Tonight, there are growing concerns over child safety in primary schools. On Wednesday, we received reports of a child being badly injured by another child while attending classes in Orange Walk Town. An afterschool fight between two primary school children in Cotton Tree Village resulted in a shootout between adults. News Five has learnt that the altercation happened on Wednesday evening. The adult siblings of one of the female minor intervened during the fight. According to an account from one of the adult siblings, the shootout was sparked by a misunderstanding that stemmed from the fight between the two minors. We are informed that the brothers of the second minor confronted forty-seven-year-old Richard Williams, the father of one of the children that were involved in the fight. Armed with a machete and a firearm, they allegedly opened fire at Williams and his children. A police officer was in the area at the time. He returned fire with his license firearm. During the exchange, Williams’ sister- in- law was injured. We spoke with one of Williams’ daughter. Here is what she told us off camera.
Voice of: Witness
Voice of: Witness
“Deh mih have this lee gial and ih sista right and then afterwards, ih sister come and get in a fight with my sister and we end up at Belmopan Police Station. When we come back we mih the come through suh and we sih some bway and deh mih the throw up signs, so we went to the bus stop. When we come back deh seh that how deh mih wah ketch my big bredda, he mih the come from shop. When he run, deh seh sih he deh, but the bally couldn’t lift up the gun. He mih have it on the ground and one fire shot between my breda and sista. And then afterwards he run in the yard then a next one come to my pah and my pah she, do what you have to do. So the two brothers come and took the one with the gun. A man mih the yah and he fire shot after them too and dah suh deh gawn back suh.”
Paul Lopez
“Why were they after your brother if it was two kids fighting initially?”
Voice of: Witness
“Because, they tell lie and seh that dah my breda punch their little sister in her eye and buss it which is nothing like that. I see everything that happened. She was there and had a stick with a nail to hit my little sister and when she lift the stick ih wap ah dah ih eye and when the stick wap ah, she gone her breda deh that dah my breda punch ah.”
Paul Lopez
“It was your uncle’s partner that got shot or what happened to her?”
Voice of: Witness
“She get scratch on her hand and deh seh maybe from a shell.”
An altercation between competing bus drivers in Mahogany Heights has resulted in a conviction of damage to property and a fine being levied on twenty-two-year-old Jeshron Flowers. This afternoon, Flowers, originally from Burrell Boom Village, appeared before the lower courts where he was arraigned on two offenses, including common assault. It is alleged that on Tuesday, Flowers damaged a glass window on a bus belonging to Jeromie Samuels. According to Flowers, when he was passing by Samuels’ bus, the driver accelerated the engine as if to run him over and that’s when Flowers threw a bottle at the vehicle. In court, Flowers wasted no time and admitted to the offense. For his guilty plea, he was imposed two non-custodial sentences. For damage to property, he was fine five hundred dollars and for common assault, he was fined six hundred dollars. Those fines are due by April thirtieth and May thirty-first, respectively, or in default he will spend three months in prison.
The sensational case of thirteen-year-old Fay Lin Cannon who died under questionable circumstances in the care of an American couple living in San Pedro made headlines in 2017. Sixty-three-year-old Anke Doehm was jointly charged along with her husband David Doehm in the wake of the child’s death. Her husband took his own life a few years later and today, Anke Doehm appeared before newly-appointed High Court Judge Derrick Sylvester and a jury of nine persons. The allegations against her is that she willfully neglected Cannon in a manner that was likely to cause injury to her health. Both sides presented oral submissions before the bench, beginning with the Director of Public Prosecutions who addressed the jurors by first showing them three gruesome images showing Cannon’s severely bruised body. The D.P.P. also presented an image that showed an emaciated thirteen-year-old girl who Doehm claims was never neglected. The D.P.P. concluded that Fay Lin Cannon’s death was not an accident. On the other hand, Doehm’s attorney, Adolph Lucas Senior, urged the jury not to believe the allegations made by the D.P.P. and asked jurors to acquit his client because the Crown failed to prove the charge of cruelty to a child. The case against Anke Doehm will be summed up on March fourth.
The International Monetary Fund has wrapped up its Article Five consultation. In its concluding statement, the I.M.F. reported that Belize’s economy has continued to perform well. The report noted continued G.D.P. growth over the last three years, adding that this growth has been led by the expansion of tourism, construction, and the business process outsourcing sectors, among others. The I.M.F.’s report further stated that unemployment has decreased from fourteen percent in 2020 to three point four percent in 2023. The report also provided a positive outlook for Belize’s inflation rate and G.D.P. growth. Today we caught up with, Christopher Coye, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, who told us more.
