged as the national champion. The Grace Kennedy Team has appeared in 15 of the 20 championships sponsored by the Belize Softball Federation and finished third on four previous occasions, but this one really belonged to them. Playing from the loser’s bracket, the budding champion was up to the task and was indeed rewarded with the national title.

The Championship officially started on Friday August 27 with two games, and the Hon. John Saldivar, Minister of the Public Service, Governance Improvement, Elections and Boundaries, and Sports, officially opened the Championship Games on Saturday, August 28, 2010. On Sunday August 29, in game 11 of the championship, the final game on the schedule, the outcome of the championship was decided in five innings, when Roaring Creek “Grace Kennedy” blanked the defending champion Mirage “Lady Rebels” by the score of 7-0. Roaring Creek’s Grace Kennedy starter and winner Lesandra Guy gave up two hits to the bats of the Lady Rebels squad in pitching her team to its very first national title.

At the end of the championship, Mr. Edward Ned Pitts, President of the Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association, presented the Phil Sim Memorial Trophy to the National Softball Champion of Belize Roaring Creek “Grace Kennedy”, as well as the championship medals and individual awards to the respective winners. The Youth for the Future Belize Softball Federation junior girls’ softball competition came to an end on Saturday November 13, 2010, at Rogers Stadium.

In the Grand Final game played, the outcome of the championship was determined from the 2nd inning when Digicell ‘Avengers’ scored seven quick runs to take a commanding lead over the competition’s favourite Flowers ‘Crushers’. Digicell ‘Avengers’ added three more runs in the 3rd inning and three more in the 4th inning for the 13-1 victory.

At the end of the Grand Final game, Philippa Griffith-Bailey, ISF Hall of Fame member who donated the trophies for the junior competition, presented them to Digicell ‘Avengers’ and Flowers ‘Crushers’.

The 3rd Annual Charles Solis Memorial Championship was played on Sunday, November 28, 2010, at Rogers Stadium and the results have now been recorded in the annals of the sports history in the country.  The championship was opened by Mr. Owen ‘Sonny’ Meighan, Public Relations Officer of the Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association, and honorary life member of the Belize Softball Federation.

In the championship game, National Softball Champion of Belize Roaring Creek’s Grace Kennedy, who is having its best year on record, picked up where it left off from at the National Women’s Championship, when it defeated much improved Flowers Bank ‘Easy Does It’ by the score of 11 to 4 in five innings to capture its first ever Charles Solis Memorial Title.

At the end of the championship, Roaring Creek Grace Kennedy’s Leandra Guy was named the Most Valuable Player. Guy won all three games for her team and she struck out 17 batters in the process. The 2010 Belize City Interoffice Softball Competition came to an end on Friday December 10 at Rogers Stadium when the defending champion the Belize City Council behind the pitching of Brian ‘Yellowman’ Audinett defeated the Police by the score of 10 to 7 to repeat as the Interoffice Softball Champions.

BASKETBALL:

The Belize Basketball Federation announced the launch of the Men’s National Team preparation programme for the upcoming Centrobasket 2010 tournament.  The tournament, which was held in the Dominican Republic from July 5th to 12th, was the penultimate qualifier for the 2012 Olympics. The BBF also announced that NBA legend and former All-Star Mr. Marques Johnson was appointed the Head Coach.

The following players were called to attend workout sessions: Keith Acosta, Lennox Bowman, Charlie Burgess, Kurt Burgess, Alex Carcamo, Lennox Cayetano, Noel Felix, Marlon Garnett, Elsworth Itza, Jorett Jones, Keenan Jourdan, Darwin Leslie, Travis Lennan, Farron Louriano, Leroy Louriano, Gene Myvett, Milton Palacio, Kenton Paulino, Winston Pratt, Greg Rudon, Kirk Smith, Richard Troyer, Sonny Watson, Stephen Williams, and Matthew Young.
The 2010 Dangriga Basketball Association Summer Bounce Championships came to an end on Saturday August 14 at the Y-Knot Island in Dangriga Town, with the championship games in both the junior and senior competitions.

In the junior championship game, Hopkins defeated Ghans Avenue by the score of 48 to 43. In the senior championship game, Belize Bank Benguche defeated Valley Express by the score of 97 to 82 to repeat as back-to-back champions. The 2010 Central American Scholar Games (CODICADER) took place in Managua, Nicaragua.  Belize’s student-athletes participated in basketball, volleyball, athletics, football (male) and softball (female).

Belize was represented in male basketball by Sacred Heart College of San Ignacio Town. In the championship game, Costa Rica defeated Sacred Heart College (Belize) by the score of 64 to 62. As a result of losing to Costa Rica, Sacred Heart College finished with the silver medal in these games.

ATHLETICS:

The Track team left the country on April 15 for the IX Central American Games in Panama, and a day later on April 16, Tricia Flores won the first gold medal for Belize in these games in the Long Jump competition where she also established a new games record of 5.97m. Flores’ teammate Kaina Martinez picked up the silver medal in Long Jump at a distance of 5.45m.

Later that same day, Kaina Martinez captured the second gold medal for Belize. This time it was in the 100m event and she finished first in a time of 12.05 sec. On Saturday April 17, Kaina Martinez captured her second gold medal in the games, but this time in the 200m in a time of 24.89 sec. Later that same afternoon, Jonathan Williams captured the silver medal in the 110m hurdles, and on Monday April 16, he captured the gold medal in the 400m hurdles.

Belize participated in the XXI Central American Athletics Championship held in Guatemala City, Guatemala from September 17 to 18, 2010. The Belizean contingent comprised of Kaina Martinez, Tricia Flores, Kay De Vaughn, Charnelle Enriquez, Jaryl Mariano, Chavis Lopez and Denroy Nembhard. On September 17, Kaina Martinez won double gold medals for Belize during the Central American Championship. Her first gold medal was in the 100m event in which her time was 12:55. Martinez’s teammate Tricia Flores finished second in the event in a time of 12:72.

Later that same day, Kaina picked up her second gold medal of the day and of the championship when she captured first place in the 200m event in a time of 25:54. In this event, Tricia Flores finished seventh in a time of 26:22. Belize also participated in the 4 x 100m relay and captured the bronze medal when the relay team which consisted of Tricia Flores, Kaina Martinez, Charnelle Enriquez and Kay De Vaughn finished the event in a time of 50:75.

In the field events, Kay De Vaughn picked up a silver medal in the High Jump Competition in a height of 1.60m. In the Long Jump competition, Tricia Flores established a new record in her third and final jump at 5.97m. This gave Tricia her first gold medal at the championship and her third overall.
In the Triple Jump competition, Kay De Vaughn finished fifth in this event. The male athletes were not as successful and were therefore not able to advance out of the preliminaries.

Although Belize did not medal in the XIX Commonwealth Games, the athletes were able to established new personal and national records during the games. One such record that was established was by Katy Sealy. Sealy is the first Belizean female to have represented Belize at any major International Games in the Heptathlon Competition. And so it was with destiny that Sealy was to have broken her own record in the 100m Hurdles at the XIX Commonwealth Games when she cleared the hurdles at 16.40 to best her previous record in Puerto Rico, and so it was that a new national record was once again established on foreign soil.

Sealy also improved on her personal best in the High Jump competition when she jumped 1.66 cm; that is 9cm more than in her previous competition and she also established another personal best in the Shot Put competition when she hurled the iron ball for a total distance of 10.11m. Sealy was able to accumulate a total of 2450 points. Unfortunately for Belize and Sealy, she could not finish the Heptathlon Competition because of an injury just before the start of the 200m event.

OLYMPIC AND COMMONWEALTH GAMES

The Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association in collaboration with the International Olympic Committee, the Belize Amateur Athletics Association and Bowen and Bowen Ltd, the local bottlers of Coca-Cola held the Annual Olympic Day Run on Sunday June 20, 2010. The primary school students started from in front of James Brodies on Regent Street into Albert Street around the Isaiah Morter’s monument into Cemetery Lane into Yarborough road and then into Regent Street for the finish.

At the end of the run, all participants received a participation certificate and the winners received their various trophies from Mr. Edward Ned Pitts, President of the Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association. As part of Olympic Week Celebrations, The International Olympic Committee and the Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association on Wednesday June 23, 2010, which is Olympic Day, conferred upon Belizean Rita Flowers, the IOC Trophy for ‘Sport-inspiring young people’ at an award ceremony held at the House of Culture in Belize City.

Ms. Rita Flowers has a track record of personal involvement with young people for the past 30 years and has organized many males and females into youth groups especially in the fields of music and sports. She is a cultural and musical person who instills the ideals and principles of the Olympic Movement; the arts. Rita Flowers is the founder of the popular Majorettes Band.

Meanwhile, the Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association also presented Citations to seven coaches from National Federations here in Belize as part of Olympic Week celebrations. The coaches who were honoured included Frederick Evans from Athletics, Joseph McLaren from Body Building, Santiago Castillo from Cycling, Raymond Garbutt from Softball, Raju Meenavalli from Tennis, Jose “Jack” Reyes from Volleyball, and Leon Guild from Karate.

Also the athletes who medaled at the IX Central American Games in Panama also received a certificate of participation and a trophy from the Olympic Committee

The Citations were presented to the coaches by Mr. Owen ‘Sonny’ Meighan, Public Relations Officer of the Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association.Belize was represented in Mexico City, Mexico, by two young athletes as part of the Pan American Sports Organisation (PASO) reception of the 1st Olympic Flame for the Youth Olympic Games.

Kira Arnold from the Belize Softball Federation and Eduar Burns from the Belize Cycling Association were the two athletes who represented Belize. The athletes departed the country on Saturday July 26 for Mexico City and stayed in Mexico City until July 29.

While in Mexico City, Kira Arnold and Eduar Burns joined other young athletes from the hemisphere in activities that welcomed the Youth Olympic Games Flame to the hemisphere. The Youth Olympic Games were held in August on the island nation of Singapore.

Belize also participated in the XIX Commonwealth Games that were held in New Delhi, India, from October 3-15, 2010. The Belizean Contingent left the country on September 28. The contingent consisted of Kiana Martinez, Kay De Vaughn, Katy Sealy, Shalini Zabaneh, Brandon Cattouse, Byron Pope, Jairo Campos, Edgar Nissan Arana, and Gregory Lovell who represented the country in Cycling and Track and Field. Meanwhile, the officials who attended the games included Perry Gibson, coach and delegate for the Cycling team; Fredrick Evans, coach of the Track and Field team, and Josephine Flowers, delegate of the Track and Field team.

Belize’s Flag Bearer to the XIX Commonwealth Games opening ceremony was Kiana Martinez, the double gold medallist from the Central American Championships in Guatemala City.

Team Belize joined 70 other countries and territories from the Commonwealth for the XIX edition of the games.

Belize’s contingent to the XIX Commonwealth Games was headed by the Chef de Mission Patrick Henry.

-1 1 0 41 12/30/2010 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 12/30/2010 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 1114 robots= author= 2716 Teen charged with murder of Prison Officer teen-charged-with-murder-of-prison-officer A teenager who was wanted by police in connection with a murder in mid October was arraigned in Magistrate’s Court on Friday December 24. Ronald Bradley, a resident of #37 King Street appeared before the Chief Magistrate Margaret Gab-McKenzie in Court #1 where he was read eight charges.

The charges included one count of murder for the October 15, 2010 shooting death of Miriam Gillett which occurred in Hattieville; one count of attempted murder upon Prison Officer, Silvano Patt; another count of attempted murder upon another prison officer, Ernest Savery; grievous harm upon Patt; dangerous harm upon Savery and two counts each of use of deadly means of harm upon Savery and Patt. The teenager was additional charged with one count of robbery for allegedly robbing Glen Nelson Lamb of an LG cell phone valued at $439.00 along with a pair of gold dice earrings and $300 in cash.

No plea was taken in court and the Chief Magistrate explained to Bradley who was unrepresented that due to the nature of the offences, which are indictable matters, no plea will be taken but that at a given date, a Preliminary Inquiry will be held and if there is sufficient evidence, the matter will be committed to the Supreme Court for trial.

The death of Prison Officer Miriam Gillett occurred on October 15 when a vehicle that had just left from the Hattieville Prison, driven at the time by Ernest Savery, was ambushed and shot at. Gillett was killed in the midst of the spray of bullets. She received a single shot to the head. Savery, along with Patt, also sustained injuries in the attack.

The robbery charge against Bradley arose from a November 5 robbery. Glen Nelson Lamb reported to police that at around 4:00 p.m., that day, whilst on work business, he was walking in the direction of the Mesop Police Station when he was approached by two dark skinned male persons, one of whom took away his personal belongings including his cash, cell phone and a pair of earrings.  The men then escaped.

On Monday, December 20, Bradley was detained and two days later, on Wednesday, December 22, the virtual complainant positively identified Bradley as one of the men who robbed him.

Ronald Bradley was only remanded in the first instant for eight days and is due back in court on December 31. -1 1 0 39 12/30/2010 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 12/30/2010 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 895 robots= author= 2717 The Cost of Ignorance the-cost-of-ignorance

We are all familiar with the adage that compares the cost of education with the price of ignorance.  People all over the world are realising that development is impossible without an efficient and cost effective education system.  We cannot measure the quality of an education system by looking only at how well our top performers do.  We must instead examine how well average students perform and how many of our children complete high school or more.  Not only is it the right thing to do but also providing all children with a quality education is the only way to compete in the modern knowledge economy.

It also reduces crime and improves health.  Latin America has long lagged behind in international league tables and many of our neighbours are now making great efforts to improve their systems.  Belize is no exception as Hon. Patrick Faber and his team at the Ministry of Education continue in the UDP tradition and apply proven interventions and innovative ideas to make a real difference.  For too many years we heard PUP politicians mouthing platitudes about the importance of education.  However, they had insufficient interest to actually do anything about it.  They resisted the idea of free secondary education when the UDP introduced it and their free text book scam was intended only to allow PUP cronies to make a killing.

International experience indicates that the quality of a country’s education system does not depend directly on how much money is spent on it.  Obviously, we must be willing to spend money if we want a quality education but the way we spend it is more important than the actual amount we spend.

The countries at the top of the international education league direct their attention to the quality of their teachers.  They find that relatively large class sizes (around 40 students) each with an excellent teacher provides better results than smaller class sizes with mediocre teachers.  Minister Faber’s effort to increase the number of trained teachers is right in line with current knowledge of best practice.  So is the MOE emphasis on teacher accountability.  Teaching is a vocation and some people, even after training, are just not suited to the job.  We must find ways to retain the best teachers and encourage those who are not suited to teaching to move into another career.

Changing the way that education is funded is another important step towards a system that provides opportunities for all our children.  Basing funding on a per student basis not only ensures that the system is fairer but it also discourages multiple small inefficient schools from operating in the same area.

Change is never easy and there may be resistance from some quarters.  However, the future of our children is too important not to do whatever it takes to improve the quality of their education.  The cost of ignorance is one that Belize cannot afford.

-1 10 0 56 12/30/2010 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 12/30/2010 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 350 robots= author= 2718 54.5 Million Dollars in BTL Shares Sold 545-million-dollars-in-btl-shares-sold The Guardian has confirmed that 54.5 million dollars in BTL shares have been sold by government. While 50 million dollars of those shares were purchased by Social Security Board, the additional 4.5 million dollars were purchased by ordinary folk who simply walked into the sale outlets and purchased the shares. Government had offered the shares for sale on October 15th of last year and the offer stood until December 31st.

While ordinary folk have opted to buy into the company, Guardian is reliably informed that another sale period is expected to be announced shortly. This will take place immediately after the first set of BTL shareholders receive their share certificates. As for SSB’s 50 million dollar shareholding, that will entitled the institution to two directors who will be appointed by the end of January. The two directors who are yet to be named by SSB will be replacing existing government directors Anwar Barrow and Allan Slusher.

When the sale share was announced the government offered 44.54% of the company’s share capital, according to the company’s prospectus that amounted to some 22,069,687 shares at a price of 5 dollars each. With a new share sale coming up it is expected that far more Belizeans will be applying to purchase shares in BTL. It is of note that the company has been insulated from any litigation as the government of Belize is the sole entity that will bear any liability if any litigation was to be successful. Currently there is only one legal matter before the courts and that is as it relates to the constitutionality of the nationalization of BTL which already the Supreme Court has ruled was properly done. That has since been appealed and the matter is before the Court of Appeals.

Since the nationalization of Belize Telemedia, Government has made an offer to be paid to the former owner and affiliates of the company, however that has been rejected. -1 6 0 53 1/6/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/6/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 2 0 1997 robots= author= 2719 MINISTRY OF SPORTS Investigates FFB Elections ministry-of-sports-investigates-ffb-elections In an interview with the Guardian Newspaper on November 30, 2010 the Hon. John Saldivar, Minister of the Public Service, Governance Improvement, Elections and Boundaries and Sports explained that he was holding a series of consultations across the country to address the issues facing the sport of football in Belize. He called on all football players, coaches, executives and fans to attend the meetings. His plan is to take the ideas from the consultations and incorporate them in the national strategic plan for sports in Belize.

One major problem facing the sport of football in Belize is the seemingly undemocratic process of the Football Federation of Belize’s (FFB) executive elections. In that interview Minister Saldivar said that intention is not to undermine or interfere in the affairs of FFB but to ensure that the players have a say in the future of Belizean football at its highest level and that can only be done by ensuring that the President and Executives of FFB are elected under a truly democratic system. He said that his objective during the consultations was “to determine whether or not that system exists and if it doesn’t exist how we can make it democratic so that there is no dictatorship by the people making decisions about football in this country.”

Well, FFB called an executive election for Saturday, December 18, and by most accounts the process was far from democratic. Challengers for the executive posts were disqualified by members of the established executive and an endorsement session was held. The Ministry of Sports did not release a position immediately but has now announced that a committee has been appointed by the Minister to investigate specific matters relating to that election.

According to the release, the Hon. John Saldivar, appointed the committee via a Statutory Instrument cited as the Sports (Investigations Commiteee) Order 2010. This is an exercise of his powers granted to him in section 25 of the Sports Act, Chapter 46 of the Laws of Belize. The Act allows the minister responsible for sports to “order all or any of the activities of the Council, sports committee, or a sporting organisation to be investigated and reported on by a person or persons as he may specify and upon such order being made the Council, sports committee, or sporting organisation shall afford all facilities and furnish all information as the person or persons may require, to carry out every such order.” The members of the committee are Mr. Joseph McGann, Mr. Gerald Henry and Mr. Oswald Twist. Mcgann is the Committee Chairman. He currently works with the office of Climate Change and was a former member of the Belize National Football Association (BNFA). Henry is a nationally acclaimed football star of the once famous Avengers Football Club. He is now a retired public officer and member of the Public Services Commission. Twist is an Attorney at Law.

Theses men have been commissioned to review and establish the validity or otherwise of the appointment of the executives of FFB. In doing this the committee will investigate the election or appointment of executives from the Corozal Football Association, Orange Walk Football Association, Belize District Football Association, Belmopan Football Association, Cayo Football Association, Stann Creek Football Association, Toledo Football Association and the Belize Premier Football League. The committee will also review and establish the validity or otherwise of the decision of the FFB to disallow the nominees of one of its members (the Belize Premier Football League) from taking part in the elections of executives; review and establish the validity or otherwise of the endorsement election of the executive of the Football Federation of Belize which was conducted on 18th December 2010 at FFB’s headquarters and to determine any other matters relating.

The Committee began its work this week in the Toledo and Stann Creek Districts and is mandated, by the instrument, to submit the report of its findings no later than 28th January, 2011. -1 6 0 53 1/6/2011 06:00:00 64 Shane D. Williams 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/6/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 1720 robots= author= 2720 PM and Tourism Minister averting Cruise Tender Crisis pm-and-tourism-minister-averting-cruise-tender-crisis Prime Minister Hon. Dean Barrow and Minister of Tourism Hon. Manuel Heredia will be travelling to Miami on Thursday January 6th along with BTB Director Seleni Matus with the hope of averting a Cruise Ship Tender Crisis.

The situation arose on Monday of this week after the current tender providers were told that a new company would be taking over the tendering of passengers from cruise ships to the Fort Point Terminal. The situation is one where small passenger tenders are being told that they will no longer be able to service cruise ships since they do not meet requirements by the cruise ships.

Among those requirements is that the tenders have a minimum carrying capacity of 150 passengers and that they carry a 2 million dollar insurance policy. The announcement took tender providers by surprise and some 25 tenders along with some 75 employees would be displaced by the decision.

That was earlier this week however and since the announcement, Carnival Cruise line has softened its position. The requirements are not being strictly adhered to and the same providers will be serving the Cruise ships. Meanwhile the Prime Minister along with Minister of Tourism and BTB Director will be heading to Miami for meetings. We understand that specific options will be presented to the cruise line to ensure that local operators are active participants in the tendering of passengers to the cruise terminal. The matter is of such importance that all participants in the meetings will actively be working to find a way forward for the local operators.

As for the new provider the Prime Minister explained on Love FM’s morning show on Wednesday that one Tino Castillo, a local operator will be operating a tender pool to service Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Lines and Carnival. The pool will include 4 tenders from Eurocaribe with an additional one to be added shortly along with 4 other tenders that meet the new corporate policy of Carnival. And that is as far as the existing tenders go, currently there are two large catamarans at the Big Creek those were consigned to Norwegian Cruise Lines however given the circumstances they are not being cleared and concessions will not be granted and neither will they be licensed until a way forward is charted.

As it now stands the requirements have been suspended pending the outcome of discussions that are expected to take place on Friday of this week. -1 6 0 54 1/6/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/6/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 381 robots= author= 2721 Traffic Department establishes bus routes in Belize City traffic-department-establishes-bus-routes-in-belize-city In the middle of December, the Belize City Traffic Department issued out notices to the general public and to four bus service providers in Belize City that as of December 28 there would be strict enforcement of bus routes as have been assigned.

