belize times july 15, 2012

Sunday, July 15, 2012 THE BELIZE TIMES 1

Issue No. 4804SUNDAY July 15, 2012

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The goal is to raise $90,000

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SCAN HERE

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PUP laSheS oUt BogUS BUdget

Vega Land Orgy!Se

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THE MOTHER OF ALL SCHEMES!

WILL HEADS ROLL AT KHMH?

PUP LEADER’S HARD HITTING BUDGET DEBATE SPEECH

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

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Close family and friends of DPM hog up land in Cayo, Belize and Orange Walk Districts Residents to protest

lack of proper Police resources

Michael Finnegan

Rowan’s Historic Walk

starts Thursday

2 men executed in Corozal

Town

Alleged Sea Pirates face Attempted Murder Charges

Where have the Housing Millions gone??

Belize City, July 11, 2012For the first time in quite a while

Belizeans saw a robust, almost even-level discussion at the House of Repre-sentatives which had the Government-side cowering in the crevices of their benches, doing their best to dodge an effective assault launched by the Op-

position PUP members.The debate of the General Rev-

enue Appropriations Bill for 2012-2013 (Budget) began today Wednesday, July 11 2012 in Belmopan. The event was much anticipated, not only because it was the first budget presentation for the Barrow Administration who was

mistakenly returned to office with a ra-zor slim majority on March 7th, but also because the upper-hand once held by the UDP in the number of House seats has been cut significantly. From a ¾

majority held in House seats, the Bar-row Administrations only holds a slight majority with the Opposition having 14 of the 31 seats. This means no more lop-sided debates.

The debate started with a well-presented response from Opposition Leader Hon. Francis Fonseca, and it was clear that the ball game was differ-ent inside the National Assembly. The Opposition not only had size and mus-

Corozal Town, July 12, 2012An acute sense of fear and

insecurity has flooded Coro-zal Town after two men were fatally shot last night, in an execution-style assault. It is the second double murder in exactly a week in the normally quiet community.

Late-breaking news to the BELIZE TIMES is that the two men were ambushed by gun-fire around 10:30 last night, in an area not far from the south-ern entrance to Corozal Town.

Belize City, July 10, 2012While the UDP Government

is slicing and dicing the spend-ing allocations for important Ministries such as Education, Youth and National Security, one less-than-impactful Ministry

2 THE BELIZE TIMES Sunday, July 15, 2012

THE BELIZE TIMES

EDITOR

Alberto Vellos

OFFICE MANAGER

Fay Castillo McKay

PRINTING/PERSONNEL SUPERVISOR

Doreth Bevans

LAYOUT/GRAPHIC ARTIST

Chris Williams

STAFF REPORTER

Alton Humes

TYPIST

Rachel Arana

OFFICE ASSISTANT

Roberto Peyrefitte

Printed & Published ByTHE BElIzE TIMEs lTD.

#3 Queen StreetP.O. BOX 506

Belize City, BelizeTel: 671-8385

Email: [email protected]@yahoo.com

BAVIA holds multI-medIA symposIum

The Elite!

Rowan’s Historic Walk starts this Thursday

BELIZE CITY, Wednesday, July 11th, 2012By Alton Humes

Rowan Garel, the young soon-to-be high schooler born with a rare con-dition of his eyes that has rendered him utterly blind, is special in more ways than one. Firstly, he proved to be an excellent student at Humming-bird Elementary School where he went on to score among the top students in the Primary School Exam despite his ‘limitations’. Secondly, he donates his time to make sure those who are visu-ally impaired like him get the help they wouldn’t get elsewhere.

On the heels of last year’s amazing and unthinkable ascent (with the help of his father, Joe) of Belize’s tallest point, the Victoria Peak, Garel is about to make history yet again. He and his father, under the auspices of the Be-lize Council for the Visually Impaired (BCVI), are preparing to go on a 5-day, 90-mile trek labeled ‘Walk Across Be-lize’ starting on Thursday, July 12th, 2012.

The trek will see Garel and his dad journey from the western-most town of Benque Viejo del Carmen all the way to Belize City, arriving on July 16th, just in time to kick-off the annual BCVI Sum-mer Camp on Princess Margaret Drive. The goal of the walk is to raise funds of BZC$90,000 to continue the programs of BCVI, including the summer camps, purchasing braillers for ten students, conducting community rehabilitation for 60 students and additional support, as well as to raise general awareness.

The BELIZE TIMES chatted with BCVI spokesperson, Carla Ayres-Musa, who told us via phone yesterday that it felt like Rowan would not have made it to this day, as his condition, known as retinopathy of prematurity or ROP, con-tributed to continuous pressure (glau-coma) in one of his eyes, leading to it being removed and making him perma-nently blind. But like the strong, cou-rageous young man he’s always been and will always be, Rowan continues to serve as a true beacon of peace

and hope for the abled and differently-abled, and he decided to continue for this historic.

The BELIZE TIMES spoke with both Rowan and his father via phone today while they journey to Benque about their preparation. And suffice it to say, the father-and-son pair are men of the Shakespearean variety, hardy and un-deterred in their goals, with Joe telling us they feel ‘pretty good’ and ‘ready’ to walk. Each day, they’ll start at 5:00 a.m. in order to maximize their goals of mak-ing it to Belize City in time. Both Rowan and Joe admitted that they’ve prepared well before hand, be it through walking the length of Princess Margaret Drive, the Burrell Boom Cut-off road, or even the recent Cancer Walk some months ago. And while both say it will be ‘a little bit easier’ than Victoria Peak (where the boulders and crevices posed bigger problems than any disability), the most important thing is that they ‘hope to get a lot of support’ in the venture.

But for Rowan chiefly, he had this to say about accomplishing his goals: “Not just because you have a dis-

ability means you can’t do anything”, signaling just how serious he is in his commitment to helping fellow visually-impaired people, especially kids like him.

To get involved with the ‘Walk Across Belize’, you can donate either to Belize Bank Account #71096 or to ‘Walk Across Belize’ at PO Box 525, Princess Margaret Drive, Belize City. Or you can get out there and support in other ways – food, shelter, moral support, etc. Ei-ther way, you’ll be giving hope to many young people throughout Belize. We at the Belize TIMES certainly wish the pair good luck on their journey.

The Route: Day 1 / Thr. 12th JulyBenque Bor-

der – Santa ElenaDay 2 / Fri. 13th July

Santa Elena – BelmopanDay 3 / Sat. 14th July

Belmopan - Cheers RestaurantDay 4 / Sun. 15th JulyCheers -

HattievilleDay 5 / Mon. 16th JulyHattieville –

Camp / Belize City

Dear Editor,Inequality is rapidly rising in

this country, we are experienc-ing a growing gap between the rich and the poor and that’s a dangerous mix that will create a crisis in the future.

The potential for anarchy is going to be ripe if this trend continues. To whom much is given much is expected.

Those at the top are ris-ing at an accelerating speed, while those at the bottom are falling even deeper into the pit that is poverty. Remember cultural conditioning more than anything else molds human be-havior.

Questions!Why is no one questioning

what I can only describe as the vulgarization of our society?

No one, absolutely no one is questioning it, so it contin-ues. Music on the radio, on the TV and in what this society has come to accept. Now you have to remember we are a consumer society, so any filth that is put before us we will consume.

As a nation we must fear God. We need to have rever-ence for God, and let it be known, especially those among us who say they are Christians.

Thanks for printingM.L.G.

July 10, 2012The Belize Audio Visual Industry

Association (BAVIA) in collaboration with the Belize International Film Festi-val (BIFF) will be hosting a one day In-dustry Symposium on July 16th at the House of Culture in Belize City.

The full day symposium is an oppor-tunity for anyone involved or interested in the film, television, and audio-visual industry to come together to discuss ways to move this emerging dynamic sector of the Belize economy forward.

Two sessions with panel discus-sions are planned for the symposium. The morning session is “The Business of Animation” and will look at the op-portunities and potential for animators, designers, and companies to exploit the growing market for animated produc-

tions. The afternoon session is called “Nollywood, Bollywood or Holly-wood: Which model makes the most sense for Belize’s Film Industry?”. A panel of filmmakers and distributers will discuss which style of filmmak-ing would be the best fit for Belize.

BAVIA and BIFF have assembled an impressive line-up of panelists, including: Allen Hughes – director, The Book of Eli, From Hell, Dead Presidents, Menace II Society; Ca-mille Abrahams – festival director, Animae Caribe Animation and New Media Festival, Trinidad & Tobago; Frances-Anne Solomon – film-maker, writer, producer, distributor, Trinidad/Toronto; S. Torriano Berry – independent filmmaker, associ-ate professor Howard University;

and Matthiew Klinck – director 2012: Kurse a di Xtabia. Mat-thiew has worked in several countries around the world. He now resides full time in Belize.

Immediately following the morning session, BAVIA will be announcing the winners of our SHOW ME Animated Short Film Competition. Two grand prizes of $1000 each, courtesy of SMART Belize, will be awarded.

Registration will begin at 8:30AM on July 16th and the symposium is scheduled to run from 9:00AM until 3:15PM. Full details may be found on our web-site www.bavia.bz. Attendees are strongly encouraged to pre-register on-line via our website.


Mayor Bradley announces new

garbage tax

Belize City, July 11, 2012Over the next few weeks, the BE-

LIZE TIMES will be releasing what Beliz-eans can only describe as a scandalous land grab involving some big UDP big wigs and their political cronies.

Valuable land that could have been of much use to poor Belizeans for farm-ing and housing is being hogged up by greedy UDPs who are engaged in corrupt behaviour.

We start with the most scandalous of them all – a land orgy involving the Vega family and close friends. When Deputy Prime Minister and Orange Walk North Area Representative Gaspar Vega got up to speak in today’s budget de-bate, we listened keenly as he rambled on about the goings-on at the Ministry of Lands. When the special family land grab was exposed by PUP Corozal South East Area Representative Hon. Florencio Marin Jr. land, Vega denied the accusa-tion and said Hon. Marin had no basis for the allegation.

Well, Senior “Quitar”, not only did Hon. Marin have the evidence, but we did too, and now Belize will also.

There are no less than almost four dozen cases of land grab with the Vegas and cronies close to Gaspar Vega in the mix.

There is the parcel 260 in the Colo-nia San Diego Phase II area of San Pedro Town acquired by Ignacio Vega who is the brother of the Deputy Prime Minister. The land document was issued in Feb-ruary 2012, just two weeks before the March 7 elections. The land documents show that the DPM’s family was sold the land for a cheap price of only $1,500.

There are also the 10 acres of land in the Mountain Pine Ridge Area for the same Ignacio Vega. The land documents show that the land transaction also oc-curred before the recent elections.

There is more for Ignacio Vega, much more. Including 119.74 acres of land in the Carmelita Registration Section of the Or-ange Walk District which was purchased for a rock bottom price of $11,674.65 and sold on February 24 2012; a 26.38 acre parcel of land also in Carmelita Orange Walk; Parcel number 04319 in an undis-closed area of the Orange Walk District which was bought for only $300; 13.58 acres in the Indian Hill area in Orange Walk purchased for only $2,206.75; par-cel number 04308 in another unidentified area of Orange Walk sold to Ignacio Vega for only $800; parcel #01507 located in the Progresso Area of Corozal District sold for only $800; 43.58 acres of land in San Estevan Village acquired for an un-known price but the documents showing transfer to Ignacio Vega; in addition to an-other 25 acres in Carmelita Village.

It doesn’t end there for Ignacio Vega, who since June 1, 2012 holds possession of 9.9 acres of land in the Block 17 of the Mountain Pine Ridge area, along with an-other 9.95 in Block 41 of the same area. For comfort, Vega has also purchased parcel number 09475 in the San Pedro Town for only $2,000.

And then we move on to the other Vegas, a group of elite Belizeans who seem to have access to all the land in Belize.

Diana Rosado is the daughter of the Deputy Prime Minister. Could that be why and how she obtained 10.621 acres of land in the San Miguel Subdivision of Mountain Pine Ridge for a scandalous price of $975? The DPM’s daughter also purchased parcel 01042 of the Mount

Vega Land Orgy! Pleasant area for $2,500 along with par-cel 01816 in the Consejo Road area of Corozal for a sweet price of $1,940.

Next is Karen Vega of a Santa Lucia Street address in Orange Walk, who ob-tained parcel 04319 in the Orange Walk District for only $300. Once more, she gained possession of a land identified as Lot number 3 in Caye Caulker village and 13.58 acres of land in the Indian Hill area of Orange Walk which was bought for only $2,206.75.

Then it’s on to Omir Vega, who pur-chased 4 acres of land (Plan Number E12738) in the Burdon Canal Nature Re-serve of the Belize District. According to the land documents, the price of the land was originally $3,245.45 but this Vega got a discount and bought it for only $1,947.24. It was a similar low price, of $1,000, which this Vega also got a land, identified as parcel number 00486, in the Mount Pleasant area of the Cayo District.

Eduardo Vega is next in line with a se-ries of land possession including parcel 1 in San Jose Succotz Village, Cayo District; 24.766 in the Southeast area of Benque Viejo del Carmen; parcel number 01230 in the San Ignacio North area which was purchased for only $1,000; and 11 acres of land in the Mountain Pine Ridge Area.

Ronnie Vega obtained 2 parcels of land, one a 9 acre plot in the north side of the San Miguel Road in the Stann Creek District and the other in San Jose Succotz Village in the Cayo District. The document do not show payment of purchase price or lease cost.

The documents also Alma Vega ob-taining 55.15 acres of land along the sea coast of the Gales Point Manatee Area but no sign of cost; in addition to paying only $1,000 for parcel 01230 in the San Ignacio North area.

And from the Vega close family, the land sharing moves to the relatives which includes the Hernandez cousins.

The documents show Imer Her-nandez holding three parcels of land: 25 acres along the Mollejon Road in Cayo, 4 acres in the Burdon Canal Nature Reserve in the Belize District and parcel number 01565 in Benque Viejo del Carmen. All the transactions started in 2012.