Christopher Coye, Minister of State, Ministry of Finance
“I think the IMF article four consultations reflect and the concluding statement reflects what we have been experiencing in Belize. We have been experiencing a resurgence of the Belize economy. The growth continues to perform for Belize, relatively well. I think in this last calendar year we experienced an estimated five percent growth. I think they are estimating four point five, Central Bank is estimating the same number. I believe we will outperform that a little bit. But nonetheless, it is around five percent growth. They also highlight our debt dynamics. Our debt fiscal position remains robust. We expect a primary surplus once again this year and the inflation continues to moderate. They are estimating that inflation for 2023 will be a little over four percent, for 2024 it will reduce to a little over three percent and then reduce further to about one point three percent thereafter. The unemployment rate, their estimate is about three percent there about and that we would remain at or above full employment for the foreseeable future. So, all in all, the consultations went quite well and the report indicates how the economy and the government has been performing in a positive way.”
Two weeks ago, the National Trade Union Congress of Belize fired off a letter to the International Monetary Fund, informing that the umbrella organization was boycotting all further consultations with the financial institution. The N.T.U.C.B. stated that its reason for shunning the I.M.F. was because it was simply being used as a checkbox. The congress wrote, “we are deeply troubled by the negative recommendations towards hard-working public sector workers, teachers, police, doctors, nurses, firemen, etcetera The negative impact that the I.M.F.’s interventions have had on the working class, economies, and people of developing countries within the Caribbean and Latin American Region is of serious concern”. Today, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Chris Coye said that the union’s decision was unfortunate.
Chris Coye, Minister of State, Finance
“The IMF tries to have as broad a consultation as possible as it goes through its Article 4 process. In order to put together it’s concluding statement, that concluding statement it provides insight as to how the economy is performing, how the government is doing how the financial sector is doing and, what, they see is likely to occur in the future. So it’s important to become as informed as possible from as many stakeholders in the economy as possible. It’s unfortunate that that meeting did not happen so that the NTUCB could give their, views and opinions. But nonetheless, the work has to go on and ultimately the IMF will produce their report.”
The average prices of select food items, including rice, ground beef, evaporated and powdered milk, as well as cheese have gone up. That’s according to the latest figures released by the Statistical Institute of Belize. The Consumer Price Index shows that there has been a four point three percent increase in the national inflation rate. In January 2024, prices within the food sub-category were up by eight point two percent, as increases were observed in the cost of fresh vegetables, dairy products, meat products and cereal products, including rice, flour and bread. The cost of restaurant and accommodation services rose by fourteen percent. The External Trade Bulletin indicates that imports were up twenty-eight point two percent, while domestic exports were down thirty-one point six percent in January 2024. Total imports for January 2024 stood at two hundred and seventy-two million dollars which is attributed to a considerable increase in the importation of machinery and transportation equipment.
As many as thirty-five businesses in San Pedro and Caye Caulker have been ticketed by the Supplies Control Unit for violating the Supplies Control (Prices) Regulations, as it pertains to the sale of various items. During a third round of establishment inspections carried out earlier this month, the unit ticketed stores across the island town, including nine on Laguna Drive alone. Caye Value Store, Tan’s Mart, Best Price Store and K Mart are among several establishments that were fined for offering for sale above control price for control good, or for failing to display price for control good. In Caye Caulker, several stores were also ticketed, including China Town Supermarket and Sunrise Shopping Center. The Supplies Control Unit says it will continue to engage local authorities such as the Belize Police Department, San Pedro Town Council and Caye Caulker Village Council to identify and address violations of the Supplies Control Regulations.
Today, the World Bank shared its findings of a review on Belize’s public spending, primarily in areas of education, health and climate change resilience. The bank is of the view that Belize could reduce its debt to below fifty percent of G.D.P. by undertaking reforms in these areas particularly. The report also found that budget credibility and fiscal discipline remain a challenge and a high public sector wage bill continues to limit spending power. News Five’s Marion Ali has a report on the review.
Marion Ali, Reporting
For the first time, the World Bank has presented the findings of a review that it has conducted on Belize’s public spending and how the government could improve its ability in addressing specific areas of need if it were more efficient in how it manages the public purse. Senior Economist with the World Bank, Anton Dobronogov, broke down the figures.