It has been at least six months since the transport board established the routes. In order to regularize many problems that have developed over time, the Traffic Department is now strictly enforcing the routes to ensure that all service providers stay within their zones. Currently there are four operators that have been issued permits to operate city bus runs. These include Lemott Bus Service which was issued with the Port Loyola Area, Haylock Bus Service which is to service the Belama area, Lopez Bus Service which is to operate in the Lake Independence Area and Belize Transit/Metro Bus Service which must now operate only in the West Landivar, Fabers Road and Kings Park areas.

In speaking with Traffic Manager Kevan Jenkins he explains that the notices were sent out to bus operators on December 21 where individual letters were issued to all the providers. Further notices were also issued and thereafter the enforcement began to be carried out. As it now stands, there have been numerous buses that have been ticketed for various offences including those who do not stay within their designated routes. Providers are also being ticketed for other offences which include driving buses without the appropriate plates or lack of plates, insurance, unregistered buses, yellow school buses operating as city buses, lack of fire extinguishers in the vehicles and driving buses with opened doors.

While the bus routes are being enforced, Jenkins noted that the Traffic Department is also reviewing the issuing of taxi operator plates to vehicles with carrying capacity of more than five passengers. Under the traffic laws taxis are described as vehicles with a carrying capacity of five passengers and a driver. Any other operator that attempts to license vehicles with greater carrying capacity are not allowed since the vehicles do not fall under taxi classification. Jenkins says the Traffic Department will remain vigilant on all traffic concerns in the city in particular the adherence to established bus routes. -1 1 0 59 1/6/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/6/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 3 0 640 robots= author= 2722 6 million dollars for Health Improvement in the South 6-million-dollars-for-health-improvement-in-the-south Belmopan, January 4, 2011.

Hon. Pablo Marin, Minister of Health, is pleased to announce that the Ministry of Health has been awarded BZ$6 million dollars in grant funding from the Japanese Social Development Fund (JSDF) through the World Bank. This will be directly used to support the provision of greater access to quality health services for Belize’s children and to encourage healthy lifestyle practices and behaviours.

The project will address malnutrition in children five and under; it will encourage healthy lifestyle practices in children five and above and it will strengthen community-based health services through mobile clinics and community health workers.  It will also improve on basic structural upgrading to health posts and improvements to other related facilities. Research, monitoring and evaluation will provide a continuing evidence basis for the implementation of the project.

The BZ$6 million grant is intended to strengthen access to health services for children in the Toledo district by empowering the local communities and schools; by helping to improve the overall quality of health services and by promoting healthy lifestyle choices.  The project will also introduce innovative e-health activities to strengthen the capacity of the health work force by providing internet communication links in Toledo allowing for regular contact among the District Hospital, Polyclinic and Satellite Clinics within the district.

While the Ministry of Health is the grant recipient, the recently formed Toledo District Health Council will be the local implementing agency. The JSDF is funded by the Government of Japan and administered by the World Bank. The fund has been an important source of financing for the provision of innovative development assistance in lower income countries such as Belize. -1 1 0 59 1/6/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/6/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 2 0 780 robots= author= 2723 New PR officer for Ministry of Police and Public Safety new-pr-officer-for-ministry-of-police-and-public-safety

The Ministry of Police and Public Safety has announced that effective January 11, 2011, Raphael Martinez will be taking up the position of Public Relations Officer.

Martinez takes up the position from police Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood. In a release from the Ministry it states that Mr. Martinez, who is no stranger to the media industry, brings to the Ministry a wealth of knowledge and expertise that is necessary to foster a stronger relationship between the Ministry of Police and Public Safety, the Media and the General Public. As the Public Relations Officer, Mr. Martinez will be responsible for all Public Relations matters related to the Police Department, the National Forensic Science Service, the Belize Central Prisons and the Headquarters of the Ministry of Police and Public Safety.

Notable in Martinez’s posting is the addition of Public Relations responsibilities to include the Forensic Department and the Central Prison, both of which had not been served by previous public relations officers in the Ministry.

-1 1 0 59 1/6/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/6/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 733 robots= author= 2724 #1 Problem at New Market? Lack of Communication! 1-problem-at-new-market-lack-of-communication The new market named in honor of Hon. Michael Finnegan, Minister of Housing and Urban Development and Area Representative for the Mesopotamia Division, was officially inaugurated on November 22. The facility is a vast improvement to previous markets in the city. It housed 42 stalls and the project included various upgrades to the facility. Those include the replacement of makeshift stalls with two 10 by 10 ft stalls, 4 refurbished 10 by 10 ft stalls and the construction of 36 20 by 10 ft stalls.

The existing bathrooms were renovated and extended and better drainage and proper garbage disposal systems were put in place; the entire market compound was leveled and pavers were installed. The project was implemented by the Social Investment Fund (SIF) and financed through a combination of a loan and grant from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) at a total cost of $1.3 Million dollars.  Of this amount, the Government of Belize provided $270,000.00 in counterpart funding and residents of Belize City contributed the labor.

Every vendor and customer of the new market will agree that the facility is fantastic. The compound is spacious, clean and customer friendly. One vendor said, “It reminds me of tourist village.” However, the transition to the new market has not been smooth. According to the vendors, there are several areas of concern. Those include increase operating costs, lack of electricity and water and a glitch in the drainage and garbage disposal systems.
The vendors claim that the cost of renting the stalls is way too high. The prices have almost doubled. It is $400 for meat vending stalls; $300 for restaurant stalls and $200 for small vegetable stalls. According to vendors, previously the cost of small stalls was $125. In addition to the rent increase, the vendors complain of increase in trade license. One vendor said that the huge increase was a complete shock to him. He claims that before the rehabilitation process started representatives of SIF assured him that there would be no need for increase in rent fees because “the project is not costing the Council a cent”. However, the increase is a reality and Michael Theus, City Council’s public relations representative for market affairs, said that he knows of no such assurance and the vendors knew that an increase in fees was inevitable.

Another concern is the lack of electricity and water in the stalls. This is coupled by the fact that some of the 20 by 10ft stalls were divided into two to make more spaces available. The division of the stalls caused one half to have a switchbox for the electricity but no outlet and water and the other half has the power outlet and water but no switchbox. Theus said that the water issue is simple. In terms of the divided stalls without water, theus said, “all the stalls are water ready; they only need pipes to be installed.” The reason the facility does not have water as yet is because the Belize Water Service does not want to install individual meters for the now 59 stalls in the market. Therefore, one master meter was installed that will be billed to the Council. The Council is now being assisted by PUC to determine subsequent water rates to the vendors. Once that is done the vendors will be given individual meters that will operate off Council’s master meter. On the issue of the absence of electricity Theus said that problem should be solved by the start of next week. The reason there is no electricity is because the facility failed to meet PUC’s safety standard. The design for the market was drafted about two and a half years ago. New regulations for safety have been passed since then and because the facility was not up to par it could not access electricity. Theus said that the problem was being addressed and should be fixed by Friday, January 7. The divided stalls that are short of outlets or switchboxes will be addressed shortly.

The vendors also complained about the drainage and garbage disposal system. Drainage had been a problem at all previous Belize City markets. It was an issue of importance in the design of this one. The drainage system is excellently constructed but with a small and impactful glitch. The roof for each stall is sided with a gutter line that directs water to a deep drain which leads the water out of the facility. A recent rain, no more than a hard drizzle, exposed the glitch in the system. The pipe at the end of the gutter line is about a foot and a half away from the drain. The water that is released from the gutter pipe streams down the pavers and spreads across the compound. That could be easily fixed by extending the pipes at the end of the gutters. The problem with the garbage disposal system is that the storage area is too small for the facility. The area was overloaded with garbage causing a horrible scene and smell. That problem could be addressed with more frequent removal of garbage from the site.

More than any of the concerns raised by the vendors, the major problem is lack of and miscommunication. Firstly, the market was not ready to open and should not have been until these issues were tested and addressed. Secondly, the vendors believe that they are not involved with the decisions made to govern the market. They have a problem with being left in the dark, figuratively in this case. In speaking with Michael Theus, he said that there will be a consultation process as early as next week Wednesday. That consultation process will involve both market and street vendors- better late than never. -1 1 0 40 1/6/2011 06:00:00 64 Shane D. Williams 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/6/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 5 0 869 robots= author= 2725 Justice Manuel Sosa is the New President of Court of Appeal justice-manuel-sosa-is-the-new-president-of-court-of-appeal

On January 3, Justice Manuel Sosa was sworn in as President of the Court of Appeal by the Governor General, Sir Colville Young, at the Belize House in Belmopan.

Witnessing the swearing-in ceremony was Attorney General, Hon. B. Q. Pitts. Justice Sosa succeeds Justice Elliot Mottley who resigned as President of the Court of Appeal at the end of December 2010. Justice Sosa’s distinguished legal career spans some 34 years. He was first called to the Bar in 1976 after qualifying from the Norman Manley Law School, Jamaica, where he received the award of the Most Outstanding Student.

He pursued private law practice in Belize from 1976 to 1998 and was elevated to Senior Counsel in 1988. He also held the positions of President and Vice President of the Bar Association and served on both the Bar Committee and the General Legal Counsel.

Justice Sosa was appointed as a temporary Justice of the Supreme Court of Belize in 1993 and a substantive Justice in 1998. The same year he was awarded the honour of the Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Her Majesty the Queen.

Justice Sosa served as the Chief Justice of Belize for a short period in late 1998 before being appointed as a Justice of the Court of Appeal in early 1999. During the last ten years, he presided over appeals heard by the Court of Appeal on several occasions. He is highly regarded in the profession for his legal acumen and meticulousness.

Justice Sosa was born in Corozal Town and is now 60 years old. He is married to Mrs. Elba Sosa nee Rosado and is the father of three children.

Justice Sosa is the first Belizean President of the Court of Appeal. Other Judges of the Court of Appeal are Justice Denys Barrow, Justice Dennis Morrison and Justice Brian Alleyne.

-1 1 0 40 1/6/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/6/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 4 0 1692 robots= author= 2726 Government normalizes relations with Channel 5 government-normalizes-relations-with-channel-5

In a press release following Cabinet meeting held on January 4 the government announced that it was normalizing relations with Channel 5. The release states that “Cabinet has agreed to lift the ban and reinstate normal relations with Great Belize Productions /Channel 5 on the commitment of Channel 5 to be visibly fair and impartial.”

The relationship between government and Channel 5 had become strained after the company had consistently misrepresented information and went as far as refusing to air certain government programs as is mandated by law. The first step at normalizing relations which were severed on December 7 came after a meeting with the news station’s CEO Amalia Mai and the Prime Minister Hon. Dean Barrow on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2010.

At the meeting, both sides committed to, as the Prime Minister pointed out to Channel 5 News, “operate on a basis of mutual respect and on the basis of fair and balanced coverage on the part of Channel Five which is indicating that it is not going to do anything to compromise its position that it is a professional operation, a professional outfit that will be guided by a commitment to the canons of the journalism profession”.

-1 1 0 40 1/6/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/6/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 3 0 720 robots= author= 2727 No Budge from Commercial Banks after PM’s Generous Gesture no-budge-from-commercial-banks-after-pms-generous-gesture

At the Friday, February 19, 2010 session of the House of Representatives, the Prime Minister of Belize introduced a package of bills that included the Treasury Bills (Amendment) Bill. The banks were struggling because of excess liquidity; basically, they had nothing to invest their money in- people were not borrowing much and because of that no profit was being made from their capital. Prime Minister Barrow introduced and passed the bill as a gesture of support for the commercial banks.

The Treasury Bills (Amendment) Bill allows the Government to issue more Treasury Notes and Bills. Government doubled the amount of treasury bills it can issue from $100 million to $200 million, and tripled the amount of treasury notes from $75 million to $225. Therefore, there was an increase of $250 million in securities. The term limit for treasury bills was extended from five years to being redeemable over ten years. This gave the banks an instrument to invest in. Investing in more Treasury Bills and Notes allowed them to earn an interest on their capital.

That generous gesture was extended to the banks even though the private sector and private citizens were crying foul at their crippling lending rates. It was seen by most as a move that would have swayed the banks into lowering their interest rates but that was not the case. According to the Central Bank of Belize’s quarterly report for the period ending March 31, 2010, which is just before the legislation was passed, the Average Lending Rate for commercial banks in Belize was 12.96% and the Average Deposit Rate was 5.86%. The quarterly report for the period ending December 31 has not yet been released but based on the report for the period ending September 30 it is safe to say that not much has changed. The Average Lending Rate for the period ending September 30, 2010 was 12.74% and the Average Deposit Rate was 5.80%.

Though lending rates have decreased over recent years, from 14.56% in September 2007, it is nowhere near the pace needed to stimulate the economy.  Many economists adhere to the belief that when a country is in a recession, especially one caused by the banking system, the right move is to lower interest rates on both savings and loans. When the interest rate for savings is lowered, it prompts individuals and firms to withdraw their funds and invest in the market elsewhere. When interest rates for loans are lowered, it is easier for individuals and firms to access project financing. Therefore, the market is active and the economy picks up.

It seems the commercial banks have no intention to lower their rates at an acceptable level. In his 2010/2011 budget speech Prime Minister Barrow said that the return to growth will depend on the availability of “affordable financing” to the private sector. He said, “The commercial banks must do their part. It is inconceivable to me that interest rates can be as low as they are internationally, and as high as they are locally.” He also said that if the banks are not swayed by his effort to ease their difficulties then he is willing to lower rates by way of legislation.

-1 1 0 40 1/6/2011 06:00:00 64 Shane D. William 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/6/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 2 0 747 robots= author= 2728 Year in Review Outline- July to December year-in-review-outline-july-to-december

JULY

PM Visits Belizeans in Miami

Prime Minister Dean Barrow along with a delegation of government ministers including Minister of Foreign Trade, Hon. Wilfred Elrington; Minister of Works, Hon. Anthony Martinez; Minister of Health Hon. Pablo Marin and Minister of the Public Service, Elections and Boundaries and Sports, Hon. John Saldivar visited Belizeans in Miami on Saturday, June 26.

The event was hosted at the Miami Beach resort and though the event was briefly interrupted, the Prime Minister noted that he was able to touch base with Belizeans living in Miami. He says that it was with a sense of having them reconnect to their home country and appealing for them to contribute to the development of Belize and identify ways in which they can assist in the crime problem in Belize.
PM Barrow Opens First Summit of Belize’s Consular Network in Washington D.C.

The First Summit of Belize’s Consular Network in the United States and Canada was held in Washington, D.C. on July 8 and 9. The two day event was hosted by the Embassy of Belize in Washington, D.C.  and was opened by the Honourable Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize, and the Honourable Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.

This is the first time that the Consular Representatives of Belize in the US and Canada have been brought together, and the event was in consonance with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ efforts to improve its overseas representation  through better coordination, training and information sharing.  During the Summit, the Consular Representatives received presentations from the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Belize Tourism Board, BELTRAIDE, and the Department of Immigration. Other invited speakers included high level representatives from the U.S. Department of State, the Organization of American States and the International Organization for Migration.

Water Treatment Plant in Caye Caulker

The inauguration of a water treatment plant in Caye Caulker occurred on Thursday, July 1. Haydon Brown, Belize Water Services Human Resources and Public Relations Manager, said that the project is based “on the foresight of the Government of Belize seeing the need for better water service in Caye Caulker”. According to Brown, it was a two part project. The first phase was the construction of a reverse osmosis water treatment plant. This was followed up by the laying of main lines throughout the village.

Before the implementation of the plant, most residents of Caye Caulker got their water through a village system operated by the council or they used rain water. The BWS system uses the water from the sea and through reverse osmosis transforms it into potable water. The system maintains a constant pressure throughout the day.

This government has been dedicated to expanding water services throughout the country. Brown said that as the only water services provider in Belize, BWS is government’s number one partner in that effort. He said, “Part of government’s millennium goal is to have 99.9% of the country with access to potable water by 2015.” He said that if we are to achieve this we need to continue being aggressive. The Caye Caulker plant costs more than $3 million.

More water and electricity for Banana Belt

The official inauguration of the San Pablo Village Rudimentary Water System and the Electrification Project was held on Friday, 23 July, at the project site in San Pablo Village, Toledo District.

The water project in San Pablo Village, located about nine miles southwest from Bella Vista Village on the Southern Highway, was financed by the Government of Belize and the European Union as part of the Banana Belt Clean Water Project. The Banana Belt Clean Water project aims to provide clean potable water to over 2,035 residents in Trio, Bladen, San Isidro and San Pablo village in the Toledo District. The targeted villages are poor communities which experience critical water shortages especially during the dry season. The situation in these villages has continuously posed health hazards from water borne illnesses. The provision of potable water to these four communities is therefore considered urgent and beneficial to their social and economic development.

The scope of works for the San Pablo Village Rudimentary Water system included the construction of a 20,000 gallon Ferro-concrete elevated tank reinforced for earthquake resistance, a pump house and chlorinator unit, a filtration gallery and the installation of 6,520 feet of transmission and distribution lines.  The cost for the project is estimated at just over 424,000 Belize dollars. Of this amount, the Government of Belize contributed BZ$106,000 and the remaining sum was provided by the European Union.  Over 250 residents of San Pablo Village will benefit from the project, which was implemented by the Social Investment Fund, a statutory body under the Ministry of Economic Development.

In addition to the launch of the Rudimentary Water System, the electrification project for San Pablo Village was also implemented by Belize Electricity Limited as part of the Banana Belt Electrification Project. Under the project, seven communities in the area have been connected to the national electricity grid. The communities are: Santa Cruz, Monkey River, San Isidro, Trio, Bladen, Cowpen and San Pablo being the last village to benefit from the project. The electrification project will not just benefit local residents but banana workers and growers, small businesses and small manufacturers of local products. The total cost of the San Pablo Village electrification project is approximately BZ$900,000 of which the Government of Belize has contributed BZ$225,000. The remaining sum was financed by the European Union.

The project in San Pablo completes the provision of water systems to four communities in the Banana Belt; namely, Trio, Bladen, San Isidro and now San Pablo.  The total cost of the four water systems is about BZ$1.72 million.  Of this amount, the Government provided BZ$437,000.

AUGUST

Inspiring the Future at a Historic UDP Convention

Party Leader, Hon. Dean Barrow: It’s two and a half years into our term and it is clear that the magic is still there.”

After two and a half years, some have questioned the strength and staying power of the UDP government. After a massive motorcade which boasted more than two hundred buses and even more private vehicles, the host of the event, Area Representative for Orange Walk North, Hon. Gaspar Vega, expressed what the historic turnout confirmed: The United Democratic Party is growing.” The convention was a massive event. There were way more than 10,000 people at the convention. But what made the turnout more impressive was the demographic. The majority of the attendees were not the usual convention participants like campaigners, party employees and long time party supporters. The majority of the participants were first time convention attendees who were attracted to the warm embrace of the UDP. These were young Belizeans who had Representatives that they can identify with and single mothers who wanted to honour leaders fighting for them. There were reformed gangsters who are now working under the many government programs and current gang members who appreciate a Party that does not refer to them as devils and terrorists but instead continues to work with them in hope of rehabilitation.

By one o’clock in the afternoon, the musical entertainment was in full effect as delegates from the different constituents made their way to the voting area. The Garifuna drummers, Youth Connection Band, Captain Roby and others performed for all to enjoy. Many showed off their dancing skills, including, the Representative from Port Loyola, Hon. Anthony ‘Boots’ Martinez. The delegates endorsed the Party Leader, Hon. Dean Barrow; First Deputy Party Leader, Hon. Gaspar Vega; Second Deputy Party Leader, Hon. Erwin Contreras and Vice Chairman, Senator Roosevelt Blades. One post was up for election and that was for the chairmanship of the Party. In that election, the Representative from Collet, Hon. Patrick Faber, emerged as the winner over the Representative for Belmopan, Hon. John Saldivar.

In his Keynote Address, the Party Leader thanked the members and supporters of the United Democratic Party for displaying the confidence in him to lead the Party once again. He emphasized that the Party we represent is a united Party that stands on democratic principles. He then congratulated Hon. Patrick Faber and Hon. John Saldivar on their display of democracy. After pumping up the crowd, he encouraged them to keep the faith.

Supreme Court Confirms Constitutionality of BTL Nationalization

On 25 August, 2009, the House of Representatives and the Senate of Belize enacted the Belize Telecommunications (Amendment) Act No. 9 of 2009. This is referred to as the Acquisition Act which allowed the Government to nationalize Belize Telemedia Limited for the sake of public interest. However, soon after the nationalization, representatives from the previous ownership group challenged the constitutionality of the takeover. The claimants requested damages including “punitive damages; interest; other reliefs as the Court deems just and equitable and cost.”

In his conclusion, Justice Oswell Legal said that telecommunication services are a “critical part of the development of Belize”. He continued:

“In the life of B.T.L. and later Belize Telemedia, the company faced major issues, including a quagmire of lawsuits resulting from fights for control and management of the company, which had an unsettling effect on it and which was “detrimental to the public interest; the possibility of the life of the company coming to an end by a winding up petition; the use of a large loan from the claimant bank to the company which was used substantially to buy shares in itself; and the decision of the management of the company to lend to a commercial bank – the Belize Bank – $30,000,000 of the company’s financial resources.  There is therefore no merit in the submission that the Minister acted unreasonably, did not take relevant matters into consideration, acted on no evidence when he made the Acquisition Act and Orders.”

Justice Legal then dismissed the claims brought fort by British Caribbean Bank Limited and Dean Boyce. He also ordered that they pay cost to the defendants for the litigation process. The Attorney General and Minister of Public Utilities were represented by Lois Young and Deanne Barrow.

Belize Bank refused injunction against Central Bank – Belize Bank’s non-performing loan portfolio at 28%

Earlier in the year BCB Holdings Limited and the Belize Bank sought an injunction against the Central Bank. The injunction was sought after the Belize Bank failed to comply with a directive given by the Central Bank to the Belize Bank to reverse a transaction which saw the Belize Bank including ten million U.S. dollars (Venezuelan Grant Money) as part of its assets. The fact remains that the money is in possession of the Government of Belize and is currently being used to construct houses and do home repairs for poor families of this country. Because the Belize Bank was listing the 20 million Belize dollars as an asset when the bank was not in possession of the money, the Central Bank gave a directive in which the money should be written off as an asset.