Cousin Omar Hernandez of San Estevan Village’s ‘grabbings’ are more bountiful. It includes 6.92 acres of land in the Mountain Pine Ridge Area; parcels number 01088, 01093 and 01094 in San Estevan; 11 acres of land purchased for $1,547 in the Indian Hill area of Orange Walk; parcel number 01879 in the San Lazaro Housing Site in Orange Walk Town bought for only $1,000; and 35.2 acres of land in the Indian Hill area acquired for only $3,782.

Sharon Hernandez got 4.5 acres of land in the Burdon Canal Nature Reserve in the Belize District

We wish we say it ends there, but we’d be leaving out the close cronies. Derrick Gillett, a meat seller in Orange Walk whose recent most fame involved selling fish and expensive meat to the KHMH, has obtained 48.69 acres of land along the Northern Highway along with parcel number 04303 in Orange Walk Town.

Lindsay Jeffery, who is close to the hearts, was not left out. Jeffrey has taken hold of 10 acres of land in the Mountain Pine Ridge Area; along with parcel num-ber 3 and 4 in the San Jose Succotz Vil-lage.

The list is long, we know, but we be-lieve the transgressions of this UDP ring of family and cronies, which likely don’t end here, must be exposed. While the BELIZE TIMES has obtained these docu-ments, we understand more exists that could reveal an endless scandal at the Ministry of Lands.

Next week we’ll expose even more.


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US millionaire says Barrow is covering up GSU’s unjustified attack

UnPoPUlar UdPUDP Minister’s company carries out oil exploration, insurance, real estate, media services, banking, finance and investment…and much more

POLice arrest man fOr

firing gun near church

the mother of all SchemeS!

The men, one of them identi-fied as Robert Hernandez and the other only identified as Kenneth, are well known in the community. Hernandez was shot dead on the spot, while Kenneth passed away while receiving emergency treat-ment. Both men reportedly had multiple gunshot wounds.

Residents were just recover-ing from the double murder of mother and daughter, 35 year-old Clari Celine and 18 year-old Shan-ny Fredersdorf which occurred at the family-owned hotel, Paradise Bay Villa last Wednesday night.

In response to the unusual spate of crime, the Citizens’ Coali-tion for a Better Corozal group has planned a protest march through the streets of Corozal this Satur-day.

The group said it must show stern disapproval for the unsafe neighbourhoods, “the lack of se-nior police officers and person-nel, the lack of police vehicles, and the increase in senseless violence and crime in this com-munity”.

The protest will start at 9:00am in front of the Corozal Town Hall.

2 men executed in Corozal

TownWhere have the Housing

Millions gone??which has received an inflated budget every year is the Ministry of Housing.

Since the UDP took office, there has been no housing project and no housing policy. In fact, more people are losing their homes, and at a rapid pace.

Yet, the Ministry of Housing has reported spending of millions of dollars every year.

In 2008-2009, it had a Budget al-location of $2,913,619.

In 2009-2010, its total Budget allo-cation ballooned to $16,007,640.

In 2010-2011 allocation remained at a high with $10,603,973.

In 2011-2012, the budget was $7,281,775.

Now the estimated total reve-nue for this year’s Housing budget is $2,514,219.

In the 5 years of the UDP, the Housing Ministry has spent a total of a whopping $39,321,226!

At a modest $10,000 per home, that should be almost 40,000 homes, but where are they?

Today, the Ministry of Housing un-der the UDP is but a shell of the ro-bust Ministry it once was under the PUP. Today it only hires about 11 Public Officers at the Ministry and 15 at the

Housing Department, for whom it spends over $700,000.

The bulk of the spending for salaries goes under an allocation for “Unestablished Staff” which is an-other term for “political cronies”. The Ministry of Housing will spend near-ly $500,000 here. Can you imagine this waste?

On top of that the Budget book says the Minister is paid on contract for $81,000 plus $28,000 in allow-ances.

The Ministry also hires an “Ur-ban Development Planner” who will be paid $25,652 but who is not needed because no urban planning is taking place, not here in Belize City at least.

To top it all off, the Ministry has allocated almost $60,000 for tele-phone calls.

All that money for a defunct Ministry of Housing that only exists to give one no-good Minister a plush salary and a means to keep paying his cronies and lackeys happy, or should we say “moving on up like the Jeffersons”?

Yet, teachers, police officers, doctors, fire fighters and nurses can’t get a salary increase.

Belize City, July 9, 2012

Someone must investigate UDP Minister Pablo Marin and do so fast! The Corozal Bay politician, who is an electrician but has served as the Minister of Health for the past five years, has gotten away with produc-ing below-average

Former Tourism CEO, Mike SinghMinister of Health Pablo Marin

health services for Belizeans. Marin now appears to have a thing for anomalous practices, and this time it’s bigger than just mixing apples and oranges, or in his case light bulbs and hospitals.

Marin has started a company that is seemingly ALL purpose. From oil exploration, to radio services, and insurance, Marin’s company called “UMuzik Limited” can do it all, ac-cording to documents found at the Companies Registry. What is wrong with that, you may ask. Well, every-thing! Companies in Belize are al-lowed to operate with specific ob-jectives. For example Bowen and Bowen Ltd. is strictly in the business of soft drinks and juices; it doesn’t venture into fuel, cable and a bar-rage of other products. Similarly, Vibes Radio is in the business of ra-

dio, not stock exchange and fishing, etc.

But Marin seems to have something sin-ister up his sleeves. In October 2011 he registered UMuzik, a limited company with almost unlimited capa-bilities. According to the company’s docu-ments, it has up to 60 objects that run across a wide gamut of ser-vices including media; oil and mineral explo-ration; insurance; real estate; banking; finance and investment; hotel and restaurant; and even construction and mainte-nance of roads, bridges, canals and even railways.

A few months ago, Marin opened a radio station at his residence

in the Santa Rita Layout in Corozal and called it UMuzik FM. This radio station is now benefitting from advertisement paid for by the UDP Govern-ment with tax payers’ money.

Next, Marin could likely apply for a license to explore for oil in the pristine bay of Corozal and Oceana in Belize may certainly find it concern-ing.

This is the kind of scheme that raises red flags. What is Marin re-ally up to? He may know how to wire a house and change light bulbs, but he has proven to be an igno-ramus in everything else. It must be an offence to declare false representa-tion of a company. Such a

thing may be consid-ered a fraud.

And then we dis-covered where the office for UMuzik is. It is registered at #1 Mapp Street, which is the same location as BTALCO Limited, a company which

was once under investigation for finan-cial wrongdoing. BTALCO is headed by Michael Singh, the UDP crony who is known for his insatiable greed and mis-trustful behaviour.

The two together seem to be a dangerous mix, and we better keep a watchful eye and hope the relevant authorities don’t just dance to Marin’s music.

Cayo District, July 10, 2012Police have arrested 20 year old

Melvin Choc, a 20 year old farmer of Armenia Village, for firing a firearm in public.

On July 8th, residents called the Police and reported that they heard multiple shots being fired. When the cops arrived, their investigations led them to Choc, who allegedly had pulled out his licenses 12 gauge shot-gun and fired it. He was near a Church.

While Choc was being escorted to the Police station inside the Po-lice vehicle, the cops’ attention was drawn to another male person who was standing on the road with what appeared to be a gun in his hand.

The Police say when the male per-son saw them he dropped the weap-on-like object and ran. They sought him immediately and detained him.

He is 25 year old Allen Herman Peck, a BDF volunteer, who was ar-rested for the object which Police say was a shotgun.


HARD HITTINGThe retirement of veteran union leader George Frazer could not have come at a worst time. The Union’s patience and endurance of the Barrow Administration’s disrespect is at a boiling point. The Unions had made some kind of pact with the UDP Government in 2008, in return for respect and a salary raise for workers. But neither of the two has been granted, and as Barrow presents his 5th Budget, teachers and public officers are being told to settle for discipline after five years of struggling with the same wages but in much harder economic conditions.

Mr. Frazer is the no nonsense type of union leader. He has said he has had enough of the meetings and the disrespect. He has said it is time for action. But despite his seniority in the Union leadership, Mr. Frazer’s voice is lost among other voices, some which belong to so-called union leaders who are badly compromised with cushy positions and perks. We won’t call names, for these persons know who they are. They care less about what they are supposed to be doing, and who they are supposed to be fighting for. What matters to them is that meeting stipend at the end of the month, and that scholarship that comes at a price.

This awful and selfish compromise is what is hurting the union’s leadership and is harming the workers’ chances to get the salary raise they so much deserve. It is clear in the face of the deafening silence coming out of the union leaders, even as Barrow prepares to pass his Budget with no intent on raising the salaries of workers. What makes all of this alarming are Barrow’s spins; his ability to telling half-truths and red lies and how easy they are swallowed.

The same Barrow who promised a raise in 2008 is now telling Belizean workers that they must be satisfied with a meager increment, and that there will be no more salary raises? He then appears before media houses and nobody dares to ask him why he de-ceived union leaders. No one asked him why the only one being disciplined by his budget are Belizeans. No one asked him why it is so easy for him to spend $18 million between January and March to buy his way into winning an election, but when it comes to helping Belizeans and easing the pain out here, he says ‘no way’.

Oh, if only George Frazer was in his hey days. Emperor Barrow would be asking for mercy. The Unions would be true unions, and the workers would not be forced to live in despair. Won’t anyone else dare to take a stand?

At least the workers know they have the support of the Leader of the People’s United Party Leader Francis Fonseca. Hon. Francis has called for genuine and meaningful dia-logue between the unions and government and has also stated the PUP’s support for workers’ salary increases. The Leader of the Opposition has called out the UDP’s deceit and even pointed out that Barrow could have paid Belizeans workers instead of wasting money on luxury SUVs for Ministers, paying family lawyers, paying gang members and on giveaways to have influence on the outcome of the elections.

Mr. Barrow, our teachers ain’t fools. They have waited long enough. Take heed in the words of Bob Marley, “Every day the bucket a-go a well, one day the bottom a-go drop out”.

half truths and red lies



Armed duo terrify Columbia Village residents

Continued on page 8

another government

vehicle stolen

Opposition consults social partners on Budget

PUP laSheS oUt BogUS BUdget

cle, but it also had intense enthusiasm and its leader led the way.

Preening open Barrow’s late-in-coming Budget, PUP Leader Hon. Francis exposed that there was noth-ing in it for Belizeans who were hoping for relief in these hard times.

“The Hon. Member for Queens Square is presenting his fifth bud-get to the nation as Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and he is still whining and finding excuses for why he cannot grow the economy, create jobs for our people, attract in-vestment to Belize, and bring down the cost of living,” stated Hon. Fran-cis.

The Opposition Leader said those excuses –global economic conditions, a decline in oil revenue and the super-bond – had no merit.

He reminded the Prime Minister than in introducing last year’s budget he spoke of a Belize that was “free to fly”, ready to celebrate the achieve-ments of the UDP administration. But the promises foretold seemed to have fizzled as they are totally absent in this year’s Budget. Instead, the Prime Min-ister has warned Belizeans to brace for discipline, tough times. No flying, no soaring.

“Mr. Speaker, what happened between all that big talk last year and this year, and just how real are these excuses? What happened was more UDP incompetence and inac-tion. What happened was a failure on the part of this UDP government to launch critical capital investment projects. What happened was a UDP government without any plan or sense of urgency to drive exports. What happened was a UDP govern-ment proven to be totally incapable of attracting foreign direct invest-ment to Belize. What happened was a petty, arrogant, clueless UDP gov-ernment unwilling to consult and engage with the private sector,” re-marked the Leader of the Opposition.

The Prime Minister, unable to han-dle the heat, jumped off his seat to rail up when Hon. Francis also reminded him of his own admittance of chronic incompetence.

“It was only three months be-fore the general elections Mr. Speak-er, that the Prime Minister, worried about his political fortunes, was forced to convene a Business Forum, at which the only memorable mo-ment came when the PM held his head in his hands and in a moment of absolute candor and frustration mumbled, ‘no wonder people say we are incompetent, and 9 times out of 10 they are correct’.”

Clearly embarrassed, the Prime Minister fumbled for words and made

the gravest of errors when he accused the Opposition Leader of dishonesty. The Prime Minister was caught in his own lie; and he knew it. He had indeed uttered his own judgment of failure, on November 23, 2011 when he scolded his former Agriculture CEO for lan-guishing in heavy bureaucracy and for being a living example of what is fun-damentally wrong with the UDP Gov-ernment. “…people have this per-ception that we are incompetent in Government, and 9 times out of 10 they are correct,” Barrow had stated.

The Opposition Leader pointed out that if the UDP Government had any sort of purpose and direction, Belize’s economy would have been healthier and opportunities would have been created for Belizeans.

“Instead, we have a Govern-ment focused on institutionalizing poverty and dependency,” he said.

He cited the many unlocked oppor-tunities that exist from collaborating with the private sector, and developing the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Offshore, Finan-cial, Real Estate sector.

“Belize has 8,867 square miles or 5,674,880 acres of land, 12 miles of territorial sea, 200 miles of exclusive economic zone, untold petroleum resources and other valuable min-erals, and the skill and ingenuity of an over 130,000 strong labor force. To maximize economic growth we need to competently and efficiently use all of these resources and com-parative advantages.”

In a feeble attempt to distract from the issues raised by Hon. Francis, the UDP Area Representative for Belmo-pan John Saldivar went on an almost one-hour tirade about Belize not being able to compare to other developing countries. According to Saldivar Belize is just fine in the lower levels of de-velopment achieved by the UDP Gov-ernment, and the Opposition Leader’s challenge to aim for higher is hogwash.

Saldivar was unimpressive and was so unprepared in his delivery that he forgot to discuss what should have been his number one priority - the Min-istry of National Security. Of course, even if he had remembered that he was the National Security Minister at a time when Belize has the 5th high-est murder rate in the region, there is nothing he could have reported on but Budget cuts for the Ministry of National Security. Even the financial support for the much-needed forensics unit which Prime Minister Barrow had promised five years ago is getting slashed.