Anton Dobronogov
Anton Dobronogov, Senior Economist, World Bank
“As of 2023, the risks to sustainability of public debt were judged as moderate. which is a major achievement for the country which experienced multiple debt restructurings in the past. Revenue collection in Belize remains lower than in most of the Caribbean countries. Since this report was on the expenditures and not on revenues, we did not go in we did not do in depth analysis. But I would like to highlight this point because Belize still needs to continue fiscal consolidation and increasing revenues needs certainly to be a part of this effort. As you can see at the next slide total expenditures which was at 23 percent in 2022, has an even larger gap between Belize and the Caribbean average. Obviously, this is a consequence of the fiscal consolidation and for a while this gap, is likely to persist.”
The World Bank found that one of the main challenges for Belize in public spending is its huge wage bill, which in 2022 accounted for 41 percent of total public spending.
Anton Dobronogov
“The public expenditures in Belize are rather rigid. About 81 percent of expenditures are non discretionary. In part, this is a consequence of the lack of fiscal disciplines, of lack of fiscal discipline, which persisted for a fairly prolonged period in the country. And the most important rigid expenditure in Belize is the public sector wage bill. As of 2022, the wage bill including transfers to public high school and public hospitals allocated for salaries accounted for slightly over 40 percent of total public spending, 50 percent of total revenue, and 55 percent of recurrent expenditure.”
Minister of State in Finance, Chris Coye says there has to be a way to effectively address the issues that were raised.
Chris Coye
Chris Coye, Minister of State, Finance
“I think you, you look at the recommendations, and those are recommendations that, that have to be seriously considered. Certainly, the size of the workforce is, one. But also the, compensation, the pay scale is compressed. The skill side is underpaid versus the broadness of the lower-mid or mid-level workers within the system. Those are areas that we actually have to spend a lot more time in looking at how do we develop probably a new pay scale structure, a new compensation structure. So that is quite a bit of work, but that is something that needs to be undertaken.”
The review singled out areas of education and health that have also given serious challenges to the government over the years. The bank’s Country Director for the Caribbean, Lilia Burunciuc spoke on these.
Lilia Burunciuc
Lilia Burunciuc, Country Director for the Caribbean, World Bank
“A key recommendation is the need to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public spending in key sectors such as health and education. And these are the two and these are the two very important sectors for the country. for the people of, the country. We will learn more about this today, but I would like to highlight that in education, worldwide, study after study, has shown that the factor number one that determines the results in terms of the learning outcomes in education is the quality of teachers. And this is one of very important area that Belize needs to really pay attention to, to improve the quality of teachers and, teaching. In health, it is important to make sure that the money, that public money that goes into this sector really delivers the results, and the citizens can see the benefits in terms of improved services that they get from, the health sector, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of spending in health.”
C.E.O. in the Ministry of Education, Dian Maheia, pointed out that the ministry has already begun to correct some of the weaknesses that existed in previous years.
Dian Maheia
Dian Maheia, C.E.O., Ministry of Education
“There are a few things to take away here. One is that this is a review that really incorporates data leading mostly up to 2019. There are significant changes that have been made since 2019, and there’s data that has yet to be collected. I think that yes. What happens from 2020 on especially from 2021 on because with 2021, we were fully back after the pandemic, I think is going to be interesting as we move forward. So that’s one thing, because this was a review, s I said, with data up to 2019. That’s one thing. Another thing to take away from this is the fact that They’re not a whole lot of surprises. It’s true that we absolutely as a government, have to be aware of the fact that we spend a lot of our money on education and we should expect that our system would be more efficient.”
A lot of money is spent on teacher training C.E.O. Maheia said, but the fruits of that are still just beginning to have bearing. Marion Ali for News Five.
The Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center cares for one hundred and sixty animals, representing forty-three native species. The thirty-acre wildlife rescue and rehabilitation facility sees approximately forty-three thousand visitors on an annual basis. And, as of Sunday, those thousands of yearly visitors will be able to navigate the best little zoo in the world much easier. The zoo has partnered with Belizing.com to create an interactive map and information application that seeks to enhance the visitor experience. These new features will be launched on World Wildlife Conservation Day. News Five’s Paul Lopez got an exclusive look ahead of the launch on tonight’s installment of Belize on Reel. Here is that report.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
When conservation and technology collide, innovation becomes the order of the day. The Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center has partnered with Belizing.com to launch a creative, digital application to enhance visitor’s experience.