Since then, the Belize Bank sought an injunction, and after hearings took place on the 16th and 22nd of July before Justice Oswell Legal, the judge ruled that the Belize Bank should not be given an injunction. More importantly, however, is the revelation that was made through an affidavit by the Governor of the Central Bank. In it the Governor points out that “the CBB (Central Bank of Belize) is also keenly aware of BBL’s (Belize Bank Limited) extremely high ratio of non-performing loans to total loans of 28% which is more than five times the prudential benchmark of 5%”; he goes on to explain that “the Belize Bank’s performance is deteriorating and if left unchecked and unresolved could lead to the bank becoming financially unstable. The Belize Bank’s published financial statements at 31 March 2010 show that the Bank’s non-performing loans were at 206.9 million dollars out of a total portfolio of 680.4 million dollars.”

PM Barrow Pushes Political Reform

Prime Minister Dean Barrow introduced what some have called the most meaningful political reform bill in Belize’s modern history at the Friday, August 6, session of the House of Representatives. The bill is entitled the Recall of Elected Representatives Bill 2010. It is an act that allows voting residents of a constituency to demand a recall election for their division. The bill requests that 30% of voting residents sign a petition requesting the recall of their Representative. The petition must be taken to the Governor General who may call for the referendum. For the referendum to be legitimate, 65% of registered voters from the constituency must take part. If that occurs, a simple majority of votes will be upheld as the decision. If the decision is to remove the Area Representative then a bi-election will be called to select a new representative and the recalled representative cannot take part in that election.

CISCo Awarded Contract for Construction of New Kendal Bridge

On Thursday, August 5, two tenders were presented for the construction of the new Kendal Bridge. One was from Kier/Kee Chanona Limited (Joint Venture), a Jamaican based firm, for the total cost of $16,085,627.07. The second was from CISCo Construction Company Limited for the total cost of $11,899, 079.35. Cadet Henderson, Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Works, explained that the disparity in total cost does not play a major roll in the decision. He continued, “We had cases where a million dollar proposal had a $900,000 error.” After the projects were reviewed, CISCo Construction was the winning tender. On Tuesday, September 28, the contract was signed between CISCo Construction and the Government of Belize.

Signing on behalf of the government was Minister of Works, Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez, and Chief Executive Officer Cadet Henderson and on behalf of the Cisco Construction Company was Francis Woods. Minister Martinez said CISCo was awarded the contract because “Their proposal was impressive and they are a proven company in Belize.” The civil works comprises the construction of a new high level bridge which will consist of a 90 meter span steel truss supporting reinforcement concrete deck founded on driven piles. The bridge abutments will include anchored pile retaining walls with precast concrete facing panels to contain the new embankment fill. The work should commence immediately and it is expected to be completed in an 18-month time frame. The bridge, located at mile 13 on the Southern Highway in the Stann Creek District, was designed by Beca International Consultants Limited, a New Zealand based firm. Funding for the project is being provided by the Government of Belize and the Caribbean Development Bank.

Dialysis Machines arrive in Belize

On Friday August 6, the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital received a forty foot container with approximately 1.5 million dollars worth of dialysis equipment and supplies to be distributed between the KHMH and the Loma Luz Hospital in the Cayo district. The shipment contained reverse osmosis machines, mixing tanks, carbon tanks and dialysis recliners, among other equipment.

The equipment was delivered to CEO at the KHMH Dr. Gary Longsworth along with members of the Haemodialysis project task force. Also coming into the country was Richard Parson, a founding member of the Board of Directors and the Director of the Biomedical Unit at the World Organization of Renal Therapies (WORTH). He was in the country for a week to assist with the installation of the dialysis machines and will also provide practical training on the use and maintenance of the machines to four biomedical technicians who will work in the dialysis unit at both hospitals.

Boardwalk for San Pedro

The Ministry of Tourism, the Belize Tourism Board and International Environments Ltd. (IE)., a local architectural firm, signed off on a $482,500 dollar agreement for the designing of a 2000 foot long boardwalk in San Pedro Town.

The boardwalk will be constructed along with a multi-purpose pier to accommodate international and domestic water taxi terminals along with small scale shopping operations in the back lagoon area of San Pedro Town. The project is part of a six million dollar Sustainable Tourism Program which is being funded by the Inter-American Development Bank and which will see similar tourism oriented developments taking place in other parts of the country, including Placencia, Belize City and other destinations. The San Pedro development is expected to become a destination for tourists and locals with the boardwalk being designed to promote an atmosphere of leisure and relaxation; maintaining the identity of San Pedro Town, while revitalizing the surrounding area.

Construction will commence early in 2011.

PM Barrow Meets Belizean Diaspora in L.A.

Over the weekend of Friday, August 13, to Sunday, August 15, the Prime Minister met with Belizeans living in Los Angeles California. He was hosted at a reception by members of the Belizean Community in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Consular Corps as well as elected officials, civic and religious leaders. The PM was also hosted at a banquet where a special posthumous tribute was paid to persons who had contributed to the Belizean communities. Several other individuals also received Certificates of Recognition for the work they have done for communities at home and abroad.

On Sunday, August 15, the Prime Minister presented a State of the Nation address and answered questions from members of the community. It was an unprecedented event as many Belizeans were unable to make it inside because the venue was full to capacity. As a result, the Prime Minister agreed to make his remarks a second time for those who were unable to hear him the first time. It was a celebratory mood for Belizeans as they waited in long lines to meet and greet Belize’s Prime Minister as well as to take pictures with our country’s leader. During the course of his visit, Prime Minister Barrow met with the Los Angeles City Council, the Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy Baca.

Twenty-six Belizeans accepted for Scholarships in Taiwan

Twenty-six Belizean students were awarded scholarships for studies in Taiwan under the Belize-Taiwan Cooperation Program. Twenty students have been awarded scholarships through the ICDF-Taiwan (International Cooperation and Development Fund) Scholarship Program whereby twelve students will pursue a two-year Master’s Degree and eight students will pursue a four-year Bachelor’s Degree.  Six Belizeans will also be allowed to attend any university of their choice in Taiwan to pursue their undergraduate or graduate degrees through the Taiwan Scholarship Program 2010.  As well, they are offered the opportunity to take a Mandarin Language Enrichment Program for one extra year to improve their language abilities.

24 students completed their studies this year and graduated from their respective universities in Taiwan and returned to Belize. There are currently 80 Belizeans students still studying in Taiwan.

BELIZE AWARDS SCHOLARSHIPS TO 25 YOUNG MEXICANS TO STUDY ENGLISH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BELIZE

25 Mexican students will study English at the Regional Language Center of the University of Belize (UB) in Belmopan, through the scholarships granted by the Government of Belize. The program “English as a Second Language” started in September 2010 and will last ten months. Students of different nationalities will also participate in the course.

Out of the 25 scholarships funded by the Belizean government, 20 are part of the Cultural and Educational Cooperation Agreement between Mexico and Belize, and five are granted under an agreement between Mexico’s National School for Technical Professional Studies (CONALEP) and Belize’s Ministry of Education.

15 BELIZEANS OBTAIN SCHOLARSHIPS TO STUDY IN MEXICO

15 Belizeans obtained scholarships to further their studies in Mexico. The scholarships were granted by the Government of Mexico through the National School of Professional Technical Education (CONALEP), as part of the agreement with the Ministry of Education in Belize.

The period of the scholarships is from two to three years depending on the program. The scholarship of the Mexican government consists of the payment of food expenses; registration and school fees. The Belizean students will study programs such as computer science, telecommunications, construction, electromechanical, diesel engines, nursing, food and drinks in various establishments of CONALEP along Mexico, in Quintana Roo, Michoacán, the State of Mexico, Jalisco and Mexico City.

In the last three years, more than 100 Belizean students have benefited and received qualifications in technical careers.

22 Youths Receive BTL Scholarships

On Wednesday, August 18, Belize Telemedia Limited handed out 22 scholarships to students from across the country as part of its 2010 Belize Telemedia Scholarship Program. Telemedia has been issuing out scholarships since 1991. 500 students have received scholarships so far totaling a cost of over $1 million. Linette Canto said that over 300 people applied for the scholarships. The application process opens up in May each year. She says that in addition to fees and books, Telemedia provides assistance for the recipient in various areas including tutoring.

SEPTEMBER

PM Announces BTL is Ready for Sale to Belizeans

During his Independence Day Address, Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced that the process of completing the prospectus for Belize Telemedia has been completed and shares will be offered to the Belizean public shortly. In speaking with the Chairman of the Board of Directors Nestor Vasquez, he confirmed that the final preparations were being made for the offer to be made to the public. Though he did not comment on what number of shares will be issued or for what price they will be sold, he did say that the target date of October 15 will be met for the opening of the sale of BTL.

The news of the ‘re-Belizeanizing’ of BTL is one which received much fan fare.  Belizeans finally had the opportunity to purchase shares in one of the most profitable companies in the country.

PM Honours 25 Patriots

The Prime Minister of Belize, Hon. Dean Barrow, honoured twenty-five distinguished Belizeans at the Tribute to Belizean Patriots ceremony on Thursday, September 16. The PM said that the men and women being honoured represent the true spirit of Belize. Two individuals were honoured with the Order of Belize. Those individuals were Dr. Lennox A. Pike, for his contributions to Belize’s Consular Service, Medicine and the Belizean Community in Detroit, Michigan, and Hon. Curl Osmond Thompson who was honoured posthumously with the Order of Belize for his contributions to Public Service and Industrial Relations.

Four individuals received Order of Distinction honours. Hon. Faith Babb was honoured for her contributions to Public Service. Mr. Nestor A. Vasquez was honoured for his contributions to Telecommunications. Mrs. Floss Cassasola was honoured posthumously for her contributions to Education and Music and Mr. Terence Leo Keating was honoured posthumously for his contributions to Scouting and Uniformed Services.

Nineteen men and women received Meritorious Service Awards. Those individuals are Mr. Edison Staine, for contributions to Music; Mr. Delhart L. Courtney Sr., for contributions to Sports; Mr. Theodore Burrowes, for contributions to Music; Mr. Owen “Sonny” Meighan, for his contributions to Sports; Mr. Bonifacio Moh, for contributions to Industry and the Credit Union Movement; Mrs. Alberta Cano, for contributions to Education and Community Service; Mrs. Barbara Harris for contributions to Community Development; Ms. Myrna Manzanares for contributions to Culture and Arts; Mrs. Sonia Lenares, for contributions to Social Services and Community Development; Mrs. Andrea Gabriel for contributions to Culture; Ms. Olga Myers, for contributions to Public Service and Community Service; Ms. Rose Armstrong, for contributions to Social Services and Community Development and Mrs. Velda M. Aguet, MBE, JP, for contributions to Voluntary and Community Services. Mr. Bartolome Rodriguez Sr., Mr. Evert Coe, Mr. Bedford Richie, Mr. Walter Panting, Mr. Salvador “Jorge” Iglesias and Ms. Melba Nora Bodden were honoured for contributions to Community Service.

Record Profits for BWS

At the Belize Water Services Limited’s 2010 Annual General Meeting it was announced that the company increased its overall profits in the reporting period by 136% from 2.069 million dollars in 2008/09 to 4.878 million dollars in 2009/2010.  This increase in profits was a result of efforts made at reducing cost by 5.2%, from 27.604 million dollars to 26.169 million. Despite an increase of 2.3% in water consumption, the company managed to decrease water production by 4.3%. This is a direct result of the Non-Revenue Water section of that department. The amount of Non-Revenue Water has gone down from 34.5% last year to 29.4% this year. Water Sales Revenue of 30.5 million dollars, up from 29.563 last year, increased by 3.2% driven by an increase in the volume of water sold. The company ended the year with 45,537 active customer connections which went up from 44,610 last year.

The Government of Belize, for a second consecutive year, elected to forgo its dividend as the majority shareholder allowing for the historic payment of 15 cents per share to minority shareholders.

BCWU executive square off

On August 21 there was an election for a new executive of the Belize Communication Workers Union (BCWU) where seven new executives were selected. However, the old executives headed by Mark Gladden sought legal advice on the election of the new executive to the Union. They told the Guardian that the election was held contrary to the BCWU’s constitution. According to them, BTL’s management is recognizing the old executive as the true representatives of the workers of BTL and that the former executive was elected to serve from 2008 to 2011. Elections were not due until sometime between February and March of 2011.

Allegations were thrown from both sides in a nasty public feud.

Restore Belize Establishes 1st Safe Zone

The Restore Belize Program announced on Tuesday August 31 that the first Community Safe Zone has been established in Belize City. The Ministry of Works launched a clean up campaign in the area which is defined by boundaries as follows: Central American Boulevard between Faber’s Road and Neal’s Penn Road and extending into the sea.

Work crews moved into the area to clean drains, cut overgrown lots as well as do painting on St. John’s Vianney School as well as Excelsior High. Additionally, derelict vehicles were removed from the area.  The physical upliftment of the area is to be followed by social interventions through the Ministry of Education and Human Development. The issue of children being out of school is a major contributing factor for a high rate of crime. To alleviate the problem, social assistance was and will continue be given to households to increase school attendance. Added to that, there will be the implementation of afterschool programs with the assistance of high school students as well as other volunteers. Increase security measures were put in place. The full program for the zone is still being rolled out.

Audralee Enriquez wins Queen of the Bay

The 65th Queen of the Bay pageant was held on Saturday, September 4, at Birds Isle. This year ten beautiful young ladies competed to be crowned Queen of the Bay 2010-2011. They were Salome Cardinez, Miss Corozal; Diana Hemmans from Belize City; Shanice Flowers, Miss Belizean Pride; Audralee Enriquez, Miss Freetown; Lisa Gutierrez from Independence; Danielli Rodriguez, Queen of the West; Ashley Glenn from Placencia; Julie Vargas from Punta Gorda; Shana Evelyn from Belmopan; and Shanice Skeen, Miss Belizean Haven. The Queen’s advisors ruled that Audralee Enriquez was most fit for the crown. The first runner up was Ashley Glenn. Salome Cardinez finished as the second runner up; while Julie Vargas and Shanice Skeen finished as the third and fourth runners up, respectively.

Belizean Diaspora and Belize Homeland Reconnected

In September 2009, the Cabinet of Belize approved a special program entitled Engaging the Belizean Diaspora in Belize’s Renaissance and Renewal. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and Belizean Diaspora organizations observed 10-21 September 2010 as a Special 12-day Period of Appreciation and Reflection. This period also represents the peak time in visits of Belizean Diaspora. It afforded Belizeans at home and abroad the chance to engage in face-to-face dialogue aimed at maximizing the impact in Belize and the Diaspora in pursuit of programs that can help Belizean communities everywhere to develop and prosper. During this period, workshops and media events focused attention on (i) the unbroken partnership between the Belizean Diaspora and Belizean homeland (ii) the contributions of Belizean Diaspora to Belizean Sovereignty and National Development and (iii) to encourage reflection on ways that Diaspora homeland reconnection can strengthen our nation to meet the challenges.

OCTOBER

Richard Destroys Homes and Citrus Industry

Hurricane Richard made landfall on the evening of Sunday, October 24, 2010. By 3 o’clock residents of the city were already experiencing strong winds. The first house that Richard claimed in Belize was on Mex Avenue. By 5 o’clock the wind was howling. Zinc fences were banging and garbage was flying. The eye did not make landfall until 6, but by then residents were already worn down by the storm. Power was out and the thick cloud of the storm made it pitch dark outside. Around 7:45 there was a sudden rise in water. In certain parts of the city it rose by at least 18 inches in 15 minutes. The storm lasted about six hours. Belize City was hit hard. Hit worst were the areas of Port Loyola, Collet, Lake Independence and Belama Phase 3 and 4 in the Freetown division.

At 3p.m. on Monday October 25, after receiving preliminary information as to the extent of damage that Hurricane Richard had caused on the country, and after doing a fly over assessment, Prime Minister Dean Barrow; along with Minister of NEMO, Hon. Melvin Hulse; Minister of Works, Hon. Anthony Martinez; NEMO Coordinator Noreen Fairweather and other key officials in the restoration process held a press conference to update the nation on the situation and offer assurance that the recovery effort will be top priority. Based on preliminary reports, 150 to 200 homes were damaged; that number later grew. More than 4,600 people accessed shelters countrywide and many of them did not have a home to return to. The most significant damage caused by Richard was to the citrus industry. The entire harvest, all the oranges were literally on the ground. The damage to the citrus industry was estimated at more than $29.1 million and the overall damage by Richard was in the area of $60 million. The recovery efforts led to significant job creation.

PM Chooses Mexico for First Official Visit

The Prime Minister of Belize led a delegation of government officials to Mexico on Tuesday, October 19. That delegation included Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Hon. Patrick Faber, Minister of Education and Youth, Rt. Hon. Manuel Esquivel, Fomer Prime Minister of Belize, H.E. Alexis Rosado, Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Ms. Audrey Wallace, Chief Executive Officer in the Office of the Prime Minister, Lawrence Sylvester, Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Housing, Eng. Cadet Henderson, Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Works and Ambassador Rosendo Antonio Urbina, Ambassador of Belize to Mexico.

While in Mexico, the Prime Minister and the Belizean delegation took part in several symbolic ceremonies including the laying of a wreath at the Altar of the Nation. He then took part in a welcoming ceremony by the President of Mexico, C. Felipe Calderon Hinojosa. Subsequent discussions included the common problems facing both countries such as the illegal trafficking in narcotics, arms, and humans. He thanked the Government and people of Mexico for their support in contributing to the education and training of Belizeans. PM Barrow said that he looked forward to working with the Government of Mexico for support in social housing and infrastructural projects.

A number of agreements were signed. There was the Agreement between the Ministry of Education and Youth of the Government of Belize and the Secretariat of Public Education of the United Mexican States for Educational and Technical Cooperation to Support Quality and Competitiveness in Technical Education and Training. There were three agreements signed on behalf of Belize by Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. The first is the Memorandum of Understanding on Technical Cooperation between the Belize Intellectual Property Office and the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property of the United Mexican States. The objective of this Memorandum of Understanding is to establish the general basis for the participants to undertake activities related to technical cooperation and the promotion of mechanisms in the fields of industrial property and information technology services.

There was then an agreement for the extension of visa waivers between the two countries. Based on this agreement, the holders of official passports issued by the Government of the United Mexican States may enter into, stay and transit through the territory of Belize without prior visa, up to a period of ninety (90) days. The same is worded for a holder of a Belizean passport travelling into or through Mexico. The fourth bilateral agreement signed during the Prime Minister’s visit to Mexico was the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Belize and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Mexican States Regarding the Cooperation to Support National Communities Abroad. The objective of this Memorandum of Understanding is to establish cooperation mechanisms between Belize and Mexico in an effort to provide support and assistance to communities of Belizean and Mexican nationals living in other countries.

The Prime Minister’s first official visit was extremely fruitful and much of the results have not surfaced as yet. The Prime Minister said to the Government and people of Mexico, “Mexico is big, Belize is small. But we possess the same determination, in equal measure, to always protect, defend and lift our people up.”

BTL Shares for Sale- $5 each

On Friday October 15, after much anticipation from potential investors and the general public, government announced the sale of shares in Belize Telemedia Limited.  The sale of shares in the company will be to the tune of 44.54% of the share capital. According to the prospectus, that is some 22,069,687 shares at a price of five dollars each. Those shares were officially made available on the 15th of October.

Only Belizean investors were being accepted to purchase shares. Those investors could either be Belizean individuals or Belizean companies both at home and abroad. The prospectus stated that the government “reserves the right to accept or reject application to purchase shares in whole or in part.” The Prime Minister, Hon. Dean Barrow assured the public that due diligence will be done for every company that is interested in purchasing shares to protect it from companies masking themselves to purchase shares for individuals who do not fit the criteria.

Among measures that will be taken to ensure optimum returns on investment, government will be reducing the Business Tax currently placed on BTL from 24% to 19%. Added to that, the normal 15% tax that dividends attract will be removed. On the issue of pending litigation with the former owner of Telemedia, during his address the Prime Minister explained that whatever litigation that is pending will be dealt with by the Government of Belize. The company and its shareholders will bear no responsibility in any litigation proceedings. The government also reserved ten percent of the shares for BTL employees. The shares will be sold to them at a discounted rate and added to that they will be in a position to place one director on the company’s board.

Under the company’s newly constituted Articles of Association the government will hold a ‘Special Share’ which will entitle it to name two directors to the board of BTL. The share is iron clad and will in no manner be able to be transferred to anyone else. All those measures being put in place will ensure that BTL remains in the hands of the Belizean public and that profits derived from the company will remain within the country and for the benefit of Belizeans.

GOB condemns Godfrey Smith

The Government of Belize registers its strongest condemnation against the actions of a Belizean attorney and former parliamentarian deliberately intended to smear our country’s reputation abroad and discourage foreign investment in Belize.

Former PUP Minister and practicing attorney-at-law Godfrey Smith, in a letter dated September 17, 2010, wrote to Richard Fraser of the Digicell Group headquartered in Jamaica, warning him and his company against contemplating any investment in Belize Telemedia.
According to Smith, “Belize, over the past decade has become highly politicized and successive governments have displayed an alarming disregard for sanctity of contracts involving foreign investors.” He cites various examples of this, including agreements entered into and later reneged on or unilaterally cancelled by the last PUP Administration in which he himself served as a Minister of Government and Attorney General. Among the examples he cites are Cascal and Belize Water Services Limited, Fortis and Belize Electricity Limited, and Newco and the Belize International Airport.

Smith then went on to accuse the current administration of refusing to honour consequent international arbitral awards to foreign investors including Newco and the former owners of Belize Telemedia and associated interests, such as BCB Holdings and the Belize Bank. He then points to recent amendments to the Supreme Court of Judicature Act and the appointment of the current Acting Chief Justice as further confirmation of the Belize Government’s attempt to “frustrate existing arbitration proceedings against it”.
Smith concludes his letter as follows: “If indeed you are contemplating doing due diligence on acquiring an interest in BTL, we would be happy to share substantial and detailed information with you on Belize’s very disturbing attitude and track record as it relates to foreign investment and international business contracts.”