The Budget debate will continue on Thursday with presentations from the remaining parliamentarians and an expected glitter and no substance clos-ing remarks by Prime Minister Dean O. Barrow.

THE WORLD IS READING THE BELIZE TIMES

www.belizetimes.bz

Cayo District, July 10, 2012Another Government vehicle was stolen but the incident was

kept secret from the public.This time the vehicle, a 2012 Great Wall Wingle, was assigned to

the Forestry Department in Belmopan. It was stolen from the Forestry Department parking lot and me-

chanic shop in Belmopan on Sunday just before midnight.The security watchman told Police that he was assaulted by two

masked men who beat him, gagged him and tied him up. He said the men emptied a container where the employees keep the vehicle keys. They selected the Wingle keys then left in the vehicle.

Police say they believe the men were really after a Toyota Hilux which was also in the compound at the time.

Luckily, Police eventually found the stolen Wingle abandoned in Camalote village near the cemeter. The key was left in the ignition.


Humor in UDP Politics!

The following matters were discussed in Cabinet:• CabinetmembersaskedtheCabSecwhatwerethe

serious changes in the budget and if he could name one thing they should be most proud about. “Well,” said the Cabinet Secretary, “we got nothing much to offer but we must give thanks that Melvin Hulse is not in the Flippin House to ramble away about it”.

• SantinowasaskedwhyhetakesaRedBulltoHousemeetings and places it where everyone can see. He replied, “because unlike the jankro wings Prime Minister, I have real wings that could fly”.

• Saldivarwasaskedhowhecouldmakethebigmis-take of talking for almost an hour and not say a single thing about the Ministry of National Security. He explained that he didn’t eat garnaches that morning, so he was full of pure hot air.

• WhenCastroheardthestoryabouttheGuatemalanhorses used to patrol the border, he texted Sedi asking that they let him know next time so they become part of Team Clear the Land.

• The Speaker of the House was heard asking thePrime Minister if he’d be allowed to use Tasers in the House. When asked what he needed it for, the Speaker responded because a certain member from Collet just

doesn’t know when to shut up.• Penner had towrite an essay explainingwhy he

was late at yet another House Meeting. He explained that he overslept since he had stayed up late the night before preparing Visa papers for next year’s airport arrivals.

• Longsworthwasasked ifhewillgivea reportonthe Marion Jones Stadium and the million-dollar project he promised at Berger Field. He said he will speak on the Berger Field project and announce the budget for the fence.

In other related matters:- During an interview with Prensa Libre over the ref-

erendum and issues in Belize, Sedi was asked to explain Barrow’s budget. Trying to impress the young female re-porter, Sedi said “mucho palabras, mucho palabras”.

- The Mayor of Belize City was asked what the planned to do with all the bad streets. He said they will stay as is and city residents will just have to pick and choose the cement streets to walk or drive on.

- Boots was asked how he intends to cover his pledge with Mrs. Barrow project should the OPEC money, like the Russian goodies, doesn’t come true. Before Boots could answer, the Cabinet Secretary said “let me answer this for him. My friend got a few pool tables that we can sell”.

- Cabinet was interrupted by a disturbed call from Companies Registry about a new company being regis-tered with the name “Puppet Master”. He asked who the Directors are, “Hall Mark and Zinc Fence?” “No”, said the caller, “it is Judas and Iscariot”.


No Justice!

alleged sea Pirates face attempted murder charges

THE WORLD IS READING THE BELIZE TIMES

www.belizetimes.bz

Jury Acquits Ronlee Petillo of Attempted

Murder

Mother of four condemns acquittal of four men accused of murdering her

common-law husband

Duo accused of ambushing vessel and assaulting Sarteneja men while out at sea

Glenford Matura Jr.

Ronlee Petillo Sherwin Moore Brenton Brackett

BELIZE CITY, Wed. July 11, 2012By Roy Davis

Lisa Tracey, the common-law wife of Glenford Matura Jr., cried hysteri-cally yesterday when she was told that Lionel Neal, 27 and Michael Kerr, 20, were found not guilty of the murder of her husband.

Tracey, a widow mother of four, was in the Court Marshall’s office, located next to the Supreme Court, when she got the sad news.

“There is no justice”, she said with the tears streaming down her face.

Matura, an employee of Belize Maintenance Limited (BML), was shot and killed around 7:30 a.m. on March 10, 2010. He was working on Euphra-tes Avenue near to its junction with Dean Street when two persons rode up to him on bicycles. According to the allegation, Kerr held Neal’s bicycle while Neal fired several shots at Ma-

tura.The only eye witness was Denfield

Tasher, who is currently an inmate at Belize Central Prison.

The prosecution’s case fell apart when Tasher took the stand and said that he was at home at the time of the incident.

Tasher had given the police a state-

ment in which he identified Neal as the person he saw shot Matura. But when Crown Counsel Sharmela Williams, who represented the prosecution, asked him about the statement he said he could not remember what he told the police officer who had recorded the statement. Only the officer was with him at the time.

Tasher said that he did not read the statement and the statement was not read to him. He was given the state-ment to read while he was on the wit-ness stand and he said that the state-ment does not contain anything that he told the officer.

In addition to that, Tasher said he saw his name on the statement but the signature was not his.

Without Tasher’s testimony about the incident the prosecution did not have any case Attorney Alifa Elrington Hyde submitted that the prosecution has not proven that it was the accused persons who committed the offence and as a result a prima facie case has been established against her clients and they do not have a case to answer to.

The trial judge, Justice Adolph Lu-cas, upheld the submission and he di-rected the jury of 9 women and 3 men to return a formal verdict of not guilty for both accused.

Justice Lucas said Tasher had tak-en the court for a fool, a puppet show and from the time Tasher took the wit-ness stand he knew that Tasher was going to be a hostile witness.

Tasher, he said, came to court to play “Bush Lawyer”.

“Justice is for the public’s inter-est and Justice is for the state of Be-lize”, said Justice Lucas.

He chided the prosecution counsel for not entering a nolle prosequi which would have enabled the prosecution to “bring back the case” at a later date, especially since a new law will soon be enacted which will allow statements by witnesses, who refuse to testify, to be admitted as evidence.

Although Neal and Kerr were ac-quitted of murder only Kerr was set free. Neal was kept in custody be-cause of a dispute concerning a bail he got for a charge of attempted murder, in an incident which occurred about 6 years ago for which trial is still pending.

Before Tasher took the witness stand, only one witness, Scenes of Crime technician Audrey Cleland testi-fied for the prosecution. She described the blood and the expended shells she saw and collected when she pro-cessed the scene and the photographs she took were tendered as exhibits into evidence.

BELIZE CITY, Tues. July 10, 2012By Roy Davis

Ronlee Petillo, 24, who charged with the attempted murder of Stack-le Monsanto, was acquitted of the charge today in the court of Justice Herbert Lord.

Monsanto was shot several times around 9:10 p.m. on April 7, 2009.

The case for the prosecution fell apart when Monsanto, its first wit-ness, took the witness stand and said he does not know who shot him. Monsanto said he only thought that the shooter was Petillo.

Monsanto testified that he was walking on Allenby Street when his assailant rode up to him on a bicycle and began to fire shots at him. Mon-santo said he ran and he collapsed behind St. Ignatius Church, then the police came and took him to Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.

Monsanto was shot in his right shoulder, lower back, right leg and right foot. He said the bullet is still lodged in his right leg.

Monsanto admitted that he gave the police a statement in which he identified Petillo as the gunman but in the witness box he refused to identify Petillo as the person who

shot him.Because Monsanto did not

identify Petillo there was no evi-dence against him. So after the prosecution closed its case, hav-ing called only one witness, Jus-tice Lord directed the jury of 9 to return a formal verdict of not guilty.

But although Petillo was ac-quitted of attempted murder he was not freed because he is re-manded at Belize Central Prison for another charge.

Petillo was not represented by an attorney.

Senior Crown Counsel Cecil Ramirez represented the prosecu-tion.

BELIZE CITY, Tues. July 10, 2012By Roy Davis

Two Dangriga residents, Bren-ton Brackett and Sherwin Moore, who the police believe were two of four sea pirates who ambushed a vessel and shot one of the occu-pants, were charged with 3 counts of attempted murder and 6 other of-fences when they appeared today in the #1 Magistrate’s Court.

The other offences included 1 count of burglary, 1 count of danger-ous harm, 1 count of use of deadly means of harm, 1 count of robbery, 1 count of aggravated assault and 1 count of handling stolen goods.

Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith did not take a plea because the offences are indictable. Neither could she offer the defendants bail because of the nature of the of-fences. She remanded them into custody until August 28.

The charges arose from an in-cident which occurred on July 3, at Colston Range Caye in the Stann Creek District.

Police reports are that a fisher-

man, Cornelio Verde, 60, was in his fish-ing boat with his two sons when they were approached by four men in another boat who asked them for fuel.

The four men produced firearms resembling AK 47 assault rifles and or-dered Cornelio and his sons to jump overboard. As they complied they were shot and Cornelio was shot between his buttocks and thigh. They were then instructed to get back into the boat and were escorted to camp at Colston Caye.

Cornelio was robbed of several items which included his spear gun, Sprat net, fuel tank, wrist watch and $650.

At the fishing camp the gunmen en-tered Cornelio’s residence and they stole a number of items which amounted to $9,570 in value.

The gunmen also committed an ag-gravated assault with firearm on Fran-cisco Cho.

The police reported that on July 6 they went to Southern Long Caye and they detained Brackett and Moore. They also reported that they recovered one of the stolen items, a stainless steel propel-ler.

Two other suspects are still at large.


This Week’sTOP MODEL

BELIZETIMES SUNDAY JULY 15, 2012see full color at www.belizetimes.bz or Facebook/ Belize Times

Make-Up

tipsBy Tania Tanesha (E-mail: [email protected], Cell: (501) 604-0736)

Let’s face it: your face’s expression is a dead giveaway of how you feel. Lighter-complexioned persons are easily sold out by their faces. Blushing is one way. When a person blushes, a flow of blood rushes to the face making their cheeks seem pink or even red. It actually makes the skin glow and really brings out that person’s complex-ion. The same happens in makeup when one applies blush.

In general, blush is applied for an at-tractive luminescence which is typically on the rosy or peachy end. There are different types of blushes that come in different tex-tures which have different applications.

- Powder blush - Great for all skin types, but best for oily skin and anyone looking for long-lasting color (it’s the dens-est and most common form of blush). Ap-ply with a brush and blend well.

- Cream blush - Better suited for dry skin because of its rich, moisturizing ingre-dients. It is best applied with the fingers. It’s also dense, but let’s your skin show through.

- Tint blush - Like gel blush, fast-drying and can look streaky over founda-tion. Blend it fast and blend it well with your fingers or a synthetic makeup brush. Once it sets, it won’t budge until you wash it off.

Take into consideration your skin-tone. A foolproof way to choose your blush shade is to find one identical to the flush-shade on your cheeks when you are flustered. You can find out by touching your toes for two minutes or walking up a flight of stairs. That shade of red or pinkish hue on your cheeks is the right shade of blush to buy.

Another tip is to pick a color that is close to your own skin tone. Typically, darker skin tones benefit from burgundy or wine-col-ored blush colors, while lighter skin tones will be enhanced by pinkish hues.

You can also match it with your current lip color. If you favor pink tones for your lips, it’s likely that a pink blush color will also work well on your cheeks. Likewise, corals and peach-tones on the lips will look better with Peach or coral blushes.

Note: Try on blush when you’re finished applying all your makeup. If the color is too intense, wipe with a cosmetic sponge. If you’re not wearing makeup, test the blush inside the forearm.

Easy ways to apply blush:1. Make a cute fishy-face to identify

where your cheekbones are. Suck in your cheeks as if you’re gearing up for a kiss. Start from below the cheekbone and brush outwards along the cheekbone, towards the hairline. Make sure to blend. This meth-od is sure to give your face a slimmer ap-pearance.

2. If you’re going for a rosy look and want to enhance your cheeks. Before apply-ing your blush-smile! Smiling brings out the apple of your cheeks. Brush on the blush just halfway onto the apples of your cheek going out towards the hairline. Make sure to blend properly and you’re set for a glowing, beautiful face forward.

CATWALK FASHIONSWhat’s Hip...What’s Hot...What’s Now!

Phone: 203-2936 / 620-7481#148 Cor. Queen & North Front Streets

Belize City, Belize

Tanya• CareerPlan: Teacher/Model• Sign:Cancer• FavouriteFood:Chicken

Wings• Likes:Modelling, softball and

listening to music• LivesinCrookedTreeVillage• Fav.Quote:“Every cloud

has a silver lining”


Belize City Softball CompetitionEdge, Warriors, Yabra &

Kruzzars lead Sprite/Belikin 3x3 basketball

Orchid Blazers BlOws away

hurricanes 17-10

19th Caribbean Cup and the 6th America’s Cup darts championships

Belikin Men’s Open 3x3 basketball competition

BEL

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SPO

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Belize to host 6th America’s

Cup & 19th Caribbean Cup darts

championshipsBelize City, July 8, 2011

Belize’s best darts play-ers will be going up against the finest in the region at the 19th Caribbean Cup and the 6th America’s Cup darts championships to be hosted by the Belize Darts Federa-tion at the Best Western Be-lize Biltmore Plaza Hotel from July 20-30.

Team Belize comprises of Omar Guerrero, Dimas Guer-rero, Mario Graniel, Ricky Manzano and George Eiley of San Pedro, Valentin Marin,

Jim Novelo, Wilbur Perez and Emmanuel Gabourel of Caye Caulker, and Theo-dore Lennon and David Cortez of the Cayo district.