Celso Pott
Celso Pott, Director, The Belize Zoo
“We started to work on an interactive map. This stems from our participation in their innovative lab project where they developed digital integration plan for the Belize Zoo and proposed how we can move the Zoo forward towards digital technology.”
According to Celso Pott, the Director of the Belize Zoo, a static PDF map has been the only option available to visitors who request a layout of the zoo. Belizing.com has now created an interactive map that does way more than inform visitors where each animal is located.
Angela Wu
Angela Wu, General Manger, Lets Go Belizing Limited
“We had to come, we came on multiple occasions. We had to map out the zoo, making sure that we have the coordinates right. We had to ensure that all the animals are where they are showing on the map, that way we are making sure that when people use it they could navigate to which animal they want to see.”
The interactive map is the main feature of the application. But it also includes other options such as the stories behind each animal housed at the zoo, daily scheduled activities and ways that users can become financial partners with the zoo. Today, we used the interactive map to find“Neo” The River Otter and to learn more about his story.
Angela Wu
“It’s a mobile first progressive web app. So anyone that has a mobile device and internet connection they can access the map. So when they go to the home page of the map they will be able to share the location and that way the GPS technology will be able to work and it has dynamic way finding, that way you could click on whatever animal you want to see and it will give you the direction to follow to get to that specific animal.”
Celso Pott
“You come to the zoo and you download with the QR code an interactive map. Interactive map because it will be your guide to the zoo. You tell it which animal you want yo see and it will tell you the way point to find that animal habitat. Once you reach there you can tap on a PDF to read more information about that animal.”
Pott explained that the app may prove most useful to individuals who are on tight schedules and have intentions to visit one or two specific animals at the zoo. Through the application they will be able to quickly locate these habitats and find the fastest route. Maria Mejia, the Chief Executive Officer at Let’s Go Belizing Limited shared additional features.
Maria Mejia
Maria Mejia, C.E.O., Lets Go Belizing Limited
“It has a real-time schedule when the zoo is open, what is available. It has guides that help to create customizable experiences for you at the zoo and it has a tour schedule, what tours are available at that time. I think it is not only going to transform not only the experience in terms of navigating the zoo, but being informed and educated about the different animals, but also being able to have a more efficient experience, especially for travelers who come, let’s say from the cruise and they want to stop by and have that experience, the app allows them to stop by and have that experience much more easier and efficient right.”
The application is set to be launched on Sunday during the Belize Zoo’s World Wildlife Conservation Day activities. As a nonprofit organization, the Belize Zoo relies on the support of visitors to sustain its conservation efforts. Pott believes that this enhanced experience shows visitors just how much their support means to zoo.
Celso Pott,
“This year’s world wildlife theme is connecting people and planet through digital innovation for wildlife conservation. So this digital interactive map ties perfectly with the theme for this year’s world wildlife day. The Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center is a not for profit organization, so we rely solely on the visitors fee and donation we receive and that money goes back into the work we do. Enhancing visitors experience is very important for them to support us. The cool thing with this interactive map is, if businesses want to support the zoo they can sponsor one of the pages. We can advertise for you at the Belize Zoo on these pages.”
Chief Executive Officer, Doctor Kenrick Williams is in Nairobi, Kenya where he is attending the Sixth United Nations Environment Assembly. For Belize, the assembly provides a space to update the global community on its national efforts to address environmental and climate issues. Similarly, it serves as a platform to urge world leaders to deliver upon commitments and support developing states like Belize.
Dr. Kenrick Williams, C.E.O., Ministry of Sustainable Development
“Belize is pleased to present its highest commitment and dedication in tackling climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. Since our last meeting at this assembly, Belize has been working arduously to meet its national, regional and international commitments. With respect to climate change actions, Belize recently introduced the Climate Change and Carbon Markets Initiative Bill. This legislation will set up structures and systems aimed at meeting our commitments under the UN, CCC and the Paris Agreement. These achievements will additionally place Belize in a position to diversify its financing mechanism and enter the international carbon markets to finance our low emission resilient development. Belize continues to be a net carbon sink which is due to its adequately conserved, managed and enhanced forest resources. In line with our government’s Plan Belize Agenda, we have adopted a national forest restoration strategy which aligns with Belize’s pledges to the bond challenge where we commit to restoring a hundred and thirty thousand hectares by 2030. In line with the global biodiversity framework, Belize is now updating its national biodiversity strategy and action plan to continue to meet the urgent action of halting and reversing biodiversity loss and to put nature on a path to recovery.”