For a former parliamentarian and practicing attorney, born, bred and fed in Belize to so deliberately and calculatingly undertake to undermine the economic interest of his country and people, is outrageously unpatriotic, if not treasonous. The Government of Belize strongly condemned such actions and called on Mr. Smith to publicly apologize to the people of Belize and to desist from any further actions of the sort, which are clearly motivated and sponsored by some interest other than the national interest.

Smith has not yet apologized.

PM Reveals PUP Intrusion of Civilians Privacy

The Interception of Communications Bill provides for the legal interception of communications that could possibly lead to the commission of crime. By giving the Police Department the resource and authority to intercept these messages through legislation, many crimes can be prevented. However, the Opposition rose in the House and opposed the bill. The Leader of the Opposition spoke about the bill being loose; opened to abuse and an invasion of privacy. PM Barrow reiterated that there are provisions included in the bill that make its intrusion on privacy limited if not nonexistent. In order to intercept communications, the Police Department must apply for an order from a Supreme Court Justice. They must prove that their subject is a criminal threat to society. The strict procedures in acquiring an order to conduct communication interception ensure that only individuals involved in crimes will be monitored. Once the order is approved the Justice will set a time limit on the order and there must be periodical updates to determine if the order is worthy of an extension.

The Prime Minister explained to the Leader of the Opposition that, just as the criminal bills he opposed were not new, interception of communications in Belize is not new. He then made a shocking revelation that the People’s United Party has been intercepting communications of individuals dating back to October 5, 1981, shortly after Independence. The earliest record of interception, October 5, 1981, was done through a warrant signed by Minister CLB Rogers of the People’s United Party. PM Barrow revealed that there were several intercept orders signed by various Ministers of Internal Affairs or National Security. Those included several signed by Curl Thompson in the mid 80’s and George Price in the early 90’s. This practice stopped in 1993 when the Honourable Dean Barrow became the Minister of National Security. The revelation of the most recent cases of unlawful intercepts was jaw dropping. PM Barrow shared that an official police report provided information about intercepts that were conducted during the last administration headed by Said Musa. Wires were extended from the St. Thomas Street tower to the “basement” of the Raccoon Street Police Station. The facility at the police station was used to tap land lines of members of the public. Since only a certain number of lines could be tapped at any one time, technicians were routinely sent back to the “basement” to change the subject of the intercept. Musa rose and demanded that PM Barrow withdraw the statement. However, he was silenced and humbled as the PM threatened to show the proof and share the subjects of the intercept. “Who were the subjects of those intercepts?”

The Interception of Communications Bill does not only provide for the legal interception of communications that could lead to the commission of crime. It also criminalizes the unlawful interception of communication.
Crime Bills Passed Despite PUP Opposition

At the Friday, September 24, sitting of the House of Representatives the PUP opposed every bill designed to better handle the crime plague that has attacked our nation. Five pieces of legislation were introduced by the Prime Minister on Friday, August 6. Those are the Families and Children (Amendment) Bill, 2010; the Criminal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2010; the Crime Control and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill, 2010; the Firearms (Amendment) Bill, 2010 and the Interception of Communications Bill, 2010.

Three of those pieces of legislations will act as deterrents to criminal gangs because they allow harsher penalties for violent offenders. The Criminal Code (Amendment) Bill calls for an increase in penalties for crimes such as attempted murder, rape, carnal knowledge and other offences of a violent or sexual nature. The Firearms (Amendment) Bill calls for an increase of penalties for firearms offences. The Crime Control and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill is aimed directly at gangs. It calls for the strengthening of punishments against crimes related to criminal gangs. Normally, legislations like these pass without much opposition. However, just as they showed when they abandoned the Restore Belize Program, the Opposition is clearly not on the side of the Belizean people. The bills were passed without their support.

Ministry Equals Playing Field with Secondary School Finance Reform

The Ministry of Education held a press conference to explain the purpose of the Secondary School Finance Reform. Hon. Patrick Faber had always spoken about the disparity between funds allocated to high schools like Saint John’s College and Saint Catherine Academy and funds allocated to schools like Anglican Cathedral College and Nazarene High School. The schools mentioned earlier are those with more resources. However, based on the system, they continue to receive the most funds from government.

The financing reform seeks to level the playing field. As it is now, the funds allocated to the schools are based on the diversity of the curriculum and the number of teachers hired. The reason certain schools receive substantial amounts of money is because of the caliber of teachers they recruit. Teachers are attracted by the track record of a school. Since a school like Saint John’s College is labeled as being one of the best schools, the most qualified teachers apply for vacancies at such institutions. That causes a professional neglect of the schools that do not have the “prestigious” image. The teachers that apply for the vacancies at the other schools are usually less decorated. Since the Ministry pays salaries, the bulk of the budget goes to the school that already has more resources because they have the more decorated teachers. Therefore, the current system causes the schools with the least resources to attract the least decorated teachers and receive the least funding from government. This is the neglect that has our education system at the point where three out of every five high school age children are not in high school; only two out of every five Belizeans complete high school and repetition and dropout rates are high.

Based on the Ministry’s reform, the funds will be proportionate to the number of students at the institution. Based on this formula, an overview at how the funds are allocated today would show that certain schools receive more than two times per student as others. The reform measures will not seek to cut the funding of those institutions receiving more; instead, it will offer those receiving less the opportunity to get on par with the others. They will have more incentives to increase enrollment, decrease dropout rate and improve performance. The new method will also include performance incentives in which schools may receive additional funds for certain achievements. Schools may also receive grants for enrollment of students with special socio-economic needs. The new program commenced in November but the Ministry states that it will take up to five years for the program to be fleshed out completely.

Samuel Lungole Awich sworn in as Acting Chief Justice

On Thursday September 30, a special sitting of the Supreme Court was held during which Dr. Abdulai Conteh retired as Chief Justice of Belize after service for ten years and eight months. He had been appointed in 2000 and served uninterrupted in the position since then. Justice Conteh reached the retirement age of 65 in August.

On Monday October 4, Justice Samuel Lungole Awich was sworn in as acting Chief Justice. He will serve in that capacity until January 1, 2011 when the new CJ will be installed.

Immigration Officers Charged with Forgery and Aiding

After a week into the investigation of alleged human smuggling through the Phillip S.W. Goldson International Airport, warrants were issued for the arrest of six Immigration Officers on Tuesday, October 12. Those officers were Martin Guy, Mark Tench, Jason Daly, Angelica Lima, Lindsay Wade and Candra Coleman Wade. These six officers were assigned to the airport when the three flights landed on September 18 and 19 and on October 3.

The six officers were charged with numerous counts of Forgery of an official document and Purposely aiding and facilitating the commission of an offense under the immigration act. Those charges were for facilitating the illegal entry of 33 Chinese Nationals.

NOVEMBER

GOB saves Sugar Industry

A special house meeting was convened on Thursday, November 25, in order for government to pass a ten million dollar loan to the Belize Sugar Industry (BSI) factory after the company found itself in a financial dilemma; being unable to meet the third payment to cane farmers and having the next crop year in jeopardy.

The announcement was made on Tuesday, November 23 after over a week of negotiations. The Prime Minister Hon. Dean Barrow, flanked by Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Gaspar Vega; Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Rene Montero and representatives of BSI and the Cane Farmers Association held a press conference in Belmopan just minutes after a memorandum of understanding was arrived at between the BSCFA, BSI, the Sugar Industry Control Board and the Government of Belize.

In making the announcement, the Prime Minister pointed out that “the sugar industry has to be preserved and the government recognizes that.” The collapse of the industry was almost a reality after the BSI was unable to meet the cane farmer’s third payment and the crop which was scheduled to start on December 6 had to be pushed back to December 13.

The Memorandum of Understanding is an unprecedented one for the Sugar Industry as it commits government to lend BSI ten million dollars and also binds the major stakeholders to serious pledges. Crucial among those is the commitment by all to improve on the quality of cane delivered to BSI.

The BSCFA’s Chairman Alfredo Ortega committed that there will be strict control in the burning of cane as well as the cutting system and the loading of cane. This is all in an effort to reduce the amount of mud that is delivered along with the cane to the factory. The effort to improve on quality of sugar delivery will be equally matched by government’s efforts to ensure that the money is well spent. In doing so, government appointed Sir Manuel Esquivel to the BSI board as one of two government representatives who will have veto powers over BSI’s spending.

BSI was also in need of an additional ten million dollars which the company received through a pre-payment arrangement with BSI’s European counterpart, Tate and Lyle. Government also continued supporting the cane farmers with an additional million dollars.
It took the foresight and compassion of a UDP government to ensure that an industry in which 30 thousand Belizeans are dependent on does not fail.

Social Security Board Invests in BTL

On Tuesday, November 2, the Social Security Board’s Investment committee voted five to four for 50 million dollars from the Social Security Board to be invested for the purchase of shares in Belize Telemedia. The ownership of the shares will entitle SSB to two seats on the telecommunication company’s Board of Directors. It will also secure, conservatively speaking, a 15% return on the investment.

The investment is a significant one for the SSB since the fund has been under pressure recently to get better returns on investments. In speaking with Prime Minister Dean Barrow on Wednesday November 3, he explained that the money held at the Central Bank will be used to purchase the first amount of shares in BTL. The difference that will make up the 50 million dollars will come from SSB’s commercial bank accounts.

BTL and Smart in Court

Shortly after the Government of Belize nationalized Telemedia, four agreements between the companies were brought to the fore. Those included: The Master Agreement between Speednet and Belize Telecommunications Limited, an Interconnection Agreement with Speednet, the Lease of the MCS Room with Speednet, and a tower lease agreement with Speednet. All the agreements were dated February 6, 2004. Upon reviewing these agreements, it came to light that most if not all gave an unfair advantage to Speednet’s Smart over BTL. As a result, BTL took measures to rectify most of the areas where Smart was seen as taking advantage of BTL.

Among the many rectifications was the BTL’s discontinuing Smart’s access to an E-1 service which Smart was using in an unlimited fashion and which was not available to anyone else since BTL simply did not offer that service. That led to Smart losing international access but not before BTL gave them an option to use the international switch, but Smart refused it. They then took actions which breached a number of the agreements and at times entering BTL’s properties without authorization.

The wrangling then ensued with the PUC being involved, and after Smart broke away from negotiations, that company took BTL to court hoping to have a ruling that would see the unfair practices continued. The case started in the first week of November with Chief Executive Officer in BTL, Karen Bevans and BTL’s Board Chairman, Net Vasquez, testifying. It continued through December.

IDB President Visits Belize with Working Delegation

Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the Inter-American development Bank, was in Belize on Thursday, November 4, and Friday, November 5. The IDB’s role is to assist Latin America and the Caribbean countries to reduce poverty and inequality, and promote development in a sustainable, climate-friendly way.

While in Belize, as a result of Prime Minister Barrow’s invitation, President Moreno met with government officials and representatives of the private sector. The actual invitation was extended months ago by Prime Minister Barrow. Though the original purpose of the visit was to look at the challenges and opportunities available in the private sector of Belize, the attention turned towards how the IDB would contribute to Belize’s post Richard recovery efforts.

At a joint press conference with president Moreno on Thursday at the Belize Biltmore Plaza, Prime Minister Barrow announced that the President himself would “oversee the fast tracking of an initial funding component that will help us with putting in place some mitigation efforts in the areas that have been particularly hard hit.” The initial hurricane relief loan from the IDB is set at US$5 million. Prime Minister Barrow said that the focus will be on, though not exclusive to, developing the vulnerable Port Loyola area in terms of proper drainage, street rehabilitation and the possibility of constructing a sea wall to provide primary protection for residents of the area. President Moreno said that the goal should be to build back better. The President promised to send a team from the IDB to Belize to further assess the situation and diagnose and establish the scope of IDB’s involvement in the recovery effort.

PM Pushes More Political Reform

At the Friday, November 12, House meeting there were five bills introduced: the Income and Business Tax (Amendment) (No.2) Bill, the Finance and Audit (Reform) (Amendment) Bill, Blair Athol Power Project Bill, Evidence (Amendment) Bill and the Married Persons (Protection) (Amendment) Bill. The most significant of those were the Income and Business Tax Bill and the Finance and Audit Reform Bill.

In the 2010/2011 budget, Prime Minister Barrow introduced legislation that changed the earnings threshold on income from $19,600 to $26,000. In keeping his word that “We might look at increasing the threshold once again in the near future” the Prime Minister amended the legislation covering income tax and eased the deductions for those earning up to $29,000. The act also reduced the Business Tax on telco providers from 24% to 19% and removed the 15% tax on dividends.

The Finance and Audit Reform Bill is a continuation of the Prime Minister’s reform agenda. The bill on finance and audit reform enhances transparency in the tendering process for the Government’s procurement and sale contracts; to enlarge the regulation-making power of the Minister in interest of expediency; to restore Financial Orders and Stores Orders to their original status of subsidiary legislation and to provide for relating matters. This bill demands transparency and accountability at all levels of government. All tendering processes must now be transparent at every stage. This bill allows individuals and businesses presenting tenders to be aware of the selection process. They will know what the tenders are and why a particular tender was selected. Thus ensuring that there will be no back door deals as was the case in the previous administration. In a time of regional integration and globalization, having such legislation is extremely important. Tenders are submitted from all over the world for projects and services in Belize and transparency is a necessity.

Three million dollars to DFC for youth, women and single parents

On Wednesday November 24, the Government of Belize announced that it will be disbursing three million Belize dollars to the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the Youth Business Trust of Belize. The monies are part of government’s commitment to ensure that small and micro enterprises are developed at a much faster pace.

Of the three million dollars, 2.5 will be disbursed to the DFC while the additional half million dollars will be disbursed to the Youth Business Trust. Both organizations will serve as lending agencies that will target young persons, women, single parents and existing micro entrepreneurs who would like to consolidate or expand their operations. Government’s initiative will be accompanied with measures which will ensure that the terms and conditions of the loans will not be as stringent as borrowing at the commercial banks. There will be greater flexibility during the application process as well as collateral that will be required to make loans at both institutions. While the DFC loans program will be made available countrywide, the YBTB loans will only be available in Belize City.

The Youth Business Trust Belize is a program offering young individuals between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five assistance in starting their own businesses by offering loan financing, training and mentoring to help entrepreneurs become successful.  The Development Finance Corporation is Belize’s leading development finance institution and offers a wide range of project financing.

Over 1,500 students benefit from New San Ignacio Resource Centre

A modern and well equipped resource centre that will serve residents of San Ignacio and Santa Elena in the Cayo District, including students from primary, secondary and tertiary level institutions, was officially inaugurated on Wednesday, November 3, in San Ignacio. The project was a joint venture of the Social Investment Fund (S.I.F.), the San Ignacio Town Council, the National Belize Library Service & Information System and the Rotary Club of San Ignacio. It was implemented by S.I.F. and funded by the Government of Belize through a Loan from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

The total cost of the project is estimated at approximately $377,474.00. Of this amount, the Government of Belize contributed $213,374.00. The community of San Ignacio/Santa Elena contributed the old market building and land valued at over $110,000.00 towards the project while the Rotary Club of San Ignacio provided $54,100.00 in the form of office furniture and equipment. The upgraded centre houses the current San Ignacio library.  Over 1,500 persons are expected to benefit from the new San Ignacio Resource Centre. The new facility has an area for users to leave their bags, a library with a children section, an adult section covering fiction and non-fiction books, periodicals, reference books and materials; an audiovisual and multimedia area, an internet café, and an auditorium and display section. It will also have an administrative office, a utility room and two bathrooms.

New water systems benefit over 2,500 residents in northern villages

Two new rudimentary water systems – valued at just under $1.0 million dollars – that will benefit over 2,500 residents in three northern villages in the Orange Walk District were inaugurated on Saturday, November 6, 2010. The first system inaugurated was the Douglas/Nuevo San Juan rudimentary water system at the project site in Nuevo San Juan Village. This system will provide quality and reliable potable water to Nuevo San Juan and Douglas Villages and will replace the deteriorated galvanized water tank in Douglas Village and a small concrete tank in Nuevo San Juan.

The San Felipe Rudimentary water system is at the old tank site in San Felipe Village. This project will provide safe and clean potable water to over 1,618 persons in 310 households in San Felipe Village. The new rudimentary water system in San Felipe will replace the old one built in 1974, which is deteriorated and too small to supply the entire village with quality potable water. Both rudimentary water projects were implemented by the Social Investment Fund at a total cost of $947,000.00.  Of this amount, the Government of Belize provided $189,000.00 and the remaining $758,000.00 was a grant from the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF5), a program promoting poverty reduction through socio-economic initiatives and community empowerment.

Mexican Government to Rehabilitate or Rebuild City Centre

Based on Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s official visit to Mexico, a commitment was made by President Felipe Calderon to send a technical team to Belize to look at the Belize City Centre to determine how the Mexican Government can assist in reconstruction or rehabilitation of the structure. The City Center was recently determined by our local engineers to be unfit as a venue for public events it once accommodated.

In fulfillment of President Calderon’s commitment, a team of Mexican engineers and rehabilitation specialists, commissioned by the President himself, was in Belize to do a preliminary assessment on the City Centre. Their assessment will be followed up with a more detailed study which will determine whether the best option is full reconstruction or rehabilitation of the Centre.

Belizeans Learn of the “Fonseca Organization”

The most recent scandal including leaders of the PUP derived from a drug trafficking case against Robert Hertular in the United States. In mid 2001, Robert Hertular was charged for trafficking 1,161 kilograms of cocaine in Belize. According to case files, he admitted that the drugs belonged to him and that it was destined for the United States. Knowing that he would eventually be the subject of a United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation, Hertular initiated cellular contact with DEA Special Agent Vincent Williams who was assigned to investigate drug trafficking from Belize to the United States. The agent met Hertular on September 18, 2001 at which time he expressed an interest in cooperating with US authorities as an informant. He described his drug trafficking operation; identified various Belizean government officials as partners and admitted to transporting large quantities of cocaine by plane and speedboat from Colombia to Belize. According to the DEA case files, “Hertular admitted that, since 1987, he had been a member of the ‘Fonseca organization,’ a group involved in drug trafficking and money laundering in the United States and Europe. ? Hertular implicated a former Belizean prime minister and police commissioner in the organization and identified the Belize Alliance Bank as the entity used for money laundering.”

DECEMBER

$62 Million for Rural Development and Sugar Sector Improvement

On Monday, December 20, Prime Minister Dean Barrow and the European Union’s Head of Delegation to Belize, Marco Mazzocchi-Alemanni, signed three financial agreements totaling 24.9 million Euros or 62.3 million dollars to assist with projects geared towards rural development, poverty reduction and sugar sector improvement. Of the three agreements, two are based on the 10th European Development Fund and the other is based on the Accompanying Measures for Sugar Protocol Countries for Belize.

The European Development Fund (EDF) is the main instrument for providing Community aid for development cooperation in the African, Caribbean and Pacific states. The first agreement signed between PM Barrow and Mazzocchi-Alemanni covers financing for Phase II of the Belize Rural Development Programme. Phase II is expected to build on the initial project and will see the investment of 29.5 million dollars from 2010 to 2015. The European Union will contribute $25 million; the Government of Belize will contribute 10% of that amount ($2.5 million) and the beneficiaries will contribute $1.8 million. The overall objective is to promote rural economic growth and reduce poverty in Belize’s rural communities.

The second agreement is for Institutional Support for the sugar industry, other government agencies and trade related assistance for the sum of 4.5 million dollars. That agreement stems from the third agreement signed which was the Accompanying Measures for Sugar agreement 2009 (AMS) which allocates 32.8 million dollars to Belize. The AMS was drafted as a result of the reform of the EU Sugar Regime and the consequent reduction in sugar prices. That reform will force transformations aimed at fostering the competitiveness of the Belize Sugar Industry and where this is not possible seek economic diversification opportunities. According to the EU, the aim of the project is to improve the physical access, communication and transportation efficiency through the rehabilitation of the Sugar Belt road network and to support an enabling environment for rural recovery and economic diversification in sugar dependent areas of Belize. Under this agreement, in January projects will commence that undertakes the paving of 8.3 miles of sugar roads from Orange Walk Town to San Lazaro. That is worth $8.6 million. Other paved roads will include three miles from Patchakan to Xaibe; 1.7 miles from Calcutta to Xaibe, and 0.8 miles from San Roque to Xaibe, totalling 4.1 million dollars.

30 Million Dollars more for Southside

With a signed contract in hand, Minister of Works Hon. Anthony ‘Boots’ Martinez proudly announced to a gathering of Ministry of Works employees that his ministry has been able to secure 22 million dollars from the OPEC fund during a press conference held on Wednesday December 15 at the Princess Hotel. Amidst thunderous applauses the minister went on to explain that he had visited Vienna Austria where on Friday of last week he and representatives of the OPEC fund signed the loan agreement.

The 11 U.S. Million dollar loan forms part of the second phase of the Southside Poverty Alleviation Project. Hon. Martinez explained that the second phase of the project will now see some major infrastructural work being done in Belize City’s Southside.

Among the work that will be implemented with the new financing will be the hot-mix paving of Central American Boulevard from Save-U to Caesar Ridge Road. Included in the project will be the paving of Jane Usher Boulevard as the last remaining residents who are still squatting on what is supposed to be the boulevard will be relocated within the next couple of weeks. That street upgrade will see the paving of the street as well as the placing of drains. Other areas to be addressed include Neal’s Penn Road which will be completely paved. Faber’s Road will also be resurfaced from the Western Highway to Queen Charlotte Street. West Canal will also be upgraded with the canal being lined with retaining walls from Yarborough Bridge to Conch Shell Bay.

Also a part of the second phase of the Southside Project will be the continuing of repairs being done to homes as well as the construction of new homes. Additionally, there will be components in the program to address programs for education and entrepreneurial development.