In the women’s com-petition Melanie de Paz, Cecilia Joseph and Marie Osmon of Caye Caulker will represent, along with Lorena Guerra and Elvira Meighan of Belize City and Felicia Hulse from Cayo.

The rest of the field in the competition comes from the Bahamas, Bermu-

da, Brazil, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Turks & Caicos Islands, the Cayman Islands, Jamai-

ca, Guyana, Puerto Rico, and St. Lucia for a week of grueling action to determine the best in the region and in the hemisphere.

Belize City, July 7, 2012Edge, Warriors, and Yabra are lead-

ing the Belikin Men’s Open 3x3 basket-ball competition organized by the Belize Basketball Federation and the Belize District Basketball Association, while the Kruzzars are leading the under-18 Sprite 3x3 basketball competition which began at the Riverside Tavern parking Lot in Belize City on Saturday, July 7.

Edge enjoys 3 winsEdge’s Isani Enriquez, Jamir En-

riquez, Kenroy Usher and Jason Hyde posted three wins, edging past the Architects: Denford Bevans, Chris and Greg Mollard 11-8, then they held bas-ketball clinic for Taiwan’s Andy Chan, Rei Lee, Aries Lin and Jason Lin: 14-9, and they cooled off the Heats’ Michael Mu-rillo, Stanis Thomas, Ensworth Tzul and Jacob Westby to post a 12-6 win.

Warriors’ three-peat victoryWarriors’ Marcel Orosco, Wilfred

Richards Ervin Orosco and Frederick Gabourel had no trouble edging past Yabra’s Vince Estrada, Angus Cher-rington, Darren Neal and Cassian Flow-ers in their first encounter 16-15. The Warriors would also crush the Taiwan squad: 21-9 and also posted their third victory over the Heats.

Yabra serves revengeYabra’s Vince Estrada, Angus Cher-

rington, Darren Neal and Cassian Flow-ers had better luck in a 19-11 victory over the Taiwan boys, after leading 6-4 in the first period, and went on to post a 16-8 win over the Architects and also enjoyed an 18-8 win over the Edge squad.

Kruzzars’ defeats competitionKruzzars’ Devin Daly, Tariq Middle-

ton, Brian White and Frederick Williams blew away the Heats’ Alejandro Baptist,

Lincey Lopez, Kyle Middleton, and Win-ston Reynolds 10 -7 in their first encoun-ter, and the Kruzzars cruised past the Heats: 16-12 in the rematch.

The Heats posted a 17-12 win against Taiwan.

The tournament was interrupted by the weekend’s downpour at this point, so the remaining games of the first round will be played at a later date, while the tournament’s Orange Walk leg of the national Sprite/Belikiin 3x3 basketball tour, scheduled for Sunday, July 8, also had to be postponed this coming weekend.

Belize City, July 6, 2012The Orchid Blazers humbled

the Hurricanes 17-10 when they meet at the softball field at the Roger’s Stadium in Belize City on Thursday night July 5.

Kiri Lizama scored the Hurri-canes’ first run against the Blaz-ers in the top of the 1st inning,

but the Blazers took over the lead 6-1 when Ashley Lucas, Fiona Rivero, Jolene Davis, pitcher Nicole Arnold, Georgia Williams and Latoya Belisle came home in the bottom of the 1st.

No runs scored in the 2nd in-ning, and the Hurricanes tied the ball game 6-6 when Kiri Lizama, Tyra Moriera, Kira Arnold, Kesilyn Lizama

and Tiffara Welch came home in the top of the 3rd inning. The Hurri-canes gave up no runs to the Blazers in the bottom of the 3rd, and their lead grew to 9-6 when Moriera, Kira Ar-nold and Kesilyn came home in the top of the 4th inning.

The Blazers took over the lead 13-9, when Ashley Lucas homered in the bot-tom of the 4th, and Rivero, Davis, Nicole Arnold, Hortencia Rich-ards, Jahneka Hilton and Pauline Bradley fol-lowed her home in the bottom of the 4th.

Hurricanes’Bianca Mcfadzean scored their 10th run in the top of the 5th inning, but the Blazers’ Ashley Lu-cas, Rivero, Davis and Arnold came home in the bottom of the 5th to secure the 17-10 win.

Felicia Richards Theodore Lennon

Winston Reynolds scores

Fiona Rivero made 3 runs


QTc OuTlasTs Tuff e’nuff, 71-64

Telemedia win in Belize City

women’s softballB

ELIZ

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#1 S

POR

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The latest on NBA Trades

2012 Belize City interoffice basketball semifinals

Belize City, July 6, 2012The Telemedia women shut-out Mirab Lady Rebels

7-0 on Friday night, July 6.Telemedia’s pitcher Mary Flowers stuck out four

batters to give up no runs, while Rebels’ pitcher lanisha Jones also struck out four batters, allowing no runs in the first three innings, until Barbara Cadle scored the first winning run in the fourth inning.

The Telemedia women extended their lead to 3-0 as Lydia Cacho and Erline Belisle scored in the top of the fifth inning. Belisle, Elaine Humes, Kaylie Mcfadzean and Kimani Williams scored four more runs in the top of the sixth for the 7-0 victory.

July 11, 2012Brooklyn Nets re-signed G Deron Williams to a 5-year

contract and F Gerald Wallace to a four-year contract.Toronto Raptors traded G Kyle Lowery to Toronto for

F Gary Forbes and an unspecified first-round draft pick. Signed C Marcus Camby and traded him to New York for G Toney Douglas, C Josh Harrellson, C Jerome Jordan and two unspecified second-round draft picks.

Los Angeles signed F Blake Griffin to a five-year con-tract extension.

Miami Heats signed G Ray Allen and F Rashard Lewis.Milwaukee Bucks signed G Doron Lamb.New York Knicks signed G-F James White.Phoenix Suns signed G Steve Nash and traded him to

the L.A. Lakers for 2013 and 2015 first-round draft picks and 2013 and 2014 second-round draft picks.

Sacramento Kings re-signed F Jason Thompson.San Antonio Spurs re-signed F Tim Duncan.Brookyn Nets signed G Tyshawn Taylor.Golden State Warriors signed F Festus Ezeli. Thursday,

July 5, 2012Cleveland Cavaliers signed G Dion Waiters and C Tyler

Zeller.Indiana Pacers Signed F Miles Plumlee.

Belize City, July 5, 2012Quan’s Trading Company top-

pled the favorites, Tuff E’Nuff, in Game 1 of the 2012 Belize City interoffice basketball semifinals at Bird’s Isle on Thursday, July 5.

Quan’s Trading Company upset Tuff E’Nuff 71-64. QTC’s Kachief Thomas, arguably Belize’s best u-20 point guard, scored 24 points and snagged 3 rebounds as QTC led 19-16 at the end of the 1st quarter.

QTC’s Vince Garbutt added 16 points, 10 boards, while Godsden Ferguson tossed in 8pts to lead 34-25 at the half.

Tuff E’Nuff’s Raul Roches had come to play ball and led with 17 points, 12 boards while Farron

Louriano played big D in the paint adding 13 points but it was not enough to hurt QTC who led 51-47 by the end of the 3rd quarter.

Tyrone “Joke” Edwards tried to regain the lead for Tuff e’Nuff as he tossed in seven points, while Jamal Kelly hit a 3-pointer to add six points and Ashton Edwards also drained in a single 3-pointer in their loss.

Game 2 of the series come up on Friday, July 13, and Game 3, if necessary, will be played on Satur-day, July 14.

2nd Semi-Finals GameAlamilla’s Furniture vs. C.Y.D.P.

– 65-61Top scorers: Greg “Chippy”

Rudon, 25 pts; Brandon Rogers, Kevin Lorenzo, 8ptsKachief Thomas scored 24pts

Vince Garbutt scored 13pts

Elain Humes Lydia Cacho scored BTL’s 1st run

Ray Allen joins the Miami Heats

Steve Nash joins the LA Lakers


Leader of the Opposition Hon. Francis W. Fonseca’s

Presentation on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2012-2013JULY 11, 2012

As always, Mr. Speaker, I am deeply hum-bled and honored by the trust and confidence the good people of Freetown continue to place in me.

This year, I am equally honored to, as well, be making my contribution as leader of the Peo-ple’s United Party.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to assure this Honor-able House and the nation that those of us who sit on this side of the House take our roles and responsibilities as members of this House very seriously.

We understand and appreciate both the great privilege and responsibility bestowed upon us as 14 of 31 elected members of the People’s House.

On behalf of all our elected representatives, standard bearers and our elected Mayors and Councillors in Dangriga, Punta Gorda, Orange walk, Belmopan City, and San Pedro, we thank all those Belizeans who have stood with and fought for our great Party over these past four years and who came out on March 7th of this year to support us. To those who did not support us, we continue to work each and every day to earn your trust and confidence.

We intend to be a strong, responsible, ef-fective opposition both inside and outside of these chambers.

Where the Government is pursuing mean-ingful programs and policies which our party finds to be in the national interest, we intend to be clear and open with our support. The days of opposition for opposition sake ARE OVER!

Our nation and people expect and deserve better.

And where the government is acting against the interest of the Belizean people by pursuing wrong-headed, flawed policies and programs, and putting the UDP family and friends agenda ahead of the Belize agenda, we will be relentless and blistering in our attacks and vigilant in expos-ing the incompetence, cronyism, pettiness and hypocrisy which have come to characterize this UDP government after 4 years in office.

It is no wonder, Mr. Speaker, that after their strong victory in 2008, their numbers have dwin-dled so rapidly on the other side of this house. Had they not called elections one year early, they would most certainly have been a one-term gov-ernment, this despite their scandalous abuse of taxpayers money to fund their political campaign and broker deals with cowards.

Regrettably, Mr. Speaker, the Budget for FY 2012/13 perpetuates this failed and flawed UDP agenda of 2008-2011.

It is an absolute shame and disgrace, Mr. Speaker, that there was absolutely no consulta-tion on this budget by the UDP government. No consultation with the Unions. No consultation with the Council of Churches. No consultation with the agro-productive sector. No consultation with the Chamber of Commerce or the Belize Business Bureau. No consultation with youth and student government leaders. No consulta-tion with the artists and musicians. No consulta-tion with the people of Belize. No consultation even though the budget is being presented al-most 90 days late.

And, Mr. Speaker, no consultation at a time when you are calling on the people of Belize to be disciplined and asking us all to understand the need for sacrifice. Such a time demands mean-ingful consultation.

Well, they did not consult, Mr. Speaker, BUT WE DID! Yes, the People’s United Party, even in opposition, recognizes that we have an obligation to consult with our social and eco-nomic partners.

We have consulted with the National Trade Union Congress, the Public Service Union, the Belize National Teachers Union, and the Chris-tian Workers Union. We consulted with COLA, youth leaders, and the student governments of the University of Belize and Galen University.

We consulted with the farmers and with the Chamber of Commerce and the Belize Busi-ness Bureau, and we consulted with the artists

and musicians. WE DID WHAT OUR UDP GOV-ERNMENT FAILED AND REFUSED TO DO!!

So Mr. Speaker, our contributions to this budget debate are better informed and more meaningful as a result of these consultations. We are grateful to all those who took the time and braved the threats and intimidation to meet with us. The Belizean people are better served as a result of your willingness to participate in con-sultations on the Budget for fiscal year 2012/13.

Mr. Speaker, in the 10 days since the Hon. Prime Ministers Budget presentation on June 29th, people from all walks of life have offered up their own descriptions of the Budget. Need-less to say the most accurate of these descrip-tions requires the use of language which most certainly has no place in this honorable House.

Some have described it as a “Snoozer”, a “clueless” budget, “empty budget”, “WaWa budget”, “Haaad-Time” budget, “pain and sor-row Budget”.

But perhaps the most frequent description applied to this year’s budget is “EXCUSES”. A BUDGET OF EXCUSES, MR. SPEAKER!!

The Hon. Member for Queens Square is presenting his fifth budget to the nation as Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and he is still whining and finding excuses for why he cannot grow the economy, create jobs for our people, attract investment to Belize, and bring down the cost of living.

The PM groans and moans about every-thing from the US recession, Eurozone crisis, bad weather, to ‘di oil di done’. And of course his loudest groans are reserved for his number one excuse, the so called “superbond”.

All this whining and these excuses from the very same Prime Minister who only last year stood in these very same chambers presenting the 2011/12 budget and boasted of “success” and a “return to growth”.

“We have turned things around and once more are free to fly”, “it is onward and upward” he proudly proclaimed.

FREE TO FLY! ONWARD AND UPWARD!Well Mr. Speaker, the Prime Ministers flight

seems to have crashlanded. As one mischievous senior gentleman said to me: “he nevah tell we dat da wan bruk wing jankro I mi di fly pan”. And the Prime Minister also nevah tell the Belizean people dat da onward and upward to mo haad time and higher cost of living.

So, Mr. Speaker, what happened between all that big talk last year and this year, and just how real are these excuses?

Let me tell you what happened.What happened was more UDP incompe-

tence and inaction.What happened was a failure on the part

of this UDP government to launch critical capital investment projects.

What happened was a UDP government without any plan or sense of urgency to drive exports.

What happened was a UDP government

proven to be totally incapable of attracting foreign direct in-vestment to Belize.

What happened was a petty, arrogant, clueless UDP government unwilling to con-sult and engage with the pri-vate sector.

It was only three months before the general elections Mr. speaker, 3 months be-fore, that the Prime Minister, worried about his political for-tunes, was forced to convene a Business Forum, at which the only memorable moment came when the PM held his head in his hands and in a moment of absolute candor and frustration mumbled, “no wonder people say we are incompetent, and 9 times out of 10 they are correct.”

What happened, Mr.

ECLAC also reports that regional unem-ployment fell from 7.3% to 6.8% in 2011 and is expected to drop even further to 6.6% in 2012. Here in Belize we have 24% unemployment. Four times the regional unemployment rate. Tell us why Mr. Prime minister. We tiad of all the ex-cuses! Our people need jobs not excuses!

