In a certain game of cards, there is a saying, “When in doubt, play trump”. I have had the benefit of some experienced advice in the area of on-the-ground management, and one memorable piece of advice said, “When there is a crisis, do something; make your best judgement and do something, anything; just don’t do nothing”.

Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Robert Leslie, says the Merlene Bailey-Martinez report is “very lengthy,” and the Prime Minister is, to the best of his knowledge, still perusing it. Only after the Prime Minister is finished digesting the contents will we know the way forward.

“It was a ‘Joint Venture Project’ from the very start”…The “land certificate should have been in both the names of the PVC (Placencia Village Council) and a company called ‘Regan International,’” Placencia Village Council Chairman Brian Yearwood told Amandala today…and he is worried that things aren’t playing out the way it was all planned. Are a company called “Regan International” and a few Belizeans pulling a fast one…running away with “the” project? Or is the good Chairman getting all bothered over nada?

The Belize Constitution, as of 1990, did not stop parliamentarians from crossing the floor. Up to that time it was considered a necessary tool that intelligent men and women elected to office be allowed to follow their consciences and the directives of their constituency in promoting/protecting our fledgling democracy.

The National Belize Alliance of third parties, NBA, condemns the two oil production sharing agreements that Cabinet approved for ZMT and BCH, citing that such agreements are not in the best interests of the Belizean people.

In a press release let out on October 18 from Queen Street, the PUP slams the recently released UDP policy papers on crime prevention, saying that party (the UDP) is “in no position” to talk, for it has “intentionally failed to address the culture of crime, hate and violence that plagues (them) from top to bottom.”

The press conference called by the UDP on Wednesday afternoon, October 17, attended by many UDP area representatives, standard bearers, and party faithful, was supposed to be solely about the UDP’s vision to improve law and order in Belize when they come to power. But from early on Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Dean Barrow, told his audience to hold on to their seats, for he had got the innards of a “scandalous” oil deal set up by the governing PUP to reveal.

Continuing his countrywide spot visits, UDP Leader Hon. Dean Barrow on Sunday, September 23, visited a number of villages in the Orange Walk South Constituency. The villages visited were San Felipe, August Pine Ridge, Trinidad, San Lazaro and Yo Creek.

When Prime Minister Said Musa delivered his annual State of the Nation Address in Belmopan today, members of the UDP Opposition—who have traditionally boycotted the event—were again nowhere in sight. Opposition Leader Hon. Dean Barrow did not even listen to Musa’s speech, which was aired on national radio, but did read an electronic copy later that day.

The Senate considered five bills when it met today in the National Assembly in Belmopan, but by far the most debated was the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2007, which seeks to restore power to the Minister of Public Utilities to make bylaws – a power now vested in the Public Utilities Commission, a statutory arm of Government established in 1999 to regulate the sector.

The very informative article by Anthony Sylvester in the Belize Times of Sunday, August 4, and the press release by the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Amandala of the same date, in response to the UDP press release calling on Hon. Ralph Fonseca, Minister of Home Affairs, to speak to the nation about the crime situation in Belize, has further reinforced my suspicion that the Minister may be falling down on his duty.

The Belize Bank has so far demonstrated that it has every intention of zealously guarding its financial interest in the matter of the $33 million Universal Health Services loan, and today its attorney, Andrew Marshalleck of Barrow and Co., showed up in the Supreme Court to ask Justice Michelle Arana’s permission to directly challenge the claimants - the Association of Concerned Belizeans (ACB), the National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB), the Medical and Dental Officers Union of Belize and Senator Godwin Hulse.

Christine Perriott had asked the Supreme Court to have Dean Boyce – the chairman of the Belize Telecommunication’s Limited (BTL) executive committee – locked up for failing to carry out a court order to reinstate her, and today, her attorney, Lois Young, presented her main arguments before the court, explaining why they believe Boyce should be committed. It would seem a clear-cut argument, except for BTL’s counterclaim that Perriott is really going after the wrong man—and for the wrong reasons.

Following a series of press reports regarding a set of three guarantees he penned in 2001 and 2002 with Provident Bank, an affiliate of Glenn Godfrey, for a group of three companies also related to Godfrey, Minister of Home Affairs and Public Utilities, Hon. Ralph Fonseca has issued a rebuttal, claiming that the agreements were in proper order but are no longer in effect.