The Belize City Rejuvenation Project which started in 2009 was to have come to an end in April 2010, but with the assistance of Prime Minister Dean Barrow that project was extended into August and further into December of this year. Now that project has come to an end close to 300 persons would have been left jobless but Hon. Martinez pointed out that under the Southside Project all the employees will continue to have a job.

With the $22 million in place government will have to now provide an additional eight million dollars in counterpart funding for the project.

$10 million to improve waste water management in the Placencia Peninsula

Belize will build a new wastewater collection and treatment system in the Placencia Peninsula, its second most important tourist destination, with a $5 million loan approved by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

In addition, $5 million will be provided to Belize from Global Environment Facility (GEF) resources under the “Testing a Prototype Caribbean Regional Fund for Wastewater” (CReW) project. Currently there is no wastewater collection and treatment system serving the Placencia Peninsula. Residential and business facilities must provide for their own wastewater treatment solutions, a practice that is becoming unsustainable with the growth in tourism.

The IDB and GEF funds will be used to design and build an environmentally sound, sustainable and cost-effective wastewater management system that will reduce the risk of environmental degradation while contributing to the improvement of health conditions for residents and visitors alike. The system will include the construction of a sewerage collection network, a treatment plant and disposal system that will also incorporate existing individual wastewater treatment facilities.

The project will also finance public awareness campaigns to promote public understanding of wastewater management, as well as the establishment of benchmarks for replicating additional wastewater investment projects in Belize. The financing provided by the IDB will be drawn from the Bank’s Ordinary Capital and will be lent on a 25-year term, with a 5-year grace period and an interest rate based on LIBOR.

GOB Solves Free Zone Crisis

At the sitting of the House of Representatives on Friday, December 17, the Prime Minister announced that the crisis at the Corozal Free Zone had been solved. The root of the crisis started when the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) terminated its relations with the commercial banks inside the zone. HSBC, which calls itself “The World’s Local Bank”, had decided to discontinue the transfer of US currency globally because of problems they have been facing internally. The Central Bank was able to extend the transfer services but finding a new foreign banking partner was top priority.

In brief, most of the transactions in the zone are executed with the use of US dollars. The businesses deposit those cash earnings into their bank account. They then do their other operations such as paying bills, foreign purchases, payrolls, etc. through wire transactions. Since the currency transfer service was terminated, it was no longer in the local banks’ best interest to accept US currency from the zone. Therefore, the businesses would not be able to make deposits in order to continue their operations. Had this crisis last for any extended period of time the operations in the zone would cease to continue; many would lose their jobs and the Belizean economy would have taken a crippling blow.

Fortunately, the Central Bank of Belize was able to acquire the services of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in order to transfer the US currency out of Belize. Prime Minister Barrow said that there are at least two other banks that the Central Bank has engaged to provide the transfer service because, as he puts it, “it is never good to have all your eggs in one basket”. Those institutions are the Bank of America and Commerce Bank. Nevertheless, the potential catastrophe at the zone is another crisis this government has solved.

Middlesex Bridge Officially Opens

The Middlesex Bridge on Mile 21 of the Hummingbird Highway was inaugurated on Tuesday, December 21. The reconstruction of the Middlesex Bridge cost a total of $2,832,800 and was financed by the European Union and the Government of Belize through a grant from the 9th European Development Fund’s (EDF) Belize Rural Development Program (BRDP). The Hummingbird Highway is of major importance for the agricultural, industrial, tourism and social development of Belize.

The inauguration of the Bridge was presided over by Ambassador Marco Mazzocchi Alemanni- Head of the Delegation of the European Union and Hon. Anthony Martinez, Minister of Works. Minister Martinez said that Middlesex is the gateway to the south. He said that it used to be one of the worst bridges in the country and posed serious risks because of its deteriorated condition and for being a single lane primary bridge. According to the Minister, the bridge would have collapsed eventually.

The reconstruction consists of a reinforced concrete structure with a total width of 9.63 meters and a carriageway of 7.3 meters provided with new metal vehicle parapets. Other ancillary works include the rehabilitation of both approaches to the bridge and the installation of erosion control measures, road and bridge safety furniture such as handrails, guardrails, road markings and warning signs.

The Ministry of Works was responsible for the design and oversight of the project and the construction was executed by CISCO constructions.

Public Servants Promoted at Appreciation Ceremony

When he sat out on his nationwide consultation tour of public service departments, Hon. John Saldivar, Minister of Public Service, Governance Improvement, Elections and Boundaries and Sports, listened to the concerns of public officers in an attempt to address issues that had been sidelined for a long time. He quickly realized that the morale of public servants was at an all time low and measures to improve that must be drafted immediately.

One of the main concerns centered on the lack of a defined criterion for appointment and advancement throughout the departments. The Ministry embarked on an exercise to review the criterion for appointment and advancement within the Public Service. The exercise started in May of 2009 with the Finance, Administration, Foreign Services and Secretariat grades, and then moved to the technical grades.
Over 120 officers from the Income Tax, General Sales Tax and Customs and Excise Departments were promoted based on the established criteria. An appreciation ceremony was held for those officers at the Belize Biltmore Plaza on Tuesday, November 30. Minister Saldivar said that the officers were promoted based on their years of experience, performance in examinations, training and performance appraisals.

Similar revision exercises are currently being conducted for other technical departments, including the Post Office, Public Health Department and Fire Service. 470 police officers recently sat the police examinations. Saldivar said that the exam “has been long overdue.” He said that the Ministry is currently looking at ways to improve the process as well. One possibility is appointing an independent team to administer the exam or verify the grades. That is to “ensure that there is no hanky panky going on with who gets promoted or not”.

Perdomo remains UDP Representative in Caribbean Shores

The United Democratic Party began the process of selecting standard bearers to represent the Party in the next General Elections. That process began on Sunday December 5 as the Caribbean Shores Constituency held its convention.

The polls opened at ten in the morning and closed at 5 p.m.  City Councilor Roger Espejo challenged incumbent Area Representative Hon. Carlos Perdomo for the seat. It was a well contested convention with both candidates placing their best efforts forward. Even before the opening of the polls, the contestants brought out the voters to begin the process of voting promptly at 10. Both candidates did their best as they met the Party-faithful in the division, greeted them and gave the last words of encouragement before the votes were cast.
In the end it was the incumbent Hon. Carlos Perdomo who would retain his constituency. He secured 695 votes while Espejo garnered 385.

Landy Burns wins Orange Walk East

With the energy and enthusiasm of a general election, voters of the Orange Walk East constituency made their way to the Louisiana Government school to show their support for one of three candidates who on Sunday ,December 12, placed their names on a ballot in the hopes of becoming the UDP Standard Bearer in that constituency.

The polls opened promptly at nine and even before then, long lines of eager voters had queued up at the school’s gate just waiting for them to be opened. In the end, a record, 2820 voters had cast their ballots and Orlando “Landy” Burns secured 1377 of those votes. Denni Grijalva secured 787 votes while incumbent Hon. Marcel Cardona received 621 votes.
Belize Hands Over SICA Chairmanship to Guatemala

Heads of States and top government officials from across Central America flew to Belize then to the beautiful island of San Pedro for the 36th annual Summit for SICA Heads of States. The summit commenced with a brief official opening ceremony then it was off to consequential meetings. The officials addressed issues dealing with Climate Change, regional security, juvenile delinquency, and the newly established Regional Coordinating Commission on Security and other issues affecting the region. Though those are all pressing issues, the most immediate concern was the territorial dispute between two of the member countries- not Belize and Guatemala. The conflicting countries are Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Both Heads of State were noticeably absent from the summit.

According to PM Barrow, the Belize/Guatemala relation was hailed by the Guatemalan Foreign Minister as a modeled example for how “states with differences ought to proceed”. The Nicaragua/Costa Rica conflict was addressed at the Summit and a joint communiqué was release in which the  Governments of Guatemala and Mexico offered to the Government of Costa Rica and Nicaragua to act as facilitators “in an informal mechanism of dialogue and political coordination with the objective of promoting the lowering of tensions between the two parties, and to generate an environment conducive to dialogue which would contribute to a satisfactory solution to their present differendum”. The Governments of Costa Rica and Nicaragua accepted the offer.

The closing press conference was cordial and stately. Prime Minister Barrow officially passed over Chairmanship of SICA to the President of Guatemala, Alvaro Colom, who congratulated him on a fine tenure. Prime Minister Barrow and President Colom exchanged pleasantries and the need to stress regional integration. One plan is to work closer with CARICOM to address issues of regional importance.

Oceana Celebrates GOB’s Ban on Trawling

On Wednesday, December 8, Minister Montero signed an SI in front of an audience compiled mainly of Oceana executives. The SI bans all forms of trawling in Belize’s waters including its EEZ effective January 1, 2011. Montero thanked the Prime Minister, Hon. Dean Oliver Barrow, for “not only supporting the SI but for his commitment to protecting the resources of our country.”

The NFC owned the two operating trawls in Belize’s waters and the operation is key to their shrimp catching. Oceana’s Vice-President for Belize, Audrey Matura-Shepherd, collaborated with the Government of Belize to try and resolve the concerns of the Cooperative. Shepherd met with executives of the cooperative and dialogued with the fishermen themselves to make them aware of the destructive nature of trawling and the impact it will have on the future of the fishing industry if it is not stopped. Trawling destroys the reef which is home and feeding ground for marine life. If their habitat is destroyed the number of species will decrease and maybe even disappear. One major concern of the NFC is the fact that they have invested significantly in trawling and they are still paying loans for the equipment.

Audrey Matura-Shepherd negotiated the buyout of the two shrimp-trawlers. In effect, this gave the cooperative a soft bed to land on.
The end of trawling should benefit small fishermen significantly. In simple words, there will be many more fish in the sea. The catches and income of small fishermen will increase. Also, since the huge demand for shrimps will not be met by trawlers, it means more job opportunities since there will be need for a wider base of small fishermen. Belize has become the third country in the world to institute a complete and permanent ban on trawling in all its waters. Venezuela and Palau are the other two countries. Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s administration has also passed legislation to protect parrot fish, regulate sport fishing and control the issuing of fishing license.

Audrey Matura-Shepherd called it a historic milestone in the life of the Belizean fishers and the environmental community. Andrew Sharpless, CEO of the Oceana Board, and Superstar actor and Oceana Board member Ted Danson were present at the SI signing. They said that it is an important statement made by the Government of Belize. It shows that the government is serious about protecting its marine resources. They said the act is even more significant because Belize is home to the second largest barrier reef in the world and it will show UNESCO that the government is taking measures to remove threats to the reef system. A video was shown in which Law and Order star Sam Waterson thanked Prime Minister Barrow for his efforts to protect the reef.

Tim Kennedy Shriver Applauds Belize’s Commitment to Children with Disabilities

Dr. Timothy Kennedy Shriver, Chairman and CEO of Special Olympics, was in Belize on vacation with his family. On Wednesday, December 29, he took a break from his vacation to visit the students of Stella Marris School and attend the launching of a calendar based on the art pieces of 12 children with disabilities. At the calendar launching Tim thanked Kim Simplis-Barrow, Special Envoy for Women and Children and Global Ambassador for Special Olympics, for the invitation to come to Belize. He commended her for her dedication to the development of all children in Belize; especially those with special needs.  Mrs. Barrow said that for people with disabilities “it is a constant challenge to access even their basic right to education, self determination, safety, earning a living and being a productive citizen.” She said that they just want the opportunity to be accepted “for who they are and not rejected for what they are not”. It is their resilience and resolve that has inspired her to fight on their behalf.

The calendar project is an initiative of Lifeline Foundation, Special Envoy for Women and Children, CARE Belize and Special Olympics Belize. It is entitled “Inspiration”. The organizers approached 12 children with disabilities and asked them to draw something that truly expressed their feelings. Those special 12 children are Doris Staine, Jerome Bennett, Destiny Ariola, Kenroy Rosado, Ruby Garcia, Joshua Nisbet, Reynaldo Pop, Akeem Jones, Angel Santoya, Janielli Davis, Aiden Rosado and Trimaine Vernon. They each received a copy of the calendar autographed by Tim Kennedy Shriver and Kim Simplis-Barrow. Tim said that the most special thing about the calendar is that it “reminds us that inspiration is not once a month, week or day. It is everyday and every minute.” Kim said that she hopes the calendar inspires more Belizeans to “applaud, work with and help these truly special children.”

-1 1 0 40 1/6/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/6/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 2538 robots= author= 2729 Caribbean Motors Cup Football Tourney enters semi-final round caribbean-motors-cup-football-tourney-enters-semi-final-round

The Belize Premier Football League Caribbean Motors Cup Tourney completed its quarter-final round on Sunday January 2, 2011, with two games across the country.  At the Carl Ramos Stadium in Dangriga Town, the visiting San Felipe Barcelona eliminated Griga United by the score of 3 to 2.

The home team Griga United got on the scoreboard first when Dennis Serano scored the 1st goal of the game in the 32nd minute of play to give his team an early lead.

It was not until the second half of the game that the visiting San Felipe Barcelona was able to get on the scoreboard when Deris Benavides scored the equalizing goal in the 55th minute of play. The score was once again untied when Alexander Peters scored the go-ahead goal for the Griga United Team in the 63rd minute of play for a lead. That lead was short lived when Harvey Cruz scored San Felipe Barcelona’s second equalizing goal in the 72nd minute of play to tie the score at 2-2.

The visiting San Felipe Barcelona was able to untie the score once again and for good this time when Oscar Acevedo scored the final goal of the game in the 90th minute of play for his team’s big win and a spot into the semi-final round.

Meanwhile, at the Toledo Union Field in Punta Gorda Town, the home team Toledo Ambassadors eliminated the visiting Hankook Verdes in penalty shoot out by the score of 4 to 2. The goal scorers for the Toledo Ambassadors were Wilmer Garcia, Robert Muschamp, Dalton Eiley and Elio Ramirez, while the goal scorers for the visiting Hankook Verdes were Marlon Meza and Jose Monroy.

At the end of regulation time and as well as in extra time the game ended 0-0. The semi-final round will commence on Sunday January 22 and will continue on Sunday January 29.

-1 1 0 41 1/6/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/6/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 3 0 710 robots= author= 2730 Costa Ricans dominate 21st Krem Sugar and Cream Classic costa-ricans-dominate-21st-krem-sugar-and-cream-classic The 21st Annual Krem Sugar and Cream Cycling Classic is now history and the final results are now etched in the pages of Belizean Sports annals.

The Annual New Year’s Day Cycling Classic in the Open Elite category was once again dominated by foreign cyclists, with the only difference between this year’s races from the previous editions of this now annual event was the gap between the top two finishers and the third place finisher which was some 17.46 minutes. The 91.1 miles event which started from the Corozal Free Zone and concluded at the junctions of the Central American Boulevard and Mahogany Street attracted some 82 riders. From this field, only 41 riders completed the course with an astounding 36 riders abandoning the race.

And so it was to be that the annual cycling classic which ushered in the start of the sporting year in Belize was captured by Costa Rican Marco Salas who rides for Benny’s Megabytes Elites in a time of 3:59:55. Salas and his countryman who is also his teammate Juan Rojas Rojas crossed the finished line holding hands high above their heads to claim second place.

Shane Vasquez of Western Spirit finished third in a time of 4:17:41, followed by Allen Castillo of Team Zamir in a time of 4:17:45 to capture fourth place, with Hernan Ochaeta of Santino’s Belize Elite taking the fifth position to round off the top five finishers.

The other top finishers in this category included Henry Moreria who is unattached, followed by Venezuelan Gil Cordoves of Zamir Cycling Team in a time of 4:18:33, followed by Brandon Cattouse of C-Ray Cycling Elites, followed by Peter Choto of Western Spirit with David Henderson of Team INDECO Elites taking the tenth position.

In the junior category, some 32 riders participated in the 54 miles event which started from in front of the Orange Walk Town Hall and also concluded at the junctions of the Central American Boulevard with Mahogany Street. Of this amount some 23 riders completed the course which was captured by Mexican Johnny Joan Quintal-Valencia of Depredadores in a time of 2:49:16. Belizean Giovanni Lovell of Team INDECO Junior finished second in a time of 2:49:59, followed by Austin Armstrong of Twin Towns Cycling Club in a time of 2:50:45, followed by Kyle Kelvin Gentle of Cayo High Road Cycling, and then followed by Joel Adan Borland of Team INDECO Junior to round off the top five competitors.

In the Masters’ Categories 4 and 5 race, some 19 riders participated in the 54 miles course which started from in front of the Orange Walk Town Hall and also concluded at the junctions of the Central American Boulevard and Mahogany Street. From the riders who started the journey only 16 completed the course.
The first Masters’ Category 4 and 5 rider to cross the finish line was Freddy Ivan Ramos-Chan of Depredadores in a time of 2:48:49. Ramos-Chan’s teammate David Jesus Balam-Interian finished second in a time of 2:4855; Belizean Barney Brown of F.T. Williams finished third in a time of 2:53:14, followed by Mexican Omar Valerio Gomez-Queme of Depredaores in a time of 2:54:13 and then followed by Amir Gonzalez of Truckers Posse to round off the top five finishers.

In the women’s category, seven riders participated in the 54 miles event with six of them completing the journey. At the end of 2:54:43, it was Shalini Zabaneh of Team Sagitun who captured first place, followed by Patricia Chavarria who is unattached in a time of 3:18:27; third place went to Anthea Sutherland of Truckers Posse in a time of 3:20:15 with fourth place going to Kirah Eiley of Skodos in a time of 3:41:09, and fifth place going to Fiona Humes in a time of 3:41:09. -1 1 0 41 1/6/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/6/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 2 0 574 robots= author= 2731 Linda Lewis-Brown honours by Queen Elizabeth II linda-lewis-brown-honours-by-queen-elizabeth-ii

Linda Lewis-Brown, ISF Hall of Fame member, Honorary Life Member of the Belize Softball Federation and former pitching ace of the National Women’s Softball Team of Belize was appointed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to be an Ordinary Member of the Civil Division of the Said Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to Sport and Medicine.

Lewis-Brown was the first female player from the Americas to be elected and inducted into the International Softball Federation’s Hall of Fame in 1997 as a world class pitcher. She was the first Belizean player to be inducted into such a prestigious class. Lewis-Brown holds the record for the most wins 14-2 in the Central American and Caribbean Games history, and the pitcher with the highest tally of strikeouts in the same games.

Linda Lewis-Brown made a name for herself and all of Belize when she led Belize to the first ever Gold Medal at the XII Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She also distinguished herself at the CAST Games in Hamilton, Bermuda in 1973 where she won the Winningest Pitcher, Most Strike Outs and the Most Valuable Player awards.

We join the entire country in expressing our congratulations to Linda Lewis-Brown MBE on her deserving appointment.

-1 1 0 41 1/6/2011 06:00:00 62 1/6/2011 20:05:46 64 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/6/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 2 0 1 0 1039 robots= author= 2732 3 charged for murder of Nigerian national Francis Chukwu! 3-charged-for-murder-of-nigerian-national-francis-chukwu On Monday January 3, three men including 17-year-old Kendal Green, a Tour guide and resident of #44 Iguana Street, 19-year-old Egbery Daly, a.k.a. Eggie, a resident of #3808 Antelope Street and 31-year-old Jermaine Zuniga, a.k.a. “Bow foot”, a resident of Antelope Street were taken to Magistrate’s Court where they were charged with murder.

The trio appeared unrepresented before Senior Magistrate, Sharon Frazer in Court #2 where they were read a single charge of murder; no plea was taken since the matter is an indictable offense. It was explained to them that due to the nature of the offense, bail cannot be granted and they were remanded to the Hattieville Prison until February 3.

Before leaving court, all three men told the Senior Magistrate that they were beaten in some way. According to Zuniga, the first to speak out, he told the court that he was tortured by the police but that he did not know them by name only by faces.  Green, who spoke second, said that he has been in police custody since last week Wednesday and was being beaten since.  He said that when he was first picked up, he refused to give a statement but that’s when the beating began and he was put to sleep. Then the next day, Thursday, he was awakened and then beaten again and then put back to sleep.

It was not until Friday that he got tired of the beating and he gave police a statement about the incident and that’s when the beating stopped. Daly also said he was beaten to the lower abdomen and chest area and that he now has a swelling to the lower abdomen.  He said he asked the police to make a call but he was denied that too. The Senior Magistrate told them that she made a note of all their complaints and that it will reflect on their record that they all complained of some form of police brutality while detained.

The arrest of the three men came as a result of a police investigation into last week’s bloody Christmas weekend which six persons were murdered in Belize. On December 26, Chukwu was working late when he was shot to the head on Pitter Street. His vehicle ran off the road and cops found his body slumped over the steering wheel. His personal belongings, including his wallet, were untouched which has ruled out robbery as the motive for the killing. -1 1 0 39 1/6/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/6/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 2 0 843 robots= author= 2733 Woman free of drug trafficking charges woman-free-of-drug-trafficking-charges

On July 30, 2009 police conducted a search at a house located at 6748 Raccoon Street where they found over ten pounds of marijuana. As a result they arrested and charged Leila Marie Adolphus Williams with drug trafficking.

Her case was concluded on Tuesday, January 4, when Magistrate Aretha Ford heard arguments both on behalf of the prosecution and the defendant. In her view, Ford pointed out that the prosecution needed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Williams lived at #6753 Raccoon Street where the marijuana was found and that in her mind there were doubts whether Williams lived in the house and that it was still not clear who lived at the house at the time of the search.

Police conducted a search inside the home at #6748 Raccoon Street in Belize City where they said they found two sacks of weed weighing 4,675 grams of marijuana and another small amount that weighed 2.5 grams. Williams was later charged with two counts, one count of drug trafficking and one count of possession of a controlled drug. She faced a jail term of three years plus a fine of $10,000 upon conviction but she was cleared of all charges by Magistrate Ford at the conclusion of the trial.