And what about Foreign Direct Investment. Well, Latin America and the Caribbean got US$153B in FDI in 2011. Brazil attracted US$66B, Mexico US$19B, Chile US$17B, Columbia US$13B, Peru US$7.6B, Argentina US$7.2B, Ven-ezuela US$5.3B, Uruguay US$2.5B.

In Central America, Foreign Direct Invest-ment was up in 2011 by 36% over 2010. Pan-ama attracted US$2.7B, Guatemala-US$881M; Costa Rica US$2.1B, Honduras US$1.1B.

In the Caribbean FDI was up by 20% in 2011 over 2010. The World Bank reports Foreign Direct Investment in 2011 for the following coun-tries as follows: The Bahamas- US$861M; Bar-bados-US$668M; Cayman-US$12B; Guyana-US$269M; Haiti-US$150M.

Mr. Speaker, these countries are bringing home the bacon, attracting investment, grow-ing their economies and creating jobs for their people.

Why can’t this UDP government do the same?

ONE WORD: INCOMPETENCEInvestment is market driven. Investors

have wide and varied choices as to where, what, how and when to invest. In this interconnected, borderless world, the market for investment is broad and fiercely competitive. Investment in Belize will not come about by chance. We can’t sit in Belmopan and hope for investors to roll off the planes and then curse the dark when they don’t.

We have to be actively engaged in that competitive market and aggressively and strate-gically tell and sell the great “Belize Story”.

Investment requires certainty. Our Party has proposed the enactment of a Foreign Invest-ment Promotion Act to achieve this objective.

Under this Act, a net benefit test will be ap-plied to determine:

1. The effect of the investment on eco-nomic activity in Belize;

2. The degree of participation by Beliz-eans in the business in question;

3. The effect of the investment on pro-ductivity, efficiency, technological development, product innovation, and product variety in Belize;

4. The effect of the investment on com-petition;

5. The compatibility of the investment with national, industrial, economic and cultural policies; and

6. The contribution to Belize’s ability to compete globally.

We have to go out and target the right investors and convince them that Belize is the right place to invest their money. Our diplomatic missions across the globe have to be enlisted, as a matter of urgency, in this frontline battle for investment.

And in pursuing these investments, Mr. Speaker, it’s all about creating good paying jobs for our people, jobs for our young graduates, jobs for our single parents, jobs for our skilled workers, jobs in Tourism, jobs in Information Technology, jobs in the financial sector.

No more excuses Mr. Prime Minister. Our people need jobs and money in their pockets, NOT EXCUSES!

EXCUSE#2: DI OIL DI DONE.Surprise, Surprise! We all know that oil is a

non-renewable resource Mr. Speaker.In many ways since the first commercial

discovery of oil in Belize, the petroleum sector has been a learning process. The price of crude oil has fallen from US$120 to $80 and Belize’s production has fallen from 4200 barrels a day to about 3000 barrels a day and this is expected to continue.

We all knew that this time would come, and we hoped it would be later rather than soon-er, and we still hope there will be other finds.

Speaker, was a UDP government unable to grow the economy, create jobs and bring down the cost of living!!

And what of these excuses, Mr. Speaker?EXCUSE #1 is global economic conditions

particularly the US recession and the Eurozone crisis. Indeed, Mr. Speaker, the world economy has been in decline since the last quarter of 2006. But what has our UDP government done over the past 4 years to respond to and prepare Belize for the inevitable ripples of this decline? The answer is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Instead of doubling down and working day and night to implement creative, innovative policies, projects and programs to stimulate eco-nomic activity, they do what the UDP do best, whistle into the wind and cower under the desk waiting for the darkness to pass and hoping, just hoping, that things will somehow work them-selves out.

Well, Mr. Speaker, things have not worked themselves out. Unemployment is at a whop-ping 24% and growing! For youth and women it is over 30%. Some 30,000 Belizeans actively seeking a job cannot find one!

143,000 Belizeans are now living on less than $5.50 per day for food.

Foreign Direct Investment has fallen by 50% and 90% respectively in the previous two fiscal years.

Cost of living has skyrocketed. According to an analysis done by our own local union com-munity the cost of living has risen by some 31% over the past 5 years.

Mr. Speaker, the Hon. Prime Minister has spent a lot of time in this Chamber and in the media promoting the view that, “well…given the global situation, you people better be happy that we are where we are.”

He even whined to his fawning hosts on “The Read-Deal”, Dougie and Stevie, “we don’t get enough credit…people don’t give us enough credit”.

CREDIT FU WHAT MR. PRIME MINIS-TER??

The facts and the reality won’t give the PM the credit he seeks and won’t allow him to get away with this lame excuse.

The Economic Commission for Latin Amer-ica and the Caribbean (ECLAC) reports that in 2010 our region grew by 5.9%. In 2011 South America grew by 4.6% and Central America grew by 4.1%.

In 2011 Panama grew by 10.5%, Argentina 9%, Ecuador 8%, Peru 7%, Chile 6.3%, and Guyana 4.5%.

In 2012 Panama will have growth of 6.5%, Argentina 4.8%, Ecuador 5%, Peru 5%, Guyana 4.5%, and Haiti 8%.

And the Prime Minister of Belize, the man who promised us 6% annual GDP growth, 5000 jobs, lower GST, lower fuel costs, lower cost of living “no matta what”, is now boasting about a very fragile 2% growth. No more excuses Mr. Prime Minister!


Caves Branch Road ‘caving in’!

A petroleum fund was established under the last PUP administration for the management of funds derived. This UDP government never utilized this structure for the long term man-agement and sustenance of these proceeds. Instead it squandered these proceeds to meet severe budgetary shortfalls resulting from their incompetence and failed policies.

Proceeds derived from petroleum should be used for the long term benefit of the country not for short term consumption.

So, Mr. Speaker, the Hon. Prime Minister and his UDP government should have been planning and preparing for this inevitability.

No whining and crying over spilt oil. Again, the incompetence and lack of purpose and direc-tion of this UDP government has left Belize un-prepared and vulnerable as the oil wells dry up.

This brings us to EXCUSE #3. The biggest excuse of them all, the “Barrow/Mark Espat Election Superbond”.

Mr. Speaker, let me be clear. Public debt is serious business and indeed when a nation’s debt is approaching 100% of GDP as Belize’s is when you factor in the compensation for the nationalizations, this is indeed a matter that re-quires urgent attention.

The PUP administration in 2006 recognized this and set about doing something about it. The result was a restructuring of Belize’s commercial debt that brought with it significant cash flow benefits to the economy.

The Central Bank of Belize Annual Report for 2007 states: “payments during the first 9 years of the bond are projected to fall by an aver-age of US$48M per year or US$431M cumula-tive over that period.”

It further states: “The positive develop-ment should improve the country’s general eco-nomic outlook, investment climate and credit rating. The longer repayment period should also afford the country the opportunity to expand its economic base so that higher debt servicing ob-ligations that fall due in the later years will be less burdensome.”

This was exactly the objective of the debt consolidation exercise carried out by the last PUP administration: to give the government and country space and time to breathe and grow.

And what of the composition of the debt. Again here it is convenient for the UDP and their apologists to ignore the facts and continue to perpetuate their false propaganda that we have nothing to show for the debt.

They conveniently forget Hurricanes Mitch, Keith and Iris and tropical storm Chantal which wreaked economic havoc on Belize by virtually wiping out the Banana and Citrus industries, de-stroying shrimp farms, devastating San Pedro and Placencia, all at a cost of some BZ$450M.

It was the PUP that had to move quickly to access financing to get these major industries and the tourism product up and running again in record time, and we did it without whining.

And what of the 1500 new classrooms built by the PUP, 8 new high schools, 2 new sixth forms, a new University of Belize campus in Belmopan, new ITVET centers in every district town, and a bold tertiary level scholarship pro-gram? All of this at a cost of some BZ$150M.

The masters of excuse and their apologists also forget the 72 villages that got water and electricity under the Rural Electrification project and the Rural water supply and sanitation proj-ect.

And what about the completion of the southern highway, the Orange walk by-pass, the Deep River-Golden Stream bridge, the New Sibun River Bridge and highway project, the La Union Project in Orange Walk, Silver Creek Bridge, the Feeder roads Infrastructure Project, and Marine Parade? What of the new polyclinics and regional hospitals? What of the new muse-um and our investments in the Tourism Product Development Initiative? All of this cost money, Mr. Speaker, as much as $160M. These are real projects with real value.

And what of the investments made in housing? Again thousands of Belizean families became first time homeowners under the PUP. The days of trailer homes was put behind us. Again a significant investment of millions of dol-lars.

Mr. Speaker, not all these projects produced the value hoped for and there are important les-sons gained from these experiences but this ab-solute nonsense about millions of dollars being unaccounted for is just that, pure nonsense!

And it is nonsense repeated by those who have nothing better to tell the Belizean people,

those who can’t create jobs, those who can’t attract investment; those who can’t reduce the cost of living.

They do what they know best, personal at-tacks and living in the past!

The Belizean people have had enough of this excuse. They are living in the here and now and they want to hear us in this National Assem-bly talk about the future and about specific ways of making their lives better.

Mr. Speaker, Belize has 8,867 square miles or 5,674,880 acres of land, 12 miles of territo-rial sea, 200 miles of exclusive economic zone, untold petroleum resources and other valuable minerals, and the skill and ingenuity of an over 130,000 strong labor force. We have geographic proximity to and share the English language with the wealthiest country on earth.

We have other large markets in our imme-diate vicinity and have inherited the preferred and familiar English common law legal system.

To maximize economic growth we need to competently and efficiently use all of these re-sources and comparative advantages.

Government must focus on its core func-tion, the delivery of reliable, quality, affordable public services. Government must view the private sector not as a source of ever increasing taxes to fund government projects and political ambitions, but as the sector that holds the key to economic development by creating the enabling environment for the private sector to attract and undertake investments, grow businesses, and create employment. And government must re-duce its bureaucracy and bureaucratic spending while enhancing its regulatory and enforcement capacity.

Mr. Speaker, my colleagues will take a clos-er look at key sectors and industries but I would like to highlight some areas I believe offer excit-ing opportunities if properly engaged, incentiv-ized, and supported.

INFORMATION & COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY - Belize already has all the es-sential tools of production necessary to enable an immensely successful ICT sector particularly in the area of near shore outsourcing for North American businesses that can not only attract substantial foreign and local investment and generate foreign exchange earnings but also create thousands of high paying jobs for Beliz-eans. These tools include such basic advantages as our language, our law, our people, our geo-graphic closeness to North America compared to other outsourcing centers like India, the afford-ability and availability of real estate in Belize and, of course, bandwidth.

We must reduce the cost of bandwidth to allow the ICT sector to effectively compare and compete with other outsourcing centers in Latin America and we must work along with the private sector to establish e-commerce and outsourcing parks in population centers such as Belize City, Belmopan, Orange Walk and San Pedro. New investment incentive policies and laws are needed to organize and encourage investment in this sector as well. This will ul-timately mean jobs not only in terms of tele-marketing but also in more high paying areas such as software development, network de-sign and systems management.

OFFSHORE SECTOR/FINANCIAL SEC-TOR/REAL ESTATE - These sectors represent exciting opportunities for economic growth but as we in Belize have learnt, sometimes painfully, growth in and of itself is not enough.

That economic growth must bring with it development and equity.

Increases in output and income alone, are not enough. True development requires us making the underlying structural, institu-tional and qualitative changes that expand a country’s capacity.

It is regrettable that the Budget for fiscal year 2012/13 does very little to move us in this direction.

Today in Belize, the administration of jus-tice and the rule of law are under threat.

For some two years our Country has not had an Integrity Commission, a Contractor General or an Ombudsman. These are insti-tutions critical to development.

Instead, we have a Government focused on institutionalizing poverty and dependency.

Mr. Speaker, there is no denying there are many Belizeans in need of help. Indeed for a majority of Belizeans these are the worst of times. Each day brings with it uncer-tainty and anxiety.

How will they put food on the table?

How will they keep the lights on?How will they keep the stove burning?How will they keep their children in

school?How will they pay the rent or mortgage?What if I or my child gets sick? Where

do I turn?Will I be able to find a job? Or for those

lucky enough to have a job, will my employer be cutting back or cutting my salary?

These are real concerns of real Belizean families in July of 2012 under this failed UDP Government.

And what is the government’s response? What is the Prime Ministers response? The UDP offers no job creation policy, no new investment program, no development agen-da. Instead the PM beats his chest and cel-ebrates poverty.

Catch the line for the food pantry! Line up outside of Hon. Boots’ office five da mawning, if u lucky u wan get wan lee BOOST!

Our people are humble and respectful people. They will do what they have to do to feed their children, but have a conversation with any of them and you will find out that what they most want is a JOB, an opportu-nity to provide for their own and to lead lives of dignity.

Mr. Speaker, over the remainder of to-day and tomorrow, you will hear the Hon. Gentlemen on the other side of this House get up one by one to boast about the govern-ment’s pro-poor agenda.

Well, let it not be lost on the Belizean people that for two fiscal years they budget-ed some $5M for these programs but only actually made available to the Belizean peo-ple some $150K. It was not until December of 2011 and January and February of this year leading up to the elections that the money started to flow in specially selected con-stituencies. For the UDP this is what these programs represent, political opportunity and advantage.

Mr. Speaker, we need to move away from this politics based approach to govern-ing and toward a problem-solving solutions-based approach to development. This is why the People’s United Party calls on the Gov-ernment to support its Reform Agenda. Let us together enshrine in the constitution a requirement for a Referendum for any pro-posed amendment which in any way under-cuts or degrades the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Belizean people.

Let us work together to set a fixed date for elections and reduce the term of office for future governments to four years.

Let us work together to put in place an elected senate.

Let us review the structure and compo-sition of the Elections and Boundaries Com-mission.

Let us pass a Freedom of the Press Law to guarantee free speech and protect whis-tle-blowers who expose abuse, acts of cor-ruption and waste of resources.

