The troubles of the Belize City Council have been a primary focus of the national media, but while the financial worries in the commercial capital appear to be the most pronounced, the other eight municipalities?mostly dependent on Government subventions?are reportedly facing similar struggles.
The situation has forced the municipalities?which are mostly controlled by the Opposition United Democratic Party?to cross ?political lines? to meet with a People?s United Party Central Government to discuss troubles mostly inherited from former PUP Councils.
It has been over six weeks since the Senate Special Select Committee tabled its final report in the National Assembly, but the files have apparently still not reached the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution for him to determine whether criminal charges should be filed against anyone.
We have been informed by the DPP?s office that the DPP has still not received the relevant documents and files?the very same statement that was made to us when we last checked with the DPP?s office weeks ago.
Tonight police are searching for an Orange Walk Town resident, Jason Audinette Bull, 24, in connection with the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl of the area.
Police say that yesterday, Wednesday, the child, in the company of her mother, reported the incident to them. She told them that on Tuesday, August 15, at about 4:00 p.m., she had left her home to do some errands for her mother. Upon reaching a house on Riverside Street, she said, she was dragged inside by a Hispanic man known to her only as ?J.? ?J? tied her up and raped her, said the child.
Police have refused to comment, but the facts are that an 9-year employee of the Belize Press Office, Norman Belisle, 40, a photographer, has been stabbed to death at his home in Camalote Village, and his wife?s nephew, Alex Matute, 22, a security guard, is expected to be charged tomorrow for murder.
Police said that sometime around 10:20 last night, they responded to reports of a domestic dispute between Belisle and his wife, Victoria Belisle, 38, at their residence in Camalote Village.
Ghandi had advised it was illegal for the DFC to approve a new loan to pay off an old bad loan, Magloire said.
For more than three hours today, Franklyn Magloire, the Development Finance Corporation?s manager of credit and projects, testified before the Commission of Inquiry appointed to investigate the financial dealings of the Corporation.
Magloire was called to give sworn testimony of his experiences at the DFC for the period under investigation, 1999 to 2004. During that period, Magloire served first as the manager of projects and subsequently as the assistant general manager of operations, a post that was later changed to executive manager of operations.
The Development Finance Corporation (DFC) continued to be under the probing lens of the three-member Commission of Inquiry today, when three more witnesses testified, revealing that severe pressures placed on DFC staff during the securitization program, a lack of staff training to handle the unfamiliar program, too much board interference, the bypassing of technical staff for multi-million-dollar transactions, and a serious lack of due diligence contributed significantly to the demise of the organization.
In this instance, fate has been very kind, and we are grateful. Police reports are that an Orange Walk man, Pedro Gonzalez, 40, reportedly tried to kidnap a child, age 6, from directly opposite her home, but luckily, because of the watchful eye of concerned neighbors, he was not successful and was later nabbed by police.
?If the government does not wish to see garbage piling up in the streets, it must step up to the plate,? said a statement to our newspaper from the Belize City Council?s spokesperson, Dale Trujeque.
Officials from the People?s United Party administration of Central Government and the United Democratic Party administration of the Belize City Council met this week to discuss what City officials claim are financial problems primarily stemming from burdensome sanitation contracts signed by the previous PUP administration of the City.
This morning in the Belize City Magistrate?s Court, Belize City resident Harrison Smith, 22, a security guard of #6618 Police Street, was charged with the murder of former prisoner Renato Logan, 28, a resident of the Bladden area, Independence Village.
Smith appeared in front of Magistrate Sharon Frazer, and was read the charge of murder, but because the offense is an indictable one, no plea was taken.
Day #3 of the DFC hearings reveals closed-door deals and lax loan appraisals
The third day of public hearings into the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) revealed more about the inner workings of the DFC?s financial machinery. The Commission of Inquiry was called to investigate what happened at the corporation from 1999 to the end of 2004. Today, there were revelations of significant irregularities within the DFC?some unexplained, some attributed simply to an overload of work due to a fast-growing DFC.
A team of 7 ministerial and technical officials from the Government of Belize, led by Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Hon. Said Musa, met face-to-face with the media late this evening, to formally present the Government?s position on the public debt.
Two trusting young girls, 12 and 17 years old, became victims of rape when they accepted the offer of men they knew, to give them a ride home.
Corozal police have since detained the alleged rapists. According to police liaison officer G. Michael Reid, charges are expected to be brought against the two men tomorrow.
A day after public hearings began into the mismanagement of the finances of the Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the ruling People?s United Party (PUP) has called for Mr. David Price, chairman of the Commission of Inquiry, to ?recuse himself from the Commission on the grounds of bias.?
The Commission is a three-member team, with Merlene Bailey-Martinez being the Commissioner chosen by the National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB), Chief Magistrate Herbert Lord representing the Government, and David Price being the mutually agreed chairman chosen by both sides.
Speaking to the press for the first time since Glenn Godfrey appeared on Mek Wave and Lik Road last Wednesday, Prime Minister Hon. Said Musa claimed that no Government minister is guilty of any impropriety with regard to loans totaling $40 million?some on spurious security?to Intelco and other companies related to Godfrey, a former ruling party minister/Attorney General.