At the time of the search, Williams was picked up from North Front Street where she sells food and taken to the Raccoon Street home. She was asked to open the door; however, she told police that she did not have the keys to the house since it was not her home. Police officers then used a ladder and climbed into the house through a window and opened the main entrance.  A search of the bathroom led police to the discovery of two parcels of marijuana and Williams was arrested and charged.

In the trial police claimed that inside the home at #6748, they found a utility cable bill in the name of Williams for the said address and also found a photo album with pictures of her and pictures of her on the wall. But that was not enough evidence to suggest that Williams was the one living in the home at the time of the bust.

-1 1 0 39 1/6/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/6/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 554 robots= author= 2734 In Poor Taste in-poor-taste We have come to expect the PUP to act in poor taste and they have not disappointed us this Christmas season.  These are the people who decided that it was appropriate to offer “dolla beer” and “caliente girls” at their political rallies. Apparently, PUP leaders believe that Belizeans should make important decisions about the future of themselves and their country based on cheap alcohol and scantily dressed underage girls. The PUP also saw fit to set aside well qualified Belizeans who had served their homeland with distinction when it came to bestowing honours.  They appointed Michael Ashcroft as Belize’s representative to the United Nations and even elevated him to the rank of Sir Michael in a Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Many of the PUP’s other appointments were in equally poor taste.  The diplomatic core was stuffed with PUP hangers-on who spent our hard earned tax dollars with abandon.  The former Prime Minister’s daughter lived rent free at one of our embassies for several years while studying (on a government scholarship!)  Talk about questionable acts of nepotism, let us not forget that every Price niece and nephew, and there were many of them, studied abroad on government scholarships.  Musa’s many children also gained government scholarships while more deserving Belizean children were denied the opportunity to pursue a higher education.  A man who had defaulted on a multimillion dollar, under-collateralised DFC loan became the man in charge of hurricane relief.

When we consider the PUP stance on crime, the poor taste really leaves a bad flavour in your mouth.  It was under the PUP that the Police Department saw the meteoric rise of officers of questionable ethics to the highest ranks, and the sidelining of many competent but less pliable officers.  If the Police Department has difficulties today it is not due to problems that have arisen since 2008 but rather the result of a longstanding PUP policy of politicising the department and making it a tool of PUP control.  Can we forget that known drug barons, smugglers and organisers of stolen car rings always had a seat at the table with PUP leaders?

So now we come to the latest example of PUP poor taste, their Christmas video. It is bad enough that the PUPs seek to exploit the sadness and dismay that all Belizeans feel when considering the current level of violent crime but their characterisation of Dean Barrow and his family as being somehow responsible is beyond the pale. Indeed it is widely believed that much of the increase in violence is due to a desire by criminals to destabilise the government as a response to the enforcement of Belizean law under the UDP. Those who had been free to carry on their criminal activities are not pleased that containers of drugs have been seized, drug planes impounded and other law enforcement actions taken. The criminals would certainly benefit from a return to PUP misrule.

The main financial backer of the PUP likewise would benefit from a PUP regime that awards him secret accommodation agreements under which he pays little or no tax while earning great profits from his Belizean businesses.

Unlike the family members of the top PUP families, none of the Barrow family gained their education on non-competitive government scholarships. If any of them are being paid government salaries it is because they are performing a job on behalf of the Belizean people. It is not Dean Barrow and the UDP that allowed foreign interests to control BTL, nor is the UDP responsible for secret accommodation agreements or diversion of Venezuelan and Taiwanese grant money to PUP crony companies.  Dean Barrow and the UDP did not take on the onerous commercial debt that has resulted in the billion dollar Super Bond that will impoverish Belize for a generation but has left no tangible benefits for Belize.

The PUP can continue its campaign of poor taste but Belizeans are not fooled and will continue to deal with that foul taste in its collective mouth by spitting out the PUP whenever the opportunity arises. -1 10 0 56 1/6/2011 06:00:00 64 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/6/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 172 robots= author= 2735 FCCA gives thumbs up to Tourism Zone fcca-gives-thumbs-up-to-tourism-zone

“It was a mess! It was noisy, stressful and an embarrassment for our country.”

That is what one tour operator had to say about the activities outside the Fort Street Tourism Village before the new policies were implemented. Another said, “We were hunters and the tourists were our prey. The quickest and most aggressive hunter won.” That is the idea that governed the Fort Street area. It was an idea embraced by all. Tour agents, taxi drivers, hair braiders all learnt how to be predators. That

sometimes meant injuring the image of their competitors – “Don’t go with him sir. He is a thief.” For them it was a way of life but to most tourists it was an unwelcoming and petrifying experience. The first inhabitants of this country they met were an uncivilized bunch. It turned away more than half of the cruise passengers that came ashore and led to horrible reviews about destination Belize. That image had to change.

That is why on Thursday, October 21, the Belize Tourism Board presented the initial phase of their game changing Action Plan 2010-2012. Seleni Matus, Director of BTB, unveiled a plan that focused on marketing and industry relations, revenue collection and destination planning. There were several measures included in the area of destination planning. One immediate act was to pay more attention to Belize City. At that time Matus exclaimed that Belize City is the start off point for most tourists; however, its significance has been underplayed. The neglect of the city by the Board over the past decade has given the industry an ugly sore. Jim Scott, President of the Belize Tourism Industry Association, explained that Belize as a tourist destination is ranked one of the highest, if not the highest, in the Caribbean among guests who book tours prior to getting off the ship. These guests are taken directly to their buses and then on their tour. However, we are ranked almost lowest among tourists who leave the ship and stay around the city. Those are the tourists that are rushed by tour operators, taxi men and other service providers at Fort Street. To get the situation under control, the area was designated as a tourism zone on December 8.

The Tourism Zone is an idea that was derived from a meeting with cruise industry shareholders about an organizational restructuring process. The immediate purpose of the zone is to establish order. It includes a more organized traffic-flow system to reduce congestion. The one-way traffic flow is enforced from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Booths have been established for the organized flow of guests seeking tours from independent and small operators. A new rotation system was implemented that will ensure a more orderly presentation of services from tour guides and tour operators. 15 law enforcement personnel and special constables were directed to patrol the Fort George Tourism Zone. An identification system and uniform program has been established for all key service providers working in the zone; those include tour guides and operators, taxi personnel, vendors, hair braiders, etc.

Florida Caribbean Cruiseline Association’s Reviews

On Tuesday, January 11, executives of the Florida Caribbean Cruiseline Association (FCCA) visited Belize and took a tour of the Fort Street Tourism Zone. At the end of the tour Michelle Page, President of FCCA, stopped, observed the behaviour of the taxi operators for a while and said, “This is a hundred percent- a thousand percent better.” She was impressed at how the operators stood back when it was not their turn. However, she noticed that one was in violation of the policy. Though it was not his turn, that operator followed one of the tourists asking if he needed a cab. Michelle Page then went and shared some advice with the operators present. She told them that they need to be less aggressive towards the tourists. She said, “You have to understand that when passengers are here, they don’t understand what they want to do right away and if somebody they perceive is harassing them there is a good chance they might get back on the ship.

When they say no – back off, because if not, they are going to feel very threatened and when they feel threatened they will not come and use your services. The taxi operators explained to her that many of their clients informed them that they were discouraged from taking tours outside the village because it was dangerous. She responded by saying that may have been caused by the perception of the ships’ crew members. However, that perception is changing. She continued, “The perception of the crew is that the crew now feels comfortable to get off the ship.” She applauded Minister Manuel Heredia Jr. and Seleni Matus for the improvement- “This is your Director of Tourism, this is your Minister of Tourism, let me tell you, I’ve been working with Belize for probably three decades and I have never experienced the thrill of what I am experiencing now. You guys are on the right path, don’t mess it up ok.

Gordon Buck of Carnival and Federico Gonzalez Denton of Royal Caribbean Cruise were the other two executives on the tour. They shared Page’s sentiments. Buck said that when he came to Belize six months ago to “observe the product” it was much different. He said, “there’s not words enough how favorably impressed I have been today with the enhancements done in the Tourism Zone.  It is like night and day.  It’s wonderful!  It’s all strides in the right direction.”Denton also praised the government for the improvement in the area. He said, “Everything that the government has done to improve the quality of service on the product is really what our guests want and so I encourage you to continue working with the government, supporting the government in their efforts really to improve the product for our cruise guests.”

Page said, “Right now, when a passenger gets off a vessel they feel a comfort feeling, a feeling of welcome and that’s very important because if the passengers feel threatened the chances are that they will get back onto the ship and not experience Belize and not be able to leave any of the economic impact that we know the Belizeans are looking forward to when the passengers arrive.” Before the zone was established, Seleni Matus said that only 42% of cruise passengers that get off the cruise ship actually organize tours. Therefore, the poor presentation had a damaging impact on potential clients. She said, “We were losing on an annual basis close to $50 million because of the poor presentation that we had as our destination.”

Hopefully that will change. Further plan for destination planning is to invest more in Belize City and feature the city itself as a tourist destination. The architecture and historic element of the city has very high profile individuals campaigning for its recognition as a World Heritage Site.

-1 6 0 53 1/13/2011 06:00:00 64 Shane D. Williams 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/13/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 2 0 1682 robots= author= 2736 Pablo Marin secures Corozal Bay again pablo-marin-secures-corozal-bay-again

The United Democratic Party held its third convention to select candidates to represent the Party in the 2013 General Elections. On Sunday, January 9, it was Corozal Bay and the event was extremely successful. It had promised to be an extremely hotly contested one with a three way race between incumbent Area Representative, Hon. Pablo Marin; Corozal Town Mayor, Hilberto Campos and long time UDP supporter Kenard Smart.

Polls opened promptly at 9 a.m. and even before then the Andres Campos Civic Center had developed long lines of voters eager to cast their vote for their candidate. The atmosphere was energetic throughout the day as supporters gathered outside the center to chant for their favourite candidate. Before long it had become evident that Hon. Marin had gotten more support. With the assistance of fellow ministers Hon. Gaspar Vega, Hon. Anthony ‘Boots’ Martinez, and Hon. John Saldivar, Marin had taken on a commanding lead and it kept up for the entire day. Even as the crowd streamed into the civic center to show support for the other candidates it simply was not enough.

Polls closed at 4 but voting continued for at least one hour after that as the long lines of voters remained within the center to cast their ballot. By the time counting had ended a total 2,730 Corozal Bay residents had cast their ballot. Of those, 1,663 persons had voted for Hon. Pablo Marin, 742 voted for Hilberto Campos and 297 voted for Kenard Smart. Twenty eight votes were spoilt. The turnout indicates that the United Democratic Party was able to bring out 47 percent of the total voting population of the constituency.

Sunday’s convention was one that followed a trend that was set in the Caribbean Shores division where 1,097 persons voted followed by the biggest yet in the Orange Walk East constituency where 2,820 persons cast their ballot. The large conventions indicate that the UDP is still enjoying much support from people in the constituencies that have had elections so far and there is nothing to indicate that the same trend will not be followed countrywide.

-1 6 0 53 1/13/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/13/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 1943 robots= author= 2737 Another Industry Saved – Belizean Cruise Tenders in control another-industry-saved–belizean-cruise-tenders-in-control

Hon. Dean Barrow has again been able to successfully intervene to save yet another industry in Belize. As we’ve reported last week, the Prime Minister along with Tourism Minister, Hon. Manuel Heredia; CEO Lindsay Garbutt and Belize Tourism Board Director, Seleni Matus left the country on Friday to negotiate with Carnival Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise lines on behalf of boat tender operators who were being displaced by new regulations in the industry.

The result

On the team’s return a press conference was held on Monday, January 10, during which the Prime Minister announced that the objective was to buy time for local tour operators to be able to meet new requirements set by the cruise lines. Those requirements included that each tender moving passengers from the cruise ships to the mainland has a capacity of 150 passengers. Additionally, the tenders were to have a minimum of US two million dollars insurance coverage. During his press conference, PM Barrow noted that he was able to buy time for the local tender owners during which they would be able to meet the requirements. In the meantime the status quo would be maintained.
Another objective for the meeting was to guarantee that the cruise lines would deal exclusively with a Belizean company which would be made up solely of Belizean operators. Carnival agreed to that as well if the providers were able to fulfill the requirements in as short a time as possible. If they were unable “Carnival reserves the right to reduce the number of calls made to Belize.” With those objectives met, PM Barrow and Tourism executives met with the tender providers who unanimously agreed that they would be taking up the offer and would in fact form a Belizean company to handle all tendering operations.

Assisting the new company

In his presentation PM Barrow noted that Carnival was willing to deal exclusively with the Belizean company and sign contracts with it. Given that, the Prime Minister explained that there now needs to be a transition period during which the boats will be built or imported. Pro-Tem Chairman of the new tender consortium Stanley Longsworth senior explained that a tender boat as is being required will cost in the region of a million dollars and would take up to six months to be constructed locally. He also explained that all current tender operators are on board to form the new company who will handle all transportation of cruise passengers from ship to shore. While the company is formed, the Prime Minister explained that he’ll approach the Development Finance Corporation to ensure “that it can play a role to provide financing for the new company.” Added to that, the company will be offered “tax and duty concessions that is legally available” to ensure that it gets off the ground.

Snags

As a result of PM Barrow’s negotiations, Carnival sent a team to Belize to finalize the deal. Snags developed on Tuesday, January 4; however, the Carnival team that was in Belize insisted that they would deal with another company represented by Rick O’Shea who would provide the tender operations. That had the local providers’ hopes almost dashed and again the Prime Minister had to intercede. He contacted Ruben Rodriguez who is Carnival’s Executive Vice President who reaffirmed the position that Carnival would deal with the new Belizean company. As for O’Shea, Rodriguez explained that there was no need for him to be a part of the equation unless the local operators so wanted.

Final position

By Wednesday the Prime Minister had again contacted Carnival executives and via teleconferencing he was able to extend the deadline for the Tender Operators to get themselves prepared to October 21 of this year. With that the Belizean company will continue to serve as the tender agent for the cruise line. It is now left for the company to work out pricing and other contractual arrangements with the cruise lines.

-1 6 0 54 1/13/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/13/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 700 robots= author= 2738 BWS Seeks No Rate Increase bws-seeks-no-rate-increase-

The Belize Water Service Limited has announced that on December 31 of last year it submitted a formal notification to the Public Utilities Commission for an Annual Review for April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012.  In its submission, BWSL is not seeking any change in the tariffs.

On October 9 of 2009 the company had made a request for a 25 percent increase in water rates; however, the PUC made an initial decision on November 17, 2009 and approved a 10.6 percent increase. BWS disagreed with the initial decision and an independent expert was hired who recommended a 17.2 percent rate increase. Based on that recommendation, the PUC made a final decision of a 12.1 water rate increase. The decision took into consideration the company’s capital investment needs of $40,453,000.

At BWS’s AGM in September of last year, the company recorded an increase in profits of 136% from 2.069 million dollars in 2008/2009 to 4.878 million dollars in 2009/2010. The increase in profit was as a result of cost cutting measures from 27.604 million dollars to 26.169 million as well as a decrease in water production by 4.3%. Non revenue water was also significantly brought down from 34.5% to 29.4%.

The company’s excellent performance last year is more than likely the reason for it not seeking a rate increase. The PUC will now look at BWS’ financial and operating figures and make a decision by March 31.

-1 1 0 59 1/13/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/13/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 3 0 154 robots= author= 2739 Delta Airlines magazine puts Chaa Creek in top ten delta-airlines-magazine-puts-chaa-creek-in-top-ten

Delta Sky, the airline’s in-flight lifestyle magazine, has included the Lodge at Chaa Creek in a select list of the world’s top eco- tourism destinations. The introduction to the Get Inspired – Top Ten Lists section of the current edition reads, “Treetop to seaside, we’ve picked ten resorts that are redefining travel for a greener generation.” The list includes eco resorts from destinations such as Tuscany, the Amazon, Costa Rica, Big Sur and China.

“We know that Delta Airlines is obviously very selective in who they recommend, so this is a great honour indeed,” Chaa Creek proprietor Lucy Fleming said yesterday. “Our staff really appreciates the fact that we are the only resort in Belize to receive this recognition, especially when you consider the high quality of other Belizean resorts,” she said.

The Lodge at Chaa Creek, one of Belize’s first eco resorts and a pioneer in sustainable eco tourism, began life as Mick and Lucy Fleming’s small family farm over 30 years ago and has since grown into one of the region’s most highly regarded destinations.  Chaa Creek now comprises a 365 acre private nature reserve with miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, birding and nature walks. A highly regarded Natural History Centre, large thatched restaurant, veranda bar, conference centre, Butterfly Farm, professional spa, pool, and other amenities compliment accommodation ranging from luxurious tree top suits and lovely cottage rooms to the bungalows of the more remote Macal River Camp.

Set along the banks of Belize’s Macal River, the resort also offers canoeing, kayaking and a wide range of eco-adventure activities and tours including the Maya Medicinal Plant Trail as well as unique Belize vacation packages including popular surf and turf packages combining rainforest adventure with Caribbean island getaways.

Situated in the recognised Heartland of the Maya, Chaa Creek was long a hub of ancient Maya culture and commerce. The reserve contains numerous Maya archaeological sites and will be a centre for the huge Maya Winter Solstice 2012 celebrations which mark the end of a 52,000 year cycle and the beginning of a new era for the Maya.

“We’re looking forward to a busy 2011 leading up to 2012, so it’s wonderful to begin the new year with such a prestigious recommendation, “ Ms. Fleming said, “It’s a great refection on all of our 135  staff members as well as the sheer beauty of this part of Belize and we’re all very grateful to Delta’s Sky for this recognition”.

For more information about the Lodge at Chaa Creek, contact the property at 824-2037, marketing@chaacreek.com or visit the web site at www.chaacreek.com.

-1 1 0 59 1/13/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/13/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 2 0 609 robots= author= 2740 4th Annual Boom to Manatee Lookout Canoe Race 4th-annual-boom-to-manatee-lookout-canoe-race

The Belize Canoe Association presents the “4th Annual Boom to Manatee Lookout Canoe Race”. The race is scheduled for Saturday 15th January and marks the first race for the 2011 season. The race is open to all and we are encouraging new comers and families to attend. All teams must be present at the signing in and announcements on the riverside at Burrell Boom by Market Tavern at 9:00 am and the race is scheduled to begin at 10:00 sharp. The race is expected to last about 2 hours and will end at Manatee Lookout Bar & Restaurant on the Northern Highway.

The race will have an entry fee of $50 per team and all paddlers will receive a free BBQ at Manatee Lookout. The first 15 boats to sign up will also receive a free T-shirt. Rules will follow the standards set by “The La Ruta Maya River Challenge” committee and those used by the BCA including the wearing of Life Jackets. Categories will include Male, Female, Mixed, Masters, Juniors under 16, Family, Dory and Pleasure Craft. Cash prizes and trophies will be awarded to the overall winners and winners of each category.

BCA wishes to thank the main sponsors of this race, Belize Global Travel Services, Joseph & Taylor, Skylighters Unlimited and Architectural Accents and all other persons who have helped in making this race a reality. We urge you all to attend the first warm up race for the La Ruta Maya and look forward to a fun filled day. All proceeds will be donated to the Association with the intention of assisting the Belize teams for the Texas Safari and beyond and we are asking the recipients of these funds to make every effort to attend.

(Press Release)

-1 1 0 59 1/13/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/13/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 623 robots= author= 2741 Free Butane Gas delivered to Georgeville Residents free-butane-gas-delivered-to-georgeville-residents- On January 6 the people of the Georgeville area of the Cayo District were treated to free butane gas for their cooking and kitchen needs. The process of delivering the butane gas started around eleven in the morning and, because of the large amount of villagers who came out with their empty gas cylinders, it lasted well into the afternoon, until every single resident, from Central Farm to Cool Shade, got their fill.

On hand to make sure the process went smoothly and fairly was Area Representative and Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Hon. Rene Montero. Minister Montero said this is an excellent way of starting out the New Year, helping the residents improve their standard of living, and perhaps in a very timely manner, when most of the butane gas was used up during the Christmas and New Year Holiday’s cooking and baking.

Minister Montero thanked the staff of Belize Natural Energy for the generous donation and their overall contribution in making today’s event a total success. The scope of today’s activity encompassed all villagers of Georgeville, which covers every resident from Central Farm to Cool Shade. At last count, some two hundred and twenty-five butane cylinders had been completely filled up.

The event was made possible through the kind donation of Belize Natural Energy, BNE, which donated three thousand five hundred gallons of the gas. For his part, Daniel Gutierrez of the Marketing Department, Belize Natural Energy, said that his company has entered a new phase of producing liquefied petroleum gas, more commonly known as butane. “We are now producing butane gas in Belize, Belizean butane, and we want the people to be aware of this, and share in the benefits”, said Mr. Gutierrez. BNE is seeking Government’s permission to market the product directly to consumers, which would result in substantial benefits in reduced butane gas prices.

When prompted about upcoming developments in his Ministry in the next few months, Minister Montero said that the Integrated Farming System is about to be launched. This will directly assist some sixty farmers who will undergo personal training to improve their farming practices so that they can make a living exclusively off their farm. This will allow them to be self-employed and even go on to employ other people, hopefully, mainly youths in the rural areas. -1 1 0 40 1/13/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/13/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 2 0 760 robots= author= 2742 Exam results: 188 pass, who will be promoted in BPD? exam-results-188-pass-who-will-be-promoted-in-bpd

The much anticipated results for the recent police examinations were released at the end of last week. It was the first exam in quite a while and 479 officers finally had the opportunity to take the first step in the promotion process. Certain media houses broadcasted that the results were “dismal” and that only 39 or 7.8% of the candidates passed. After the Minister of Police reviewed the results he called those reports “erroneous”.