Let us work together to appoint an Inde-pendent Commission to review immigration policy and laws and implement its recom-mendations.

Mr. Speaker, I say to the UDP Govern-ment, let us set aside the political pettiness and work together to find solutions for Belize and our people.

We must certainly do so on the critically important issue of crime and security.

Belizeans continue to live under the threat of violence and criminality on a scale unprecedented in the modern independent Belize. Law abiding citizens live in fear. When-ever another murder, robbery, or home inva-sion takes place, people’s sense of security is negatively impacted, and investment and economic growth are stymied.

When so many of these crimes go un-detected and where the conviction rate of accused criminals is so appallingly low, there is a deep-seated distrust of the Police and the system of justice.

To effectively address the scourge of vio-lent crime, we must reaffirm our respect for and commitment to the rule of law, and we must move to strengthen law enforcement with a sense of urgency.

DNA testing and an up-to-date ballistics registry are no longer matters for discussion.

But above all, Mr. Speaker, we must fix

the economy. This is the first step towards reducing crime. Robberies, murder, and vio-lence have a direct correlation to rising unem-ployment and downturns in the economy.

The People’s United Party is a part of the solution and stands ready and willing to work with the Government on this important issue.

Mr. Speaker, it is time for Government to deliver the salary increase our teachers, nurses, doctors, police officers, BDF soldiers, and other public officers have been demand-ing and deserve.

It is no longer a question of wanting a salary increase. Many of these public officers need this salary increase to keep from falling into poverty.

The Prime Minister has been dismissive, almost contemptuous of this reality.

His argument, well essentially its…be happy you have a job, and are collecting a salary and by the way remember you have gotten a raise because the increments repre-sent a 3% increase while inflation has been around 1.5%.

Well, this twisted logic defies common sense but more than that it demonstrates a troubling lack of understanding of basic eco-nomic terms on the part of the Minister of Finance.

Inflation is not cost of living and cost of living is not inflation. Inflation has to do with the relationship between spending and the supply of goods on the market while cost of living refers to how much, in dollars, it costs to maintain a certain standard of living or buy a certain basket of goods.

It is cost of living that is used to calculate salary adjustments. Just ask the unions and Belizean families, they will tell you the real dif-ference between inflation and cost of living.

So, Mr. Speaker, let’s get serious and de-liver for our public officers. The government can find millions for pre-election giveaways, millions for political/business deals with Am-bassador Mark Espat, millions for contract officers, millions for fuel and allowances for their special advisors, millions for their for-eign travel and friends and family sitting in diplomatic missions, millions for fancy vehi-cles (10 since march 7th), but they can’t find the money for our teachers, doctors, police, soldiers and public officers.

Well, we on this side of the House join with the Public Officers in demanding that the Government delivers this necessary sal-ary increase.

The public officers need and deserve it, and it will be a good injection of capital into an economy on life support.

No more excuses! The UDP may have compromised a few union leaders but the rank and file ain’t buying what you gentlemen are selling anymore!!!

Mr. Speaker, The 2012/13 budget is more noteworthy

for what it DOES NOT DO than for what it does.

It does nothing to inject confidence into our economy!

It does nothing to attract investment!It does nothing to reform the tax system!It does nothing to create jobs for our

people!It does nothing to effectively tackle the

crime and violence crisis we are facing.It does nothing to strengthen our democ-

racy and system of governance.Mr. Speaker, it does nothing to offer our

people hope and inspire them to become engaged in the work of building our beloved Belize.

Our vision, Mr. Speaker, is for a Belize in which our children are born into strong func-tional families, receive a quality education which equips them with the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to find or create em-ployment and lead lives of dignity while rais-ing a family, contributing to their communities, and preparing for a comfortable retirement.

This must be our shared vision. If Be-lize is to grow and develop, all of us must be committed to a strong Belizean economy and society grounded in credible, practical plans and solutions to the social and economic chal-lenges we face.

The People’s United Party is ready and able to lead Belize on this great Journey.

May God continue to guide and bless our people and nation.


Of this and that…FLAVORS OF BELIZEEvery so often Belize looks first

class. Flavors of Belize is the latest cook book. It makes Belize look top shelf.

Belize is a story told in plates. Our dialect can be taught with a pot spoon and a pudding pan. We are diverse. Belize does not have a national dish. Belize has a favorite national body part. We love our belly. It is the way to our hearts.

The book is the best gift shop item right now. It is hot. It is spicy. It melts off the bone and on to your tongue. It is eye candy.

This cook book will sell off. It is a showoff thing. We should love it.

The Belize Hospital Auxiliary Cook Book cut trail with machete. Flavors of Belize is driving through that picado. It drives through it in a limousine.

It is culinary fine art. It is like the book Heavenly Belize. Tour de Belize, one frying pan at a time. One pressure cooker at a time. One finger licking at a time.

This is flat out impressive. Flavors of Belize deserves a follow

up second serving.TIME FLYThe Budget Debates are hot. It is

finally a fair fight.The Government looks tired. They

sound stale. They are not hype any more.

The Opposition PUP looks com-fortable. They look confident. Poised. They look strong. They look serious.

Johnny is nothing to play with. Julius is fearless. Said has the skill of Yoda. Francis is refreshing. He is delib-erate and measured. He is a leader. He is a statesman. He is a Prime Minister.

But the champion bubbler on

Celebrations we should keep it going.The UDP dash weh Sharon Pitts

Robateau. Poor girl. But she has an egg up her sleeve. A great debate would be Sharon v. Godfrey. Goldson vs. Price. For that we would need a time limit and dictionary. But it would be healthy.

Oh, the possibilities if SPEAR were not dead.

COP KILLERThe Belize City streets have leg-

ends. The criminal underworld has ruth-less heroes. The Police create animals in uniform. They are breed to brace the gang animals. There is always an alpha police beast to match the street gangs.

Tablada. Broaster. Chester. Aldo Ayuso. Jemmoth. Blackett. Kevin “Cowboy” Alvarez. Palomo. This is the history of the “no sense” alpha police beast.

The Police Force will always have a black ops element. A head bashing officer. An outta order police. A police officer acting above the law. A police that gangsters say “nuh happy”. He is a feared dark horse for the Police.

This is our history. The latest Police mutant is Con-

stable Elmer Nah. He is the nephew of GSU gang leader, Marco Vidal. The Street has it that Nah is nothing nice. The boasting is that even George Street trembles at his feet. Taylors Alley wants no piece of him. Ghost Town laps its tails and grabs a corner. Jane Usher set and the Southside (SSG) run for the swamp.

But the Gungulung Gangsters stands with him toe to toe. This is in the Minister of Gangs’ constituency. The Gungulung Gangsters have be-come the knack head set.

We are going to have a “kick in the face while handcuffed” incident

soon.The UDP has no vision to solve

crime. Deadly cops who terrorize gangsters and civilian alike are no an-swer. Beware of your biting dogs.

Pit bulls tend to bite their own-ers.

BOOTS’ EDUCATIONAL ASSIS-TANCE

The funniest thing in the Budget Debate was not Said’s shamefully-funny horse joke. Boot Martinez actu-ally said. I quote: “this budget can be summed up in one word: “pro-poor budget” Even Yellowman shook his head. Boots..Boots…Boots…

Buddy... Hey… Listen… Over here… Pssttt... That is not one word, son. “Pro-poor budget” is two words. One. Two.

Please increase the education budget. We do not need any more Boots. This is a pro-stupidity govern-ment. If Boots represents the head of leadership in the UDP, we are doomed.

Boots stop talking like a crack head. A mind is a terrible thing to waste. So is a vote.

PAPPYSHOW Belizeans will have to start asking

questions. What is Mose Hyde doing in Australia? Who is paying for it? They say it is a coral reef symposium. Sounds nice. But why are we giving away free vacations.

This is a shame. Just last year he got a free trip to South Africa. Yippie. That trip was for Climate change.

Hey, look at the 2012-2013 bud-get. We cannot afford this hush mon-ey thing.

You wonder why KREM is so kis-sy kissy with the UDP. Here is your answer. Follow the money. That does not lie.

KREM is UDP. Like Mark. Like Godwin. Like Cordel. It is simple. Look at who is paying them. Do not listen to the jibby jabba of “power to people”. Look at all the UDP ads in

Amandala. BTL. BEL. WASA. Angelus Press and UDP Auctioneers selling poor people’s property.

Hush money.Rome is burning. KREM is eating

Caesar’s grapes “down under”. There is a holocaust of black

youths. The UDP is making life worse. They have crashed our economy. That is the news. That is Belize’s priority.

But KREM is in Australia with white men. They are eating caviar. Their interest is a reef. That is their priority.

Living the life.They make money from poor

people’s misery. Now they enjoy that money openly.

The more blacks die in the city, the fatter the Amandala newspaper gets.

They sell newspapers on a lie. Nothing is “independent” about KREM.

They are Ambassadors for the UDP. Bought and paid for.

Check the invoice.THE TALKING OF THE MOPAN

MAYALe-coo a maya que-noo Toledo maa

tan-oo cajsabul ichil a bujet ada.Leec a gobierno ada ma w yadaj ti-I

ma-ax ju-un tu-ul aj cha bej.Le-ec a UDP maa tach w tziquik aj

mayas. Ma bel uh ca tubul to-on!!!!!!! Translated:The Mayas of Toledo were not in-

cluded or consulted in this budget.This government did not consult

not one Mayan leader.The UDP does not respect the Ma-

yans.We will not forget!!!!!!!!!STUBBORN GOVERNMENTMy people are destroyed for lack

of knowledge. Because you have re-jected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest.

Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your chil-dren. Hosea 4:6

Wednesday was Dolo-res. Dat girl is on fire.

This is the best come back since FDR. The PUP is feeding from the estrogen.

What are they eat-ing in Belize Rural Cen-tral?

Dolores is nothing nice. Smooth and dead-ly.

I am pleasantly sur-prised. Leave it to the PUP to empower wom-en.

Patrick betta duck. This is all out woman fum fum.

GOLDSON VS. PRICE

September is here. Do not check the cal-endar. Do not check the carnival foolishniss. Check the radio.

Soon we will hear Abel’s March until we are sick. The celebra-tions calendar is being put together. Debates are in style.

Caleb vs. the Church. Torres vs. Traf-fic. Yasmin vs. the Bud-get. Francis Gegg vs. the Election results.

It is a good time.For the September


Elections & Boundaries Department knows no bounds

Covering up UDP fishy business

Why the Integrity Commission can’t bite nor barkBelize City, July 9, 2012

A majority of the UDP House of Assembly members dragged their feet in submitting their declaration of assets, income and liabilities to the In-tegrity Commission. Someone should remind them that this is not a favour to Belizeans and neither is it a political gimmick to gain votes; it is a manda-tory exercise required by the Preven-tion of Corruption in Public Life Act. The deadline to do so was in June 2012, and according to the law, those who do not abide by the law are guilty of an offence and should be fined $10,000 or serve 3 years jail time, or both.

The way we see it Kolbe Prison should start making preparations for the “arrival” of some not so honour-able UDP representatives, but this isn’t going to happen; not when no other than the Prime Minister has disre-spected the Commission. PM Barrow perhaps deliberately abused his execu-tive power to delay the appointment of a Chairman and new members. In the words of the PM, who was asked about the composition of the impor-tant body weeks after the elections, “it is not time for that.”

Dean Barrow

BQ Pitts

Godwin Hulse

The last time the Commission ex-isted was two years ago, since June 2010 when B.Q. Pitts sat as the Chair-man. Of course Pitts, the little that re-mains alive of him, is just another UDP puppet who went on to become the failed UDP Attorney General, so even the essence of the Integrity Commis-sion, which should act as a non-parti-san check and balance, has been des-ecrated by the UDP.

But why is the UDP – the self-pro-fessed guardians of democracy – so opposed to this particular law. Could it be that it is meant, as its title declares,

to “prevent corruption in public life”? Are UDP representatives so deeply embedded in funny business that the Integrity Commission is a threat? Is this why the Prime Minister dragged his feet to appoint the Commission, and when he does appoint one, he has political lackeys in charge who end up inhibiting the role of the important watchdog body?

Since the UDP won its first term in 2008, the BELIZE TIMES has inves-tigated numerous reports of corruption and abuse of authority. We’ve conclud-ed that the UDP is engaged in fishy

business, and the Lands Department and Companies Registry are their fish markets.

The stench of improperness out of those Government offices reeks. Just last week the BELIZE TIMES reported that the UDP’s not-so holy Senator/Minister Godwin Hulse had acquired 100 acres of land for a mere $25,000. The week before we had reported on the UDP Ambassador’s company, called Hallmark, which is being paid with taxpayer’s money for private ser-vices to the UDP Government. There are also the cases of Ministers cruising in expensive and luxurious cars which cost more than the allotted amount for vehicles. How can they afford to live such fancy lifestyles at the expense of Belizeans?

This week, another major UDP land grab is being exposed. The family and relatives of Deputy Prime Minister Gas-par Vega are hogging up our land!

And then the BELIZE TIMES also reveals that UDP Minister of Health Pablo Marin is the owner of a radio sta-tion company in Corozal, called UMuzik, which is also supposedly involved in oil exploration and financial services.

Some of the actions of UDP Minis-ters, like Marin having a radio company that can explore for oil and minerals, are very suspect and would trigger an im-mediate investigation by the Integrity Commission. But there are no inves-tigations, no special inquiries and no check and balances because there is no real Commission. Until the subversion of this important body ends, UDP Min-isters will continue to rip off Belize. Until then, the Integrity Commission will just be a toothless tiger.

Belize City, July 3, 2012 It is supposed to be one of the pil-

lar departments symbolizing Belize’s subscription to democratic principles, a body that represents all that is fair, im-partial and bi-partisan. Undoubtedly, of all the governmental departments, Elec-tions and Boundaries should never be subject or open to abuse by government officials who are deadest on carrying out their personal and electoral agendas.

But as with all things UDP, the Elec-tions and Boundaries Department has, leading up to the March general elec-tions, become even more politicized (if that is even possible) and is being used as a vehicle to victimize the Opposition People’s United Party, a Party that now enjoys the overwhelming support of 49% of the Belize’s voting population.

The “Change of Address” campaign being implemented by the Department commenced on July 1st, 2012 and has been advertised in the Guardian, Re-

porter and Amandala newspapers, but incidentally the Department elected not to advertise this very important public notice in the BELIZE TIMES.

The registration of voters, and any process related thereto, is vital to the effective, transparent and bi-partisan ad-ministration of any democracy. As part of their mandate, the UDP government has a duty to ensure that the integrity of our electoral process is maintained at all times. This latest disrespect directed at the PUP, and by extension half the voting population of this country, is tantamount to blatant institutionalized favoritism for one party over the other, a sort of sys-tematic manipulation of our electoral process. And, it goes without saying that the introduction of bias into the demo-cratic process, no doubt violates the principle of democratic equality.

Is it that the UDP government is so petty that they want to take the Elec-tions and Boundaries Department down the path of no return with them? Or is it a more sinister and direct attack against the People’s United Party in order to leave 49% of Belizeans in the dark when it comes to our electoral process, our rights and responsibilities as citizens?

This UDP government, and in par-ticular its Prime Minister who is always beating his chest at every corner and preaching about transparency and ac-countability, needs to explain to this nation why it is that whenever the op-portunity arises, they are hell-bent on disrespecting and exploiting the voting population of Belize.


how the good pays for the bad

Macy’s still fighting to see the light of day

Belize City, June 11, 2012A new rule for visitors to the Na-

tional Assembly Building in Belmopan forces every male person to empty his pocket and leave his wallet at the security entrance. This rule is the newest “security measure” imposed without notice to visitors. The no-wal-let rule was a recommendation from the National Assembly’s special secu-rity after a dangerous and disrespect-ful act, not surprisingly, carried out by a UDP fanatic.

It happened just over a year ago, on July 5, 2011 when known UDP supporter, identified as Allan Kelly, stooped over the visitor’s gallery rail-ing and, with hands clenching an emp-ty wallet, belted former UDP Orange Walk Area Representative Marcel Car-dona who was wrapping up a feisty

ban from future House Sittings; a high school jug would be deemed harsher.

Today Kelly is back in the honour-able House. He may no longer have a wallet to stone anyone, but with the dangerous mind he has, any object can become a missile.

The Kelly incident is not the first and only instance when the UDP has disrespected the honourable House. His stoning of an elected member may have set a new low, but it’s a con-tinuance of a string of shameful acts. Remember the time former UDP Pick-stock wanna-be candidate Kenny Mor-gan threatened the members of the House with the use of a grenade? Or when current UDP Minister Mark King made a mockery of the House and walked on top of the railing, shouting at the honourable members?

Instead of harassing innocent visitors for the crimes of UDP idiots, the best security measure may be to banish all UDPs from the House. His-tory has shown that their dangerous minds and acts of insanity and disre-spect know no bounds.

presentation.Kelly was removed from the gal-

lery but barely reprimanded. His as-sault, which is a criminal act punish-able by law, was allowed to pass with no kind of serious condemnation. His punishment was merely a three-time

BELIZE CITY, Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012By Alton Humes

It’s been a few weeks since the BE-LIZE TIMES first broke the story on the impending closure of popular Southside eatery Macy’s Restaurant located on Bishop Street since 1982. And though many folks in certain places might not want to admit it openly for varying personal reasons, the story touched a nerve not only with other media hous-es, but also with long-time supporters who’ve been begging and pleading with the owner, Mrs. Mavis ‘May’ Samuels-Pitamba, to defer the closure, due to come at the end of July, and remain open, at least for their sake.

While Mrs. May is more than happy to oblige them all, what was a way to salvage the happy memories of a could-still-be-great business, has instead be-come a grave quicksand-type dilemma that not even King Solomon in all his wisdom could solve.

On the one hand, there’s more competition that not even Mrs. May could compete with – Asian (Chinese-Tai-wanese) restaurants serving up ‘greasy bag’ fried chicken and other fried ‘de-lights’ and Latin vendors with their hot dog and burger carts. Of the two, it’s the Asians, said her son and fellow work-er in the 30-year-old venture, that are run-ning the chances for Macy’s to regain its customers back from the ‘heavenly grease’.

And then, there’s crime. Without a continued Herculean effort to stem and curb the still-simmering flames of violent shootings and murders, there’s no way on earth or heaven that Mrs. May could stay open late to allow hun-gry tourists and Belizeans alike to ‘fill dehn belly-battam up good’. And Bish-op Street, flanked all around by crime-ridden zones, is not under protection

from the Police, even with the Jason Canto murder which happened just across the street from it some months ago.

It’s a struggle that seems to be impossible to win, but Mrs. May is leaning on family, friends and God, in that order, to maintain dignity and hope that one day soon, there’ll be light up ahead, and Macy’s Restaurant will emerge to the other side – stronger, better and still proudly Belizean.

UDP supporter Allan Kelly stoned Hon. Cardona

Hon. Cardona sported a hard hat at the following House Sitting

Ms. May & former Barbados PM Owen Arhur at Macy’s Cafe


Home Economics!Subsidizing Wheat -

At the Expense of CornBy Richard Harrison

Belize has become very efficient in the production of corn....it does not produce a grain of wheat.

If we changed our policy on taxa-tion on petroleum fuel....to make the pump price competitive with Mexico and Guatemala, we would become even more efficient and competitive in production of corn.

Yet.....Belize favors wheat con-sumption by charging 0% rate of im-port duty on wheat....that is heavily subsidized in the exporting country....yet Belizean farmers get no subsidy for producing corn....an uneven playing field. Belize has also put a price-con-trol on bread, but the market has got-ten around this by making all different kinds of breads and charging a wide range of prices for them. A single flour mill owned by ADM Mills benefits from 100% market protection, since no flour is allowed to be imported into Belize and neither is bread allowed. By so doing, the policy makers suggest that it is keeping the retail price of bread, considered an important basic com-modity, at the lowest possible....but this is not practical....the market is full with all kinds of breads, at all different price levels.

It can be argued that this policy is counter-productive in various ways:

1. This favor given to wheat, artifi-cially creates a greater demand for it...thus requiring that we import more and more of this commodity....which we will never be able to produce our-selves. Wheat has never been grown in Belize.

2. If the government raised the tariff on wheat from zero to 20%, it would earn much needed revenue from wheat importation....the price of flour would increase....and so would bread and other products made of flour. People would shift from using bread and products of flour....to us-ing corn and products of corn. Belize would become more self-sustainable in food supply....and reduce its need for foreign exchange to pay for import of wheat....which would contribute greatly to improving its balance of pay-ments.

3. By importing so much wheat....we are creating jobs for many farm-

ers in Canada and far off places. If consumption in Belize shifted more towards corn, we would be creating more jobs for local farmers, millers, tradesmen, corn tortilla factories and hand-made corn tortilla neighborhood shops.

4. If imported wheat flour became more expensive, we would be more creative in using it in a more economic way (stretching it)...which means that we would start to mix it with local “fill-ing” materials...such as sweet potato flour, casava flour, bread fruit flour, ba-nana flour, etc. This would cause us to become more creative with these oth-er types of flours....each of which has export market potential and better nu-tritional and health profiles. Our inge-nuity would be sparked to create new products and industries around them.

5. Wheat flour products are pro-duced using tons of grease and lard and fatty oils....which are not used in the products of corn. A shift to corn-based breads and tortillas and chips....would reduce our fatty intake tremen-dously....contributing to a reduction in obesity and obesity-related illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes, etc. The average weight of Belizeans would be reduced over time, and more Be-lizeans would look much more beau-tiful!!! This would also cause us to import less fats and grease, again re-ducing our import bill.

These are just a few of the ben-efits that would accrue to Belize....if it adopted policies that favored locally produced corn over imported wheat.

It cannot be argued that there is a cultural preference for flour prod-ucts....ALL persons in Belize love to eat products of corn....it’s just that the current policy preference given to flour has given it greater market ad-vantages over our own products and producers.

It cannot be argued that we will lose jobs from milling flour and bakery jobs. Mills will adopt to processing corn instead....and bakeries will become more creative and shift production to more corn and local “filling” materials.

This policy of favoring imported wheat.....which we will never be able to produce for ourselves...should be reconsidered....and gradually reversed.


oFF to loNdoN!It is almost time for the Olympic Games!You must have heard the news that we will

have an athlete participating in Judo at the Olym-pics.

I think it is exciting. I will also be watching our other Caribbean athletes as they try to win med-als at the Olympics.

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educational summer program off to rousing start

Visit Us Online at:

www.belizetimes.bz

PUC approves increase in BEL fees

Ariel Rosado Foundation awards

8 scholarships

BELIZE CITY, Monday, July 9th, 2012By Alton Humes

This summer of 2012 will not be a bust for at least 300 students, ranging from Infant 1 (pre-school graduates) to Standard 6, as they are currently taking part in a summer program organized by community activist, Peter Lacey.

As previously reported, the pro-gram which began two weeks ago is split between Belize City (held at the Holy Redeemer Parish Hall on North Front Street, Belize City) and Orange Walk Town (held at the St. Peter’s An-glican Primary School) will engage the students in various disciplines, from reading and phonics for the younger

students to PSE prep for the older stu-dents, as well as sports activities.

Out of those 300 students, the Be-lize City section at the Holy Redeemer Parish Hall hosts a maximum of 185 students.

The BELIZE TIMES visited the Holy Redeemer Parish Hall session today and observed the young participants hard at work. According to co-organiz-er/manager of the City programs, An-drea Lacey, there are 9 classes in total which are divided between 3 teachers in a rotating fashion.

The sessions are held from Mon-day to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. (Monday/Wednesday/Friday) and from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The program is sched-uled to end on August 3rd, with a cer-tificate ceremony.


The Government-nationalized Belize Electricity Limited recently underwent a stringent Full Tariff Review Proceedings (FTRP) from the Public Utilities Com-mission (PUC) on rates. But it wasn’t for residential consumers; rather, it was industrial and business consumers, who also will undergo revision of their status into Commercial 1 (those who gener-ate 2,500 kilowatts/hour and below) and Commercial 2 (those who generate above 2,500 kilowatts/hour).

But while the 4 fees – pole recon-nection (based on tampering / non-pay-ment), meter replacement (based on disconnection / tampering), pole rental and late payment fees – will only apply to various large, medium and small-scale

businesses, ranging from offices and hotels to food manufacturers, make no mistake about it – it’ll be the average Joe who frequents and buys from these businesses who’ll undoubtedly pay the real price.

Each fee varies with certain condi-tions, particularly on pole and meter re-placements, but the PUC team –led by Leroy Almendarez, a Director of Tariffs and Administration - was insistent during its press conference on Monday, July 2nd, that consumers - residential and industrial alike - won’t know the differ-ence, that BEL doesn’t stand to recoup substantially from these fees, and most importantly, that rates will remain low.

But like many things in the world of the UDP, it’s a case of ‘da fool di talk, but da no fool di listen.’ We’ll just have to see what there is to see.


In keeping with the wishes and spirit of the late cyclist star Ariel Rosado to provide scholar-ships for young students as well as fostering other potential op-portunities for them to grow in mind, body and spirit, the Me-morial Educational Foundation bearing his name today awarded 8 primary school scholarships to the secondary institution of their choice at the Belize Institute of Management campus on Chan-cellor Avenue.

The foundation, now about 6 months old, has been steadily raising funds in order to begin the process of providing scholar-ships to young students. 21 pri-mary school students applied for scholarships although the ‘hope’ was for 50 scholarships to be of-fered, according to Senior Execu-tive Member, Bruce Sanchez Sr. They were vetted by a selection committee that narrowed down the worthier candidates to 8. Those 8 – Vidal Adolphus, Ker-ron Arzu, Diana Chavarria, Latrell Gabourel, Sabrina Jackson, Fran Malik, Ashanti Wade and Kendra Woodeye will be attending vari-ous high schools in Belize City,

with one, Adolphus, staying close to home by attending St. Ignatius High in the Cayo District.

The foundation didn’t stop there, as it also gave a donation of BZC$1,000 to the St. Luke Method-ist Primary School as a form of dues towards joining the Belize Sailing As-sociation so that five bright students can not only build their own club with-in the school, but also learn to sail and gain the interest of other students.

The Foundation remains hopeful that through its various partners, the media, and other business houses that it will continue to raise funds to provide scholarships for needy and deserving students. They also thanked and honored their various partners with certificates of recognition. And while not all students will get the kind of opportunity that was offered today, it remains the goal of the foundation to build ‘men sana en corpora sano’ - a healthy mind in a healthy body, jus the way Ariel would want it.

Summer program participants

Scholarship recipients


effects of heavy

taxation

thInK aBoUt ItA STAR STUDDED DAYIt was Budget Debate day in Belmo-

pan. The new team of fourteen elected-members of the House on the Opposi-tion side was having their first working session. They did not disappoint.

The Review started with Party Leader Hon. Francis Fonseca giving a sober and insightful analysis of the Gov-ernment’s Budget Proposals. The Party Leader is a serious and no-nonsense person and his personality was reflected in his analysis. Like most Belizeans he saw through the flakiness of the budget. There was no strategy, no vision, no new program and no way out of our current crisis reflected in the figures in the bud-get.

Some of his words helped to under-score his points. “Today in Belize, the administration of justice and the Rule of Law are under threat.

“For some time our country has not had an Integrity Commission. Neither a Contractor General or Ombudsman. These are important institutions that are critical to development.

“Instead we have a government fo-cused on institutionalizing poverty and dependency.

“…for a majority of Belizeans these are the worst of times. Each day brings with it uncertainty and anxiety.