There is a different promotional exam for the post of Corporal, Sergeant and Inspector in the Belize Police Department. According to the Minister of Police and Public Safety, Hon. Doug Singh, candidates were given notice on August 17, more than three months in advance of the exam date. There are two parts to the exams, a subjective and objective section, and the content is based on the exercises expected of the different positions. The objective section is a paper of 50 multiple choice questions worth two points each. The subjective paper includes eight short answer questions worth 20 points each. Candidates are required to answer 5 of those questions thoroughly. The minimum passing average for the exams is 60. To pass the exam, the lowest grade that one may receive on any one paper is 50%. The exam was prepared by the Head of Management Services then administered and graded by selected senior officers. To ensure anonymity, the candidates were not asked to put there names on the paper. They were given a serial number so those grading the papers were not able to identify whose paper they were grading. Once the papers were graded the results were handed over to the Head of Management Services who matched the results with corresponding names.

293 police constables, 109 corporals and 77 sergeants sat the exam on November 27th. Minister Singh said that 145 out of the 293 police constables passed the exam. 28 of the 109 corporals passed and 15 of the 77 sergeants who sat the exam had an average of 60 or above. He said that he expected better results because they were given more than three months notice and the materials were available to them. Based on the results, Singh said that there is clearly a need for ongoing training. He said that the results are still being analyzed to pinpoint common areas of weakness for targeted training.

When speaking to the Minister of Public Service, Hon. John Saldivar, on Tuesday, November 30, 2010 he raised the possibility of appointing an independent team to administer the exam or verify the grades. That is to “ensure that there is no hanky panky going on with who gets promoted or not”. Minister Singh said that while he will seek the assistance of the Ministry of Education to assist with improving the process, it would be almost impossible to have an independent grading team. While the objective multiple choice section can be graded by an independent team, the subjective section requires experienced police officials. That pool of individuals may include retired police officers. Singh said that if an officer is not satisfied with their grade then they can contact management services and request permission to review their paper.

The 188 officers that passed the exams represent only 38% of the candidates but that is far more acceptable than the 8% previously recorded. Candidates that passed the exam may now request an appointment before the Promotions Board. The Police Act does not require an examination for sergeants to request an appointment. That exam was recently implemented; therefore, those sergeants who failed can still make such a request. However, their promotion is extremely unlikely considering the fact that there is only one post for inspector currently available. Minister Singh said that number will increase to three based on the fact that two inspectors are due for retirement. There are currently 12 posts opened for sergeant. When the three sergeants are promoted to inspectors that will open three more slots; therefore, there will be 15 slots available for corporals to be promoted to sergeant. When those 15 corporals are promoted it well clear the way for the promotion of 15 constables. In summary, there are basically 33 slots immediately available for promotion at the moment. That number could possibly increase.

-1 1 0 40 1/13/2011 06:00:00 64 Shane D. Williams 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/13/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 1029 robots= author= 2743 Missing girl killed missing-girl-killed A mother’s worst fears materialized for Arleen Bainton as she watched her 12-year-old daughter retrieved from the mouth of the Belize River on Wednesday afternoon. Janessa, a student of Our Lady of the Way RC Primary School, was sent on an errand to Belize City by her mother who last saw her child alive at around 4:30 on Monday evening. Reports are that she was last seen at the Airport Road Junction on the Northern Highway and was not seen again. She was last seen wearing a blue blouse with a burgundy short skirt and black sandals.

In speaking with Bainton, she told the Guardian that she sent her child to Belize City to buy stuff. She added that her daughter had no friends whom she would hang out with, the only friends she had were her family members. And while Bainton said her daughter had no friends she told the Guardian that she’s received reports that someone has been following her daughter for some time now. She was unable to say who the person was though.

As for Janessa, her body was found floating at the mouth of the Belize River. A person who was taking his boat to a nearby marina noticed the body floating in the water and alerted the police. The body was transported to the KHMH morgue, and because of the decomposing state, it was taken to Burrell Boom where a post mortem was conducted. That proved that she had been struck to the head with a blunt object and thrown into the sea where she drowned. While her body was found at the Belize River investigators believe she may have been killed further up north near the Vista del Mar area and the body floated down the beach to where it was found.

Police are now concentrating their efforts to determine how Janessa met her untimely death and who it was that killed her. -1 1 0 39 1/13/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/13/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 5 0 838 robots= author= 2744 Raymond Gentle murdered raymond-gentle-murdered He was known as the leader of the Kraal Road gang and on Wednesday January 12 the often troubled life of Raymond ‘Killah’ Gentle was ended just as he was trying to stay away from crime. Reports are that Gentle was working on constructing a house at the corner of Baracat Street and Kraal Road at around 4:55p.m. when a man approached the construction site. Without any exchange, the man pulled out a chrome pistol and opened fire on Gentle. He was hit to the chest and died at the KHMH while receiving treatment. Reports are that after the shooting another man at the site chased after the gunman but he opened fire and managed to escape. The shooter is described as having been wearing a brown shirt and cap.

Gentle, who had numerous run-ins with the law, was attempting to do away with his past and had become a contractor with the Ministry of Works. He had in fact assisted in the construction of a number of houses under the Southside Poverty Alleviation program as well as in the aftermath of Hurricane Richard. -1 1 0 39 1/13/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/13/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 4 0 698 robots= author= 2745 BET convicted of firearm offense bet-convicted-of-firearm-offense

On Tuesday January 11, Brandon Tillett, the notorious and well-known criminal figure who managed to beat a murder charge in 2009 and who has been before the court on numerous occasions was convicted of firearm and ammunition offences before Senior Magistrate Sharon Frazer and was sentenced to two 2-year prison terms. She ordered that the terms run concurrently; so he will only serve two years in prison. Tillett’s attorney, however, quickly appealed the decision. It was granted and Tillett was freed on bail.

Tillett was arrested following a bust on April 20 on Baracat Street where police caught Tillett along with Kareem Lopez. Both men were caught at the same time on the same street with two separate firearms, a .38, which Lopez had in his possession while Tillett was found with a 9mm loaded with 13 live rounds. According to police they first saw Lopez taking something from his pants waist which resembled a firearm which he dropped in a drain near the roadside.  One of the officers then approached Lopez and informed him of what he had observed him doing and placed him under arrest.  Meanwhile, other officers chased after Tillett who ran upon seeing the police.

Tillett was pursued as he ran into a nearby yard.  Police shouted at him yelling “Police, stop” and a warning shot was fired in the air and that’s when police say they saw Tillett throw a silver firearm to the ground. Both men were escorted back to the area where they were seen throwing objects.

Police say when they took Lopez to the drain near the road side they found a .38 revolver loaded with six, gold in color, S&B rounds of ammunition. Tillett was also taken back to the yard where the object was thrown and police say they found a 9mm pistol and 13 live rounds of 9mm S&B brand ammunition.

In his defense during his trial, Tillett denied having a gun and claimed he was innocent; however, after the prosecutor had called a number of police witnesses who put Tillett on the scene and said they saw him run and throw an object away, the Senior Magistrate ruled that there was sufficient evidence against him to prove the charge.

On March 18, 2009, a witness in a murder case against Tillett and James Escarpeta became fearful for her life and refused to testify against the men causing the case to fall apart and the men to walk from the murder charges. Tillett also has some recent charges before the court since he walked from that murder.  They include two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm for allegedly shooting at two men, Ernesto Perez and Lyndon Jefferies, in a drive by shooting which occurred on April 8, 2010 on King Street.

-1 1 0 39 1/13/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/13/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 3 0 577 robots= author= 2746 3 busted inside vehicles with 9mm pistol 3-busted-inside-vehicles-with-9mm-pistol

Three men, 22-year-old Orel Leslie, 22-year-old Phillip Smith and 19-year-old Justin Roaches appeared in Magistrate’s Court on Monday January 10 where they were charged with keeping an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.

On Thursday, January 6, police officers conducting a mobile patrol on North Front Street pulled over a Chevy SUV and conducted a search inside it which led to the discovery of a 9mm Smith and Wesson pistol with serial number TZ #7587. In was loaded with 12 live rounds.

The driver of the vehicle claimed the gun, which was found under his seat, was not his and that he had no knowledge of it being there nor did his two friends travelling with him.  When no one took ownership of the gun, and since they had no documents to show that it was licensed, all three men were detained and brought before the Belize City Magistrate’s Court.

The trio was jointly charged with one count of keeping an unlicensed firearm and ammunition. They all pleaded not guilty. Their attorney Dickie Bradley asked the court to allow them time to try and clarify the matter as the vehicle and pistol were licensed to Dennis Leslie, the Uncle of Orel Leslie. He claimed that he accidentally forgot his gun inside the SUV on Thursday, January 6. According to Bradley, by the time Dennis Leslie realized his gun was left in the vehicle, it was too late as police had already pulled over the driver of the SUV and made the discovery of the gun and ammunition inside the vehicle. He gave a statement to police with that effect. Despite that the prosecutor was unable to drop the charges and the men were remanded to the Hattieville prison.

They will have to apply to the Supreme Court for bail since the new amendment to the gun law says that a person has to wait ten working days before their bail application could be heard. At this point, bail cannot be granted through the Magistrate’s Court for gun offenses until after 90 days.

Phillip Smith, one of the three accused, is no stranger to police.  Just about a month ago, he appeared in court on drug trafficking charges in which he pleaded guilty and was fined $10,000 in default three years.  Smith has also been previously charged for an aggravated burglary.

-1 1 0 39 1/13/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/13/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 2 0 821 robots= author= 2747 Nicaraguan charged with Carlos Espat’s murder nicaraguan-charged-with-carlos-espats-murder On Thursday January 6, 22-year-old, Nicaraguan national, Silvio Espinoza, was arraigned before the Chief Magistrate Margaret Gabb-McKenzie in Court #1 on charges of Murder. On September 4, 2010, someone made their way into the home of Carlos Espat and beat him severely with a blunt object causing his death. Examination showed that he had been bashed in the chest and head. He was found by relatives inside his bathroom.  Police say there were no signs of forced entry into Espat’s apartment.

In court, before the single charge of murder was read to him, Espinoza was first provided with a Spanish translator since he said he spoke no English when asked by the Chief Magistrate. His immigration status was first questioned and that’s when one of his brothers, who was present, told the court that Espinoza has been living in Belize for at least three years.  His brother further said that he had a visa and also had a work permit, but he had lost his passport and had renewed his visa which recently expired in January.

The Chief Magistrate informed Espinoza that the charge of murder is an indictable offense for which no plea would be taken from him.  She explained to him that at a given time there will be a preliminary inquiry into the matter and if there is sufficient evidence his case will be committed to the Supreme Court for trial.  He also told him that bail cannot be granted and that for the first instance she will remand him for eight days.

It was shortly after his arraignment that Dickie Bradley was retained by Espinoza’s brother to represent him. Silvio Espinoza is due back in Court #1 on January 14. -1 1 0 39 1/13/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/13/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 917 robots= author= 2748 Belize City Primary Schools Basketball opens with a bang belize-city-primary-schools-basketball-opens-with-a-bang The 2010-2011 Belize City Primary Schools Basketball Competition opened with a bang at the Belize City Centre on Tuesday January 11, 2011, with five games on the schedule. This school year competition will see the participation of fifteen male schools and nine female schools. The schools will have the opportunity of playing against each other with the top four teams in each division advancing the playoffs.

The schools that are participating in the male competition are: Grace Primary School (defending district champion), Queen Square Anglican, Holy Redeemer School, Caye Caulker Roman Catholic School, St. Luke Methodist School, St. Martin’s De Porres School, Belize Elementary School, St. Ignatius School, Central Christian School, Stella Maris School, St. John’s Primary School, James Garbutt Seventh Day Adventist School, All Saints Anglican School, Wesley Upper School, and Ephesus Seventh Day Adventist School. Meanwhile, the schools in the female division are: St. Martin’s De Porres School, Holy Redeemer School, St. Luke Methodist School, Queen Square Anglican School, Ephesus Seventh Day Adventist School, Central Christian School, St. John’s Primary School, Belize Elementary School and James Garbutt Seventh Day Adventist School.

In the first game of the competition in the female category, St. John’s Primary School defeated James Garbutt Seventh Day Adventist School by the score of 21 to 2. The top scorer for St. John’s Primary School was Ashley Bailey with 13 points. In the second female game, Belize Elementary School defeated Central Christian School by the score of 8 to 4. The top scorer for Belize Elementary School was Mia Miles with 4 points, while the top scorers for Central Christian School were Tricia Jefferies and Brittany Rivers with 2 points each.

In the first of three male games played, St. John’s Primary School defeated James Garbutt Seventh Day Adventist School by the score of 23 to 11. The top scorer for St. John’s Primary School was Devon Arnold with 12 points, while the top scorer for James Garbutt Seventh Day Adventist School was Shaquille Thomas with 5 points.

In game two, Holy Redeemer School defeated Caye Caulker Roman Catholic School by the score of 21 to 18. The top scorer for Holy Redeemer was Jover Lopez with 15 points and for Caye Caulker Roman Catholic the top scorer was Carlos Jimenez with 9 points.

In the final game of the day, former champion Wesley Upper School opened on the right foot when it defeated the defending district champion Grace Primary School by the score of 24 to 14. The top scorers for Wesley Upper were Fredrick Williams and Delawn Abraham with 7 points each, while the top scorer for Grace Primary School was Evan Grinage with 5 points.

The competition continued on Wednesday January 12, in the first of two female games, Queen Square Anglican School defeated St. Martin’s De Porres School by the core of 15 to 11. The top scorer for Queen Square was Kayla Bowen with 15 points, while the top scorer for St. Martin’s De Porres was Colleen Thompson with 7 points.

In the second female game, Holy Redeemer School defeated Ephesus SDA by the score of 8 to 0. The top scorer for Holy Redeemer School was Kayla Arnold with 8 points. In the first of four male games played, St. Martin’s De Porres defeated Queen Square School by the score of 39 to 15. The top scorer for St. Martin’s De Porres was Clency Lopez with 12 points and the top scorer for Queen Square was Devin Parham with 7 points.
In game two, All Saints’ Anglican defeated Central Christian by the score of 29 to 25. The top scorer for All Saints was Keyvon Evans with 19 points, while the top scorer for Central Christian was Anfernee Brooks with 14 points.

In game three, St. John’s Primary defeated Stella Maris School by the score of 26 to 4. The top scorer for St. John’s Primary was Devon Arnold with 14 points while the top scorers for Stella Maris were Glen Bowen and Colive Casimiro with 2 points each.

In the final game of the day, St. Ignatius School defeated Holy Redeemer School by the score of 20 to 6. The top scorer for St. Ignatius School was Akeem Baptist with 10 points, while the top scorer for Holy Redeemer School was Demetri Fabro with 3 points. -1 1 0 41 1/13/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/13/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 3 0 984 robots= author= 2749 Central Region football to start on Friday January 14 central-region-football-to-start-on-friday-january-14 The Central Region Secondary Schools Football Competition is scheduled to commence on Friday January 14, 2011, at the MCC Grounds with three games on the schedule. The schools in the female competition are Anglican Cathedral College, Ladyville Technical High School, Gwen Lizarraga High School, St. Catherine Academy, Pallotti High School, and Wesley College.

Meanwhile, the schools in the male competition are: Anglican Cathedral College, St. John’s College, Excelsior High School, Gwen Lizarraga High School, Maud Williams High School, Wesley College, and Edward P. Yorke High School, and Ladyville Technical High School. The games will be played from Monday to Saturday with the week days games scheduled to commence at 4:30 pm, and on Saturday game time is set for 9:30 am. -1 1 0 41 1/13/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/13/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 2 0 684 robots= author= 2750 Cycling Saturday races return cycling-saturday-races-return The Belize Cycling Association informs the general public and cycling fans that its usual Saturday races will resume this Saturday January 15, 2011. The Open, Masters and females’ races will commence at 6:30 am, while the juniors and youths’ will commence at 6:40 am.

The races will start from Leslie’s Imports at Mile 2 ½ on the Western Highway to Hattieville and then back to Leslie’s Imports for the conclusion. -1 1 0 41 1/13/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/13/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 608 robots= author= 2751 The Ghosts of PUP Past, Present and Future the-ghosts-of-pup-past-present-and-future

Maybe it was too much holiday cheer, maybe it was too many reruns of the numerous versions of the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, but over the New Year my dreams were haunted by the ghosts of PUP past, recent present and future.

The first spirit to visit took me on a visit to the early years of the PUP.  I felt the tremendous popular excitement and nationalist, anti-colonial feeling of the early days that quickly gave way to disenchantment when in 1956 the original leaders of the PUP, including Leigh Richardson and Phillip Goldson, split away from George Price. Richardson left Belize and Phillip Goldson faced intimidation and threats that eventually forced his wife and children to leave Belize for New York. I was shocked to see Mr. Goldson’s beloved and successful newspaper, the Belize Billboard, destroyed by an arsonist’s fire when other efforts to stem its flow of information critical of the PUP failed.

I saw the PUP marshals used as enforcers of George Price’s rule and all criticism silenced. Many talented Belizeans were forced into silence or exile and many cherished traditions destroyed as history was rewritten to conform to PUP rules. Intimidation paired with selective hiring and firing of public officers soon created a supine body controlled by the PUP. Support for the PUP was confounded with love of country and institutions failed to grow as Belize suffocated under a “peaceful, constructive revolution” that was entirely out of touch with modern global trends.  Many of the best and brightest Belizeans left Belize to pursue their dreams though they never gave up on the land of their birth and continued to work for her renewal. The spirit returned me to my bed thankful that the PUP past was indeed past.

The next night a second spirit took me to visit the recent present of the PUP to refresh my memory of the disaster that the PUP brought on Belize from 1998 to 2008. I saw again how the new leader of the PUP and his “financial engineer” pursued a policy of crony capitalism that destroyed Belizean institutions such as the Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Well connected PUP insiders secured multiple multimillion dollar loans from DFC and even the Belize Social Security Board on little or no collateral. The self proclaimed “financial wizard” risked, and lost, our money on harebrained currency and securitisation deals. When cautioned about the dangers of such moves the wizard arrogantly claimed that he knew better than the experts.

It is noteworthy that this confidence in his abilities extended only to risking other people’s money – he kept his own assets safe from such nonsense. The destruction of the national transport system to support the Novelo brothers; the degradation of the healthcare system to support Universal Health Care owners; the sale of the National Printers for a fraction of its value; the sale of the Port for next to nothing; the unfair agreements with BNE that ensured that Belize gained little profit from the commercial pumping of oil; the closure of Dickey’s sewing factory and the Nova shrimp farm and many other disasters were all recalled. But the saddest scenes involved the bungled PUP crony attempt to take over our national telephone company that led to it being sold at a discount to Ashcroft interests and the subsequent secret accommodation agreement. I wept as I saw the PUP handing over our hard won sovereignty to the Ashcroft Empire. The spirit showed me the mountains of debt left by Said and Ralph with empty, unfinished housing schemes and the Super Bondage Bond as the only tangible result of such wanton commercial borrowing.  The spirit indicated that there was much more to see but it was too distressing and I pleaded to be allowed to return to my bed.

The third spirit came to show me what the future would have brought had the PUP somehow managed to cling onto power in 2008. It was not a pretty sight.  All the international lending organisations refused to lend money to a PUP government so there was no development. Belizeans were not even aware that a $20 million Venezuelan housing grant was given to the Belize Bank to pay off a Universal Health Care loan and so no Belizeans ever benefitted from this money.  Profits on oil production continued to flow into foreign profits and private hands leaving little to pay our debts so that Belize defaulted on its Super Bondage payments. This caused a complete stop of most foreign exchange so importers could no longer bring in goods, further depressing the economy. Troubles in the Sugar Industry were left to worsen leading to a collapse of the entire industry.  Clean up efforts after the several severe storms and hurricanes that hit Belize were left in the hands of the usual PUP lackeys so that even the limited funds made available were diverted into crony hands.

Ashcroft and his minions continued their secret efforts to hollow out BTL and divert all telephone traffic to Smart. It was only after a few more years of PUP misrule when Ashcroft sold BTL back to the government that Musa and Ralph realised that they had been outmanoeuvred by the Lord yet again. They had wasted what little money the government had to buy an empty shell. With a near monopoly Smart raised telephone rates while BEL rode roughshod over a spineless PUC to raise electricity prices again. Ashcroft interests at the Belize Bank made moves to foreclose on PUP cronies so that the majority of Belizean assets such as the Airport, Port and transport systems would be totally under his monopoly control. Meanwhile, drug shipments moved unchecked through Belize with an impotent and politically castrated Police Department standing idly by causing the US to place severe restrictions on Belize and Belizean travellers.  Hunger and poverty stalked the land; unemployment rose to unheard of levels; crime spiralled; despair flourished.

I woke in a cold sweat but then remembered that this vision of a PUP future had been averted in 2008 when memories of the past and recent present were enough to persuade Belizeans to soundly reject the PUP.  Goodbye to my three spirits.  I will never forget the lessons you had to teach me.

-1 10 0 56 1/13/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/13/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 320 robots= author= 2752 Multi-million dollar Superbond payment due February 20th multi-million-dollar-superbond-payment-due-february-20th The single greatest accomplishment of the People’s United Party government is to have given the Belizean people the Superbond. It’s a bond that is valued at U.S.$546,800000 or Bze. $1,093,600,000. That is a debt that Belizeans will be paying for up until August of 2029 and there is nothing that can be show for it. The failed and ruined projects and the super wealthy PUP’s who fattened their pockets are the only things we got from that bond.

Indeed the PUP thrust the people of this country into a Superbond age where payments are religiously due on the 20th of February and 20th of August of every year. The first payment made was on the 20th of August. At that time the bond bore an interest of 4.25% and the payment was for $23,368,105.56 since then there have been continuous payments being made to service the debt; up to August of last year the total paid in interest alone amounts to $104,013,511.11.

This year it’s no exception and come February 20th the government of Belize will have to find $33,537,066.66. That payment however is for interest alone at 6%; by August of 2012 interest would have gone up to 8.5%. Interest payments alone will continue to be made up until 2019 when principal payments will be due in August to a combined total of $101,013,511.11.

By the end of payments the people of Belize would have paid $1,588,590,700. -1 6 0 53 1/20/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/20/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 2 0 1988 robots= author= 2753 Belize’s Judiciary 2010 Caribbean Court of Justice in effect! belizes-judiciary-2010-caribbean-court-of-justice-in-effect The 2011 session of the Supreme Court of Belize opened on Tuesday, January 18. Immediately after an ecumenical service held at the St. John’s Anglican Cathedral, Justices of the Supreme Court led other members of the Judiciary and Bar on a short march to the steps of the Supreme Court building. Justices of the Supreme Court departed and the Attorney General (AG), Hon. B.Q. Pitts led the esteemed group to assemble beside the Supreme Court building. There was an unusually small crowd inside the Battlefield Park to witness the event.

They looked on as the Governor General, Sir Colville Young, arrived and made his way to the Supreme Court balcony to join other members of the diplomatic corp. That was followed by the arrival of the Supreme Court Justices. They arrived very orderly in ten-second intervals. It was a quick ceremony since there are only six active justices at the moment. The last to arrive was the Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) Hon. Samuel Lungole Awich. He descended from upstairs of the Supreme Court building to join the other members of the Bench. The Chief Justice made his customary inspection of the guards then shared in an extremely proud moment when the judicial body and the Belizean public stood at attention to the sound of the Belizean National Anthem.

From the formalities, it went on to business as the judiciary moved to the Chief Justice’s Chambers where the ACJ, Attorney General and President of the Bar gave their remarks on last year’s performance of the judicial system and their hope for this year and beyond. The Acting Chief Justice opened the session by explaining that the Supreme Court of Belize convenes every year at the beginning of the third week in January. He said, “This year, 2011, the responsibility and honour to convene the special sitting of the court has fallen on me. I accept the privilege with much humility.” Unlike recent years, the speeches of the ACJ and AG were similar in content.

Both recognized the enactment of the Caribbean Court of Justice Act as the most significant development in 2010. In the ACJ’s words, “the Caribbean Court of Justice Act completed the divestment of the Privy Council in the United Kingdom, as the jurisdiction of final appeal over Belize cases.” The CCJ act came into effect on June 1 based on a Statutory Instrument signed by Prime Minister Barrow. Pitts said, “June 1, 2010 is significant to us. That is our birth date in terms of our judicial independence.” There are several advantages to joining the CCJ. Those include cost efficiency and regional legal development. According to the ACJ, for a barrister in England to take up overseas appeal to the Privy Council the initial deposit is $250,000 to $300,000; thus the reason why appellants from Belize to the Privy Council in civil cases were few. At the Privy Council appellants were often unable to make it for trial because of the travel expenses.

Under the CCJ appellants will be able to attend the hearing of their final appeals in Belize City or Port of Spain, Trinidad. Another advantage is that case law will develop in the Caribbean based on local Caribbean circumstances. The AG said, “Now we are the owners and responsible for our own justice system and its further and future development according to our needs and circumstances.” The Privy Council was out of touch with what’s happening in our region. The ACJ said that “an obvious example of this is the fact that a great number of Belizeans do not believe that punishments for crime of violence reflects the general view in Belize,” but the Supreme Court had to follow the guideline of the Privy Council. The CCJ heard its first case from Belize on November 29, 2010. That case was Florencio Marin and Jose Coye versus the Attorney General of Belize. Judgment was reserved for a later date. The second most significant development in the judiciary was the passing of the Belize Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act. Pitts said, “I have cause to remember the date, 1st June 2010, since it was on that very date I was appointed the first Attorney General under the provision of our amended Constitution. The amendment allowed for the appointment of an Attorney General.

Appointments and Retirement

Beside the new Attorney General, there were many personnel changes in the Judiciary. The chief Justice, Dr. Abdulai Conteh, retired after reaching the constitutionally stipulated retirement age of 65. Justice Boyd Carey moved on from the Court of Appeals after passing 80 years of age. Justice Elliot Mottley, President of the Court of Appeals, moved on after ten years service, six as President. Sir John Muria who served as a Supreme Court Justice for four years through the auspices of the Commonwealth Secretariat completed his tour. Justice Denis Hanomansingh of Guyana was appointed Justice of the Supreme Court and will serve for six months. Sir Bryan Alleyne who served as Acting Chief Justice for the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court received a three-year appointment to the Court of Appeals. On the 3rd of January Justice Manuel Sosa ,CBE, of the Court of Appeals was sworn in as President, becoming the first Belizean to hold the position. Chief Magistrate Margaret Gabb- Mckenzie who had submitted her retirement was offered another contract. Six new magistrates were appointed including two qualified attorneys: Richard Bradley Jr. and Patricia Arana were attorneys appointed as magistrates. Dale Cayetano and Adolph Lucas Jr. were appointed magistrates with Bachelor of Law Degrees. Linden Flowers and Keila Teck were also appointed as Magistrates. Magistrate Kathleen Lewis and Magistrate Hurl Hamilton and Magistrate Edd Usher were granted study leave.

Judiciary’s Performance

In the Court of Appeals in 2010, 21 criminal appeals and 44 civil appeals were registered. 25 criminal cases and 60 civil cases were concluded. Those involve cases filed from previous years. 85.7% of all registered criminal appeal cases were concluded and 96.6% of all registered civil appeal cases were concluded. In the Supreme Court there were 982 civil cases registered and 789 concluded, including cases from previous years. 78% of registered civil cases were concluded. There were 156 registered criminal cases; including, 45 murders, 30 attempted murders, 3 manslaughter cases, 1 robbery, 38 rape and carnal knowledge and 39 others. The court concluded 191 trials. Most were cases brought from the previous years. On average a judge concluded 48 criminal. In the Magistrates Court there 13,655 criminal cases registered and 11, 350 completed. There were 6,114 civil cases and 4,620 concluded. The percentage of cases concluded to those registered was impressive in all our courts.

The previous Attorney General, Hon. Wilfred Elrington must be pleased to hear such news. At the opening in 2009 he shared suggestions from the public regarding the payment of the Supreme Court Justices: “There is a high level of cynicism because of the long delays in the justice system. I have received recommendations from members of the public that I should seek legislation to be passed that the disbursement of the Justices salary should be in contingent of their ability to deliver judgment in a timely fashion as is done in some states in the United States of America, including California. The Bar Association suggested that I should invite the Supreme Court Justices to render their resignation if they were unable to complete certain outstanding judgments within a time set forth by the Bar Association.”

While the Bar Association is still not satisfied with the time it takes Justices to render judgment, it does seem that they are making an effort to speed up the process. -1 6 0 53 1/20/2011 06:00:00 64 Shane D. Williams 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/20/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 2716 robots= author= 2754 A Tender Condition: Cruise Tenders Association negotiate prices with Carnival a-tender-condition-cruise-tenders-association-negotiate-prices-with-carnival The Executive Tenders of Belize Association remain in negotiations with Carnival cruise lines in an effort to come up with a per-head price to ferry passengers to and from cruise ships that make port calls in Belize. In speaking with pro-tem chairman of the association Jason Marin on Wednesday January 12th, he explained that the negotiations continue. He says he is hopeful that an agreement will be arrived at before the end of the week. He explained however that the arrangements for the tendering of passengers remains as it has been in the past.

On Tuesday January 11th the situation was one where the association offered to ferry passengers at a rate of between U.S. $6 .54 to $8.54 per passenger. That however has been rebuffed by the cruise lines including Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise lines. Carnival maintains that it is seeking a price closer to U.S.$5.00. By Wednesday, Martha Williams, owner of EuroCaribe had entered the picture and began negotiations with Carnival with the hope of coming up with a price that is agreeable to both the cruise lines and the tenders association.

Williams’ Eurocaribe had been the agent who was originally responsible for the ferrying of passengers to and from cruise ships. However on January 4th after an announcement that tenders with capacity of 150 passengers and more was announced, the tender operators with the assistance of the Prime Minister became the sole entity that is responsible for the ferrying of passengers. Now the negotiations rest with Williams and apparently are back where they began.

Meanwhile Carnival has cancelled two ships from calling on Belize this week. On Tuesday the cruise ship Triumph did not make a port call on Belize and on Wednesday another ship, the Legend which was to have made a call on Thursday was cancelled. There is no word yet on whether or not another ship, Valor, will be making a call on Belize on Thursday. And while Carnival is cancelling calls, two other ships the Aida Luna and the Seven Seas Navigator will be in Belize on Thursday.

In speaking with the Prime Minister of Wednesday evening, he again pledged his unwavering support for the tenders association. He explained to the Guardian that if it means that the country needs to take a stand on the matter so it will be. He maintained that the tender operators must get a reasonable price for the ferrying of passengers. -1 6 0 54 1/20/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/20/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 2636 robots= author= 2755 An eye on Gas prices an-eye-on-gas-prices Over the past few weeks the price of gas on the international market has been slowly increasing, and as goes the international market so does it go in Belize. As of Wednesday January 19th the price of premium gas is at $10.45, regular is at $10.11 and diesel stands at $9.34.  While there is great expectation that the government attempt to hold down the prices by cutting down on taxes imposed on imported fuel, the reality is that already government’s taxes on fuel is low. The take on premium is $2.15, regular is $2.05 and diesel is $1.27. Despite this however, Prime Minister Dean Barrow has committed on closely monitoring the prices and offer relief to the public as soon as possible.

In speaking to the Guardian newspaper on Wednesday January 19th he committed to his position of doing all that is possible to ensure that the Belizean consumers receive some relief at the pump. He however noted that because the prices are not stable a close eye must be kept on them. He added that it would be a matter of having to take the issue to the National Assembly and it would be counterproductive to reduce the taxes on fuel only to have the prices on the international market begin to go down. He did say however that if the situation continues as it is currently he will have to revisit that position.

Meanwhile, as the price on the international market on petroleum keeps increasing there is some good news about that as the windfall tax goes into effect every time Belize Natural Energy sells a barrel of oil at over 90 dollars. Whatever price over 90 dollars that BNE sells the oil for, government’s take is half of that amount. While at this point it is not a significant amount, the Prime Minister notes that whatever revenues derived from that would be used to offset government’s revenue lost when giving Belizeans an ease at the pump. -1 1 0 59 1/20/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/20/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 4 0 163 robots= author= 2756 Belizean poet and actress passes belizean-poet-and-actress-passes Well known Belizean poet, writer and actress Carrie Fairweather-Belgrave died on January 11 after a three month ordeal with pancreatic cancer. Belgrave, who was best known for her role as ‘Tomasa’ in the hit Belizean television series “Noh Matta Wat”, lost her fight against cancer on Thursday January 13 at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. She was 77 years old.

Fairweather’s contributions to the arts are lauded as she was an accomplished writer and poet and most recently and actress. In December of 2010 ‘Parchment Pages’ a compilation of her life’s work in poetry and literature was launched. Recently a documentary on her life was produced by Howard University professor Steve Berry. It is entitled ‘A Remarkable Woman’.

She will be missed especially by her husband Ellis Belgrave, her children: Carol Mckoy, Yola Robateau and Diane Robateau, Gail McKenzie, Joel McKenzie, Lancelot McKenzie Jr., and Pamela Fairweather. -1 1 0 59 1/20/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/20/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 3 0 758 robots= author= 2757 Launch of Gang Resistance Education Training (G.R.E.A.T) Program, Belize launch-of-gang-resistance-education-training-great-program-belize In keeping with the Police Department’s initiative to foster and build its relationship with the community, while at the same time creating an awareness by educating the public especially our youths, the “Police Crime Prevention and Education Program” (PCPEP) was implemented in 1991 (some 20 years  ago), which provided for police officers in uniform visit to various pre-schools, primary and secondary institutions and conduct lectures to students/youths on various law subjects and community policing; and in some cases and request from principals specific subject matters would be discussed with students as a response to incident/situation arising at the particular institution. This also afforded Police Officers the opportunity to interact with the students and create a friendlier atmosphere, where police officers are involved in physical education at the schools.

This program has been proven to be very successful throughout the years and is one that is very much welcomed at the schools at every level.  The Police Department is very pleased to introduce the G.R.E.A.T program to Belize.  The PCPEP will be incorporated into the G.R.E.A.T program, using the Curriculum of the G.R.E.A.T.  This has been made possible through funding provided by the United States Embassy and collaboration from the Ministry of Education.

Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) is a school-based program that includes classroom instructions and various learning activities. The use of sworn/certified Police Instructors provides several advantages. They have a wide range of experience in criminal behaviour, the ability to recognize gang members and are equipped with referral knowledge and most importantly, can be positive role models for students.

The G.R.E.A.T program helps youth to identify and avoid gang membership, prevent violence and criminal activity and develop a positive relationship with law enforcement. This is accomplished by using a skills-based approach that addresses three domains of learning: cognitive, behavioural, and affective.  The G.R.E.A.T program produces attitude and behavioural changes through a unique combination of skills training, cooperative learning, discussion and role playing.  Students are provided with many opportunities to model and practice relevant life skills.  Once students have rehearsed these skills, they will be most likely to use them in real-life situations.

This program will be piloted at three schools in Belize City namely, Trinity Methodist Primary School, Saint John’s Vianney Primary School and Queen Square Anglican Primary School and will involve students from standard one to six.  The program will be launched on Tuesday 18th January 2011, at 9:30am at Queen Square Anglican Primary School.  The program will be facilitated by five certified instructors from the Belize Police Department (Community Policing Unit), namely, Elroy Carcamo, Cpl. #166; Josue McKoy, PC #140; Ryan Timmons, PC #128; Bani Shol, PC #1051 and Miriam Chun, WPC #984.

For more information on the program, feel free to contact Cpl. #166 E. Carcamo at 625-9321 or Supt. D. Phillips at 601-6412.

I would like to extend an invitation to all media houses to come and witness this historic and educational launch. -1 1 0 59 1/20/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/20/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 2 0 875 robots= author= 2758 Statement on death of Janessa Jones by Special Envoy for Women and Children statement-on-death-of-janessa-jones-by-special-envoy-for-women-and-children- Special Envoy for Women and Children, Mrs. Kim Simplis-Barrow, would like to express her deepest sympathies to the family of young Janessa Jones. The loss of a child is heartbreaking for parents and families but also for our society as we are all robbed of the opportunity to see that child develop into an adult and reach his or her full potential. And while we mourn along with Janessa’s family and friends, we must move beyond concern to action and resolve to strengthen the individual role we play in the collective responsibility of protecting ALL our children. The adage, “it takes a village to raise a child” has all but become a cliché, but overuse does not reduce the truthfulness of the statement. Let us not only care for our own family but rather all the children and families in our neighborhoods and community. One child lost is one too many. -1 1 0 59 1/20/2011 06:00:00 62 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/20/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 1 0 549 robots= author= 2759 First Four Schools Amalgamated first-four-schools-amalgamated In secondary schools the Ministry of Education reformed its financial policy for the purposes of efficiency and balance. The intention of the Ministry is to eliminate waste in education service delivery. Such waste is easily seen in primary schools all across the country. There are multiple primary schools in certain areas that when combined do not host more than a hundred students. Most of those schools are supported with public resources. If the Ministry is serious about reducing waste and promoting efficiency then the obvious waste of resources in such schools must come to an end. Therefore, the first schools were amalgamated on Friday, January 14.

Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple administrative units into one. On Friday the Ministry signed Memoranda of Understanding to amalgamate two sets of schools. Hope Creek Methodist Primary School and Hope Creek Government Primary School were amalgamated under a Methodist management. The Minister signed on behalf of the Government of Belize and Ms. Pat Bennett signed on behalf of the Methodist Association. La Democracia Government Primary School and St. Agnes Anglican Primary School were amalgamated under an Anglican management. Marleen Leslie signed on behalf of the Anglican Association.

Friday may have only been the start of the amalgamation process. Minister Faber said that last year the Ministry drafted an amalgamation policy. He spoke of certain schools that he came across while touring the country as subjects for amalgamation. While the amalgamation of those four schools on Friday was relatively simple, that will not be the case in other scenarios. In both MOU’s signed on Friday one of the schools was controlled by government; therefore, it was not complex in terms of determining management. However, many of the most obvious cases for amalgamation include schools that are of different religious denominations. Determining management, rituals etc. will be an extremely complex issue. Until those can be addressed it is fair to say that amalgamation will be focused in circumstances where a government school is involved.     -1 1 0 40 1/20/2011 06:00:00 64 Shane D. Williams 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/20/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 6 0 867 robots= author= 2760 Acting Chief Justice on Dr. Conteh’s Retirement acting-chief-justice-on-dr-contehs-retirement Acting Chief Justice, Hon. Samuel Awich, on the retirement of former Chief Justice Dr. Abdulai Conteh: “There was nothing unconstitutional about that.”

In his address at the Opening of the Supreme Court session, the Acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court finally had an opportunity to publicly share his and perhaps the Bench’s views on the retirement of Dr. Abdulai Conteh. He said that when members of the Bar Association of Belize and some section of the press made much about the retirement of Chief Justice Conteh “Judges of the Supreme Court did not share their views.”

Justice Awich explained that it was confirmed to Dr. Conteh 11 months before his retirement date that his tenure would not be extended beyond retirement age. At last year’s opening of the Supreme Court, Dr. Conteh himself informed the gathering that he would retire on his retirement date. However, he continued in office for two months after he had reached that date.

Though he stayed beyond his retirement date, members of the Bar cried foul when it was time for him to leave. They raised the issue of ten pending cases that were being presided over by Dr. Conteh. Justice Awich said, “Those who made much noise about the retirement of Chief Justice Conteh might have hurt his purpose rather than helped it.” Dr. Conteh had ample time to conclude those cases. Of the two months in which he passed his retirement date, Dr. Conteh took five weeks leave outside Belize. This was after he took three weeks leave earlier in March of 2010 and another three weeks leave outside Belize three months prior in December of 2009. Justice Awich said, “It appears there was ample time to arrange work (conclude the cases) accordingly.”

As is tradition, judges rarely have the opportunity to express their views publicly. The fact that Justice Awich included such sentiments in his speech suggests that it was an issue he or other members of the Bench cared deeply about.

However, beyond Dr. Conteh’s retirement and Justice Awich’s temporary post, Belize currently has only six Justices of the Supreme Court and no Chief Justice. The Attorney General of Belize, Hon. B. Q Pitts, explained that the committee Prime Minister Barrow appointed to select candidates for Chief Justice is in the process of recommending a candidate. Though it is not called for in the constitution, Prime Minister Barrow granted different stakeholders the opportunity to be involved in the selection process.

The selection committee is comprised of the Attorney General as Chairman, President of the Bar Association, Jacqueline Marshalleck, Senior Counsels Derek Courtney and Michael Young and Chairman of the Public Services Commission, Pat Bernard. In terms of additional justices, Justice Michelle Arana will return from leave in mid-April. The appointment of two Australian judges to the judiciary has been delayed because of problems in identifying the two candidates. However, the Australian High Commissioner has assured government that the identification will be made in the next couple months. -1 1 0 40 1/20/2011 06:00:00 64 Shane D. Williams 0/0/0000 00:00:00 0 0 0/0/0000 00:00:00 1/20/2011 06:00:00 0/0/0000 00:00:00 show_title= link_titles= show_intro= show_section= link_section= show_category= link_category= show_vote= show_author= show_create_date= show_modify_date= show_pdf_icon= show_print_icon= show_email_icon= language= keyref= readmore= 1 0 5 0 943 robots= author= 2761 End of Corporal Punishment is Near end-of-corporal-punishment-is-near Corporal punishment is the infliction of physical pain upon an individual as punishment for doing something wrong. It may be the least productive form of punishment for a child. Flogging or beating often leads to physical abuse because after sometime an individual develops tolerance to a degree of blows. That causes the disciplinarian to increase the intensity causing serious injury. Corporal punishment causes mistrust, fear and hatred. Violence breeds violence; corporal punishment teaches kids to resolve disputes with violence.

There are several alternatives to corporal punishment that are more effective and productive. When children misbehave at home parents have developed several creative ways to punish them. They may either stop the child from going outside to play; watching television; playing games; listening to music and things of that sort. Taking away their favourite leisure activities have proved to be extremely effective. When translating that technique to school it may mean taking away recess privileges; keeping the child longer after school; banning the child from fun P.E. classes, school teams, school trips and other events. Such disciplinary actions are less barbaric and more galvanizing to children. It instills discipline and teaches them that good behaviour earns special privileges. That is the goal of this Ministry of Education under the leadership of Hon. Patrick Faber. The removal of corporal punishment in schools is very important to him.

It was on Friday, February 19, 2010 that somewhere between 15 to 25% of the Belize National Teacher’s Union’s members showed up to demonstrate in front of the House of Representatives. The union wanted to postpone the second and third reading of the Education and Training (amendment) bill which featured the removal of corporal punishment. The union claimed that they wanted a chance to consult – on a piece of legislation that boasts a year long national consultation process.

75% of the union members chose not to take part in the demonstration. Many who did take part had no idea what the issue of concern was. Some complained about Teaching Services Commission, pay raise and some outright said it was against the UDP crowd. Some of their chants were extremely rude. They shouted things like “Faber come out, Faber come out,”; “run over run over, please send Patrick right over,” and “Who needs lashing? Fabah! Who needs lashing…”

Minister Faber, a former teacher himself and due paying union member for ten years, heard those chants from the chamber of the National Assembly. He said, “It pains me- some of the remarks that they are shouting.”  Their motives, at the very least, were questionable. Days before that sitting of the House the Ministry took the union’s concerns into account and announced that the section dealing with corporal punishment will be reviewed for six months before implementation. A task force was established to recommend alternative methods of discipline during that time.

The removal of corporal punishment in schools had been on the table for decades. Now that it would finally become a reality, six months did not seem like such a long time to wait. However, eleven months have passed since the bill was approved and corporal punishment has still not been banned. On Friday, January 14, Minister Faber announced that a milestone was reached. He reported that the task force had concluded their exercise and “we have agreed on a way forward for the creation of safe, discipline, supportive schools in the context for the removal of corporal punishment as a means of discipline for our schools. Minister Faber is expected to sign a Statutory Instrument that lifts the suspension of the removal of corporal punishment in May of this year. The new policy will take effect at the beginning of the new school year in September. -1