“And what is the Prime Minister re-sponse? The UDP offers no job creation policy, no new investment program, no development agenda.”

Presentations were also made by former two-term Prime Minister Hon. Said Musa, Hon. Dolores Balderamos, Hon. Johnny Briceño and Hon. Florencio Marin.

Said, as always, was in top form. He brought down the House with his horse joke. And in the midst of the laughter he reminded the House that it was no joke.

He was reporting an incident in which the BDF, lacking resources from the government and forced to patrol the Belize-Guatemala Border, had to do so on three horses. These horses were sto-len horses in the sense that the BDF did not buy them but confiscated them form illegals who crossed from Guatemala into Belize.

As the horses neared the Guatema-lan Border they bolted away from the BDF. In doing so they carried away the BDF supplies and equipment.

This was a reminder of the sorry state we are in as the government is unable to properly provide resources to our army, to our police and indeed to the public service and institutions that are vital to our National Security and wellbe-ing.

The Minister of National Security in his presentation wasted his whole time reviewing the Opposition Leader’s Re-view of the Budget. And what must be a first in the history of Budget Debate and Presentation not a single word was said about the state of the country’s na-tional security, the resources if any be-ing provided to our army and police and what his ministry and the budget would accomplish by way of fighting crimes, reducing criminality and making citizens safe. Incredible!

Hon. Dolores did a super job in ex-posing Hon. Patrick Faber who spent most of his presentation quarrelling and praising himself. Dolores quietly, diplo-matically and lady-like mentioned the words “self-praise is no recommenda-tion”. She listed school after schools and

projects after projects that had their bud-gets slashed by government. She backed up her presentations and criticism with reports and studies done by UNICEF, the World Bank and other agencies.

She told the House that a UNICEF study done on Belize showed a whop-ping forty thousand children out of school. 27 percent of our schools had contaminated water. There was no effec-tive truancy projects for schools. Voca-tional training was grossly under-utilized. Education system in Belize is failing our children as nothing was being taught about entrepreneurship, how to foster a culture of wealth creation and gainful employment.

As Dolores gave her measured and articulate exposure of government’s failure in education, Patrick Faber was beside himself – yelling, screaming and throwing tantrums; a laughing stock even to some of his own UDP members.

Supporters of the People’s United Party were so proud of their new Party Leader and his team’s performance in their presentation in the House on Wednesday.

POLICE KILLS THREEThe sensational news over the

weekend was the reported shoot-out on north San Pedro Caye in which the Police/BDF and Coast Guard shot dead three Belizeans.

Because of the low esteem and low status in which the Police are held by the majority of street people and roots Beliz-eans; the Police were forced to call two press conferences.

Their first press conference was on Monday when they reported what had already been widespread news in Belize City. That a shoot-out had occurred and three persons were shot and killed.

The official version of what was re-ported by the Police at their conference was met with skepticism.

So on Tuesday the Police felt it nec-essary to send for the media and release additional information in an attempt to lend credibility to their story.

A surveillance photo was shown to the media of a person holding a high powered weapon. Clearly visible was Kendale Flowers, one of the victims of the shootings. The Police informed that the photo was of the person they shot. It is not clear if the photo was taken in Belmopan, Belize City or the island. Such persons were supposedly on the island over a month ago.

Family members of Flowers and Mazariego have said to the media that they do not believe the Police version of what occurred. Flowers had a single bul-let hole to the head.

Alexander Mazariego also had a single bullet hole to his head and bullet wounds to his body. It is not yet known if the third victim, Ismael Garcia, also had a bullet hole to his head. If so, then it is too much of a coincidence.

We may never know what actually happened.

The Police, BDF and Coast Guard could learn from Special Forces Marco Vidal who video tapes his operations and has some kind of documentary evidence in the event of any thing going seriously wrong during an operation.

This much we can say; for two “land” men from Cayo and one street thug from Belize City to be on North San Pedro in a known drug trafficking zone is cause for suspicion. For them to be in military clothing with heavy weapons

raises grave suspicions.If indeed they opened fire on the

Security Forces of this country; having been warned that they were surrounded and to give themselves up (if such was done) and they started shooting at our forces; our forces have every right to re-spond with lethal fire.

We say also, the Police have to do much more to regain the trust and con-fidence of all the citizens of this country.

SEA PIRATESSlowly but surely our seas are be-

coming unsafe, for passengers and fish-ermen.

Some months ago, a boat with tour-ists was attacked and a female tourist raped while others were robbed.

Some days ago, fishermen were the victims of pirates on the sea, who robbed them, took them to their fishing camp and stole more items. One fisher-man was shot by the pirates.

Two alleged pirates were caught for this incident. If the trial is held within a reasonable time and the victims testify it is highly likely the pirates will be prison-ers for a long time.

Coast Guard patrols need to in-crease and all boat captains and fisher-men camps should have emergency numbers for the nearest patrols.

MEDIA DOES A BOYCOTTThe media in Belize City did a com-

mendable thing last week.A whistle-blower exposed what ap-

peared to be serious irregularities involv-ing finance at the KHMH. So serious were the allegations that an Audit was conducted on the hospital for the short period in question.

The KHMH bosses received the Au-dit and before it was released the media the bosses scheduled a press briefing, last Wednesday.

The KHMH bosses refused to give the media the Audit Report in advance so they could read it and ask relevant questions.

The Reporter newspaper, Channel 7, Channel 5, Plus TV, KREM Radio, Aman-dala newspaper, and the BELIZE TIMES all agreed not to be disrespected by the bosses of KHMH and did not attend the Press Briefing on Wednesday.

Only Love FM and the UDP Guard-ian newspaper attended. We are not sur-prised but are disappointed in Love FM.

We express respect to Auditor Gen-eral Dorothy Bradley and her staff for combing through so much documents and presenting a timely Report, given that they have many other duties to per-form.

The disrespect by the Government appointed bosses of KHMH gave the media houses a rare opportunity to liaise with each other and to hold fast on a matter of principle.

The media has a very important responsibility to inform and educate Belizeans. They must be fair, balanced and present the two sides of the issues. Some media houses are allowing their political bias to detract from their re-sponsibilities to the greater good of their country.

Some media houses are deliberate-ly playing the three monkeys – see no wrong, hear no wrong, report no wrong. Some media houses are allowing their advertising contracts with government and government agencies to blind, dumb and deafen them.

You know who you are.Nuff said.UNEMPLOYMENT AND BETRAY-

ALIn the USA 14 percent of African

Americans are unemployed.For Latinos it is 11 percent. For white

Americans it is 7 percent.A research into the situation of Af-

rican Americans show that the majority live in poor neighborhoods with limited opportunities. There are poor schools and early drop-outs. One out of every three black Americans have been, are in or will soon be in prison.

Sounds like Belize City?Unemployment in Belize is probably

around 20 percent. On the Southside of the City it must be over 30 percent.

The Southside has the good fortune, or is it a curse? Of being represented by the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Housing Minister, the Edu-cation, Youth and Sports Minister , the Human Development and believe it or not the Poverty Alleviation Minister, and a special unheard of – Gang Minister (Mark King).

And with all of this the Southside citizens live in the worst situation in all the country.

The bitter fact that FOUR of the SIX Southside constituencies have been rep-resented for more than FIFTEEN years by black Creoles Area Representatives – Collet, Mesop, Queen Square and Port Loyola.

These are among the worst areas in unemployment, school drop-out, lack of skills, prison incarceration, indiscipline, poor education, lack of decent housing, run-down neighborhoods, single moth-ers with multiple children, absentee fa-thers, drug abuse and the list goes on and on and on.

It is a shocking indictment and brutal betrayal of unfortunate and vulnerable human beings.

3,600 ALLIGATORSThree thousand, six hundred croco-

diles were recently rescued.They were being smuggled to

Guangdong province in China where they are considered delicacy.

In Belize our Chinese compatriots have been quietly eating our alligators, wowla snakes, sea-eels, sea-horses and other animals and insects which we would never put in our mouth, even if we were starving.

But at the rate the country is being mismanaged we may have to start eating alligators and sea-urchins – if any will be left by then.

BTL IN TROUBLEThe BTL phone company now

under full government control is en-gaging in one of the worst behaviors possible. Some of its employees are accessing private text information of citizens and taking the information to persons who have no right to it.

If you want to find out who your man or woman is texting and to whom, for a small amount of money some employees at BTL are all too evil to sell the information.

This is illegal, unethical and ab-solutely wrong and it shows what is going on in the country and the lack of strict control of BTL over the most private and confidential infor-mation from citizens’ telephones, cellphones, text messages and email messages.

NICKI MINAJNicki Minaj is the biggest female

hip-hop artist right now. She is Trini-dadian.

Rihanna is as big as Beyonce and Mary J. Blige. She is Barbadian.

Shyne a.k.a. Jamal a.k.a. Moses Levi is a Jew. He hangs out in Israel.

One of these days Belize will have a Musical Ambassador who is a full-blooded Belizean and is proud to be from Belize. And who will pro-mote Belize and Belizean music.


Continued from page 17Students viewing special Coca Cola art displays

Father of 3 clings to life after near-fatal robbery

A&R Gas StationAdvance Advertising

Bargain BashBelize Unit Trust

CorporationBritish Forces Radio

StationCaribbean Tobacco Company Limited

Carol’s PizzaCellmart

Central Drug StoreEl CentroFabros

Fresh Catch Belize Limited

HL’s Burgers (5 locations)

JambelsJMA Motors

La Tavernetta Restaurant

Laura’s Beauty SalonMacys Café

MalicsMobile Hardware

New HollandOld Belize Limited

Odis Home & Garden Supplies

Perky ParrotPeyrefitte Brothers

LimitedRoyal Motors

Scoops Ice CreamShad’s Boutique

Surprise CafeThe View Restaurant

The Wood Depot…and many more

Business that have closed under the Barrow

administration:

Belize City, Wednesday, July 11, 2012

A family man who just got mar-ried and who has been employed

at Kee’s Bakery for the past eight years lies critically wounded in the Intensive Care Unit at the KHMH, the victim of a vicious robbery and shooting while on the job.

Marty Harold Goff, 35, a father of three children, the youngest of whom is six years old, arrived at his job site at Kee’s Bakery at mile four on the Northern Highway just before six on Monday morning and went about his daily duties. He left to make deliveries along with another employee and that took them to YM Shop at the cor-ner of MM and MY Street behind the Charles Bartlett Hyde building in the Lake Independence area shortly before one in the after-noon.

The Belize Times has con-firmed that Goff, who was driv-ing the delivery truck, parked the vehicle while his sideman went around the side to begin offload-ing bread for the shop. Goff got out and went to the shop to carry out the transaction and just then, two youths rode up to the shop on bikes and pretended to make a purchase. But one of them pulled out a handgun and pointed it at Goff, searched his pockets and stole money belonging to his employer. The thieves were not satisfied and the gunman shot Goff twice – once in the ribcage and attempted to finish him off by pulling the trigger a second time at his head. Luckily for Goff, however, the bullet merely grazed his forehead. Goff, already handi-capped by the bullet wound to his ribcage, stumbled to the street where he collapsed.

Neighbours heard the shots and ran out to find the critically wounded family man lying help-lessly in the middle of the dirt road. The shooters were nowhere in sight. The incident has raised the ire of them and Goff’s rela-tives, who say that he had to un-dergo a surgery to repair ruptured arteries. The bullet, however, re-mains in his back and he is still under anesthesia. So far, doctors believe he has a 50-50 chance of survival.

Many people have lashed out at the robbers who shot Goff and left him to die and at the system that has deteriorated to a point where no one fears taking a gun and killing another. The police have made no arrests and just like the countless other unsolved cases, might never solve this one.

Marty Harold Goff

Visit Us Online at:

www.belizetimes.bz


Patrick faber gets catatonIc!

audit discovers mismanagement and waste at KhMh…but

will heads roll?Belize City, July 9, 2012

The findings into the Special Audit commissioned by the Barrow Admin-istration after Delroy Herrera, a former employee, bravely blew the whistle last December on questionable prac-tices and transactions have been out for weeks now. Yet it was only made available to the media one week ago, after the Prime Minister’s arm was bent by reporters who demanded transparency.

The KHMH management had re-fused to provide the media copies of

the findings before a scheduled press conference to discuss the same docu-ment. So in protest of that decision by the KHMH CEO, Gary Longsworth, most of the media houses includ-ing the BELIZE TIMES, boycotted the press conference.

The Special Audit was for the pe-riod April 2010 - December 2011, and while the auditors claimed not to have detected any criminal wrongdoing, they cited concerns and questions over transactions.

For instance, that the KHMH over-

paid Skilled Solution, a foreign supplier, on one occasion, in excess of $17,000 for medical equipment which it never received. Despite that, the Hospital went ahead and paid Skilled Solutions another $10,300, and again it never re-ceived the items it ordered. There was another instance when the same Skilled Solutions was paid for blood supply items to the tune of $22,500 but there is no evidence that the supplies made it to the hospital.

Then there was the matter of the use of the hospital’s credit card, which is

reserved for its CEO, Gary Longsworth and the Financial Officer, Carlos Perrera. On four separate occasions, purchas-es were made using the credit card in Houston, Mexico, Chetumal, and Belize for which no receipts were provided.

In its response to the questions raised, the KHMH states that the ma-jority of the transactions that the audi-tors cited were within Longsworth’s al-lowance and required no receipts. The KHMH accuses the auditors of sensa-tionalizing the issue. In his comments when presenting the findings, Long-sworth said that he has never person-ally gained from any transactions that the hospital has conducted and that he would not compromise his job. He did acknowledge, however, that the hospital continues to tighten its system as the auditors had recommended. The KHMH had come under fire three years ago when members of the Belize Medical and Dental Union raised red flags that prompted a Commission of Inquiry over similar overspending and waste.

belize times july 15, 2012

Documents

bythe belize times

timesscan heresee page

thursdaybelize city

muscorozal town

number of house seats

thursday2 men

budget presentation

house of repre