The University of Belize (UB) has announced improvements to its registration process following recent technical difficulties. At the start of the August semester registration, students faced slow access and frequent outages on the Xenegrade portal. “Despite these challenges, over 4,500 students have now registered successfully,” stated an official statement by UB on Tuesday.
The university acknowledges ongoing problems with invoices and class availability. In response, the administration has removed the late fee for this semester and is increasing advisor availability during the drop/add period.
In the statement, it said, “We recognise the need to do better and are pooling all our key resources to focus on immediate, short, and long-term solutions that meet our mandate as the flagship institution of tertiary education.”
Additionally, the university is forming a registration oversight body to explore alternative technologies to prevent future disruptions.
Students experiencing invoice discrepancies are advised to contact the university directly for corrections.
The Caribbean Media Awards achieved new milestones on Tuesday night, announcing a record-breaking 484 submissions from 34 organisations across 13 Caribbean countries. This year’s 35th annual awards ceremony was held on August 13th at the Umaya Hotel in Placencia. The gala, celebrating top media talent across 55 categories, was broadcast live on Channel Five.
As it showcased the region’s dynamic media industry, the event celebrated both traditional media and emerging media forms. Awards were sponsored by several organizations, including UNDP, the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, and the Healthy Caribbean Coalition, reflecting the growing emphasis on climate action.
RJRGLEANER Communications Group from Jamaica led with sixteen awards and four special mentions. Great Belize Productions – Channel 5 followed with eight awards and two special mentions.
Channel 5’s accolades included Best Climate Change News Item for “Cultivating Hope: Belize’s Seaweed Farming Industry Takes Root,” Best Climate Change Documentary for “Don’t Tax My Femininity,” and Best News Story for “A Competency-Based Approach to Education in Belize.” They were also awarded Best Sports Story, Best Investigative Report, and Best Commercial Spot (Television). Additionally, Rick Romero was named Best Director (TV), and Luis Sosa was recognised as Best Sound Engineer (TV). This year’s competition set a new record with 484 submissions from 34 organisations across 13 Caribbean nations.
Newcomers included the Nation Newspaper of Barbados and the Cayman Islands Department of Communication, which received a special mention.
With a growing membership, the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU) expanded this year’s awards to include digital and print content. The event also announced a new partnership for the 56th Annual General Assembly with the Caribbean Culture Fund for the 2025 awards, which will be held in Barbados.
The National Hurricane Centre reported that Tropical Storm Ernesto has strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane. The storm is currently located approximately 175 miles northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, after passing over the Virgin Islands on Tuesday. Ernesto is moving northwest at 16 mph with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph.
The storm is expected to move into open Atlantic waters later today and could strengthen into a major hurricane. Forecasts suggest it could reach Category 3 status by the end of the week, with Bermuda potentially facing impacts.
In Belize, moist and unstable conditions will persist, but are expected to decrease over the next 24 to 48 hours. The forecast includes cloudy periods with a few showers and thunderstorms, gradually diminishing.
We begin tonight’s newscast with news from Belmopan. Today, almost a month after he was elected in a by-election, Doctor Osmond Martinez was sworn in by the Governor-General at Belize House as a Minister of state in the Briceno administration. Martinez soundly defeated his political opponent Dennis Williams by more than two thousand votes at the polls on July seventeenth in the Toledo East constituency. Following his oath of office, Prime Minister John Briceño assigned Martinez as Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Trade. The former C.E.O. in the Ministry of Economic Development resigned from that post to run for the seat that was left vacant in April when his political boss, Minister of State for Economic Development and Area Representative for Toledo East, Mike Espat passed away. Today, the new Minister of State Martinez explained to reporters why he got that assignment.
Dr. Osmond Martinez
Dr. Osmond Martinez, Minister of State, Foreign Trade
“We had our meeting and on that meeting, it was shown that there is a lot of connectivity, you know, within the Ministry of Economic Development, and in order for us to accomplish the pending items on Plan Belize, there is a lot of things that need to be done from the Ministry of Foreign Trade.”
Marion Ali
“When you were CEO, you were able to tap into funds that Belize would have lost out on. Now that you’re a minister, was it your hope that you would have been sworn in as the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance so that you could continue with those projects?”
Dr. Osmond Martinez
“Well, remember that once we are elected, we serve at the pleasure of the Prime Minister and he is the one who will decide where each individual is more fit to serve. And in this case, he believed that I am more fit to serve in the Ministry of Foreign Trade than I will do it. But based on your question, I think that the Ministry of Foreign Trade and the Ministry of Finance. They complement one another and the Ministry of Economic Development. It requires a lot of – when you look at the economic development, it’s not only about grants, you know, that is one of the things that we champion, but it’s also about planning. It’s about coordination. It’s about dictating the pace of economic growth and development. It’s about data analysis. In this case, now, we will be doing – maybe executing now what we were doing at all the planning and coordination that was being done at the Ministry of Economic Development and Finance. Now the Ministry of Foreign Trade will be able to implement it because there is a trade deficit, for example, that needs to be – a gap that needs to be closed. There are more opportunities in terms of negotiating with our countries. There is also the investments in terms of getting the Pacific Corridor and the Atlantic Corridor connected through Belize. Also, all these connections in terms of using Belize, or geographically, you know. Belize is well positioned to become a good trading partner for the southern part of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. And so these are the things that we need to look at that now it’s about implementing what we have planned and coordinated at the Ministry of Economic Development and Finance.”
The newly-sworn-in minister was C.E.O. at the Ministry of Economic Development when the government negotiated the grant for the U.B. hospital. The land identified for that facility has become the subject of controversy because the government has announced that the hospital will be built on lands that will cost millions of dollars to purchase from a businessman believed to be close to a P.U.P. official. When asked if he would have objected to the costly purchase instead of building the hospital on the U.B. campus in Belmopan, Martinez said feasibility studies and empirical data are key in determining what decisions are to be made.
Dr. Osmond Martinez, Minister of State, Foreign Trade “The main thing with investments is that you have to look at empirical data and scientific studies. And if scientific studies call for a decision, then it’s important to note that a decision, as hard as it may sound, we will have to execute it because the investments is a lot of money. So whenever you have a huge investment, that’s the reason why you will have feasibility studies. That is the reasons why you will have you will have experts, you know, to guide you and I’m sure that the Ministry of Health have received all these studies and guidance. Recommendations from the expert. So it’s important to be objective when you look at these things. Why? Because you know, like in Spanish, we have a saying, whatever you do good from the beginning, it ends well. And so it’s important that when we do big investments, that it’s done well from the beginning.”
The Toledo East constituency remains a P.U.P. stronghold and was presided over by late Area Representative Mike Espat, who was first elected in 1989. Espat served for six parliamentary terms and was the sitting area rep up to the time of his death earlier this year. We asked Martinez now that he’s taking over with just one year before the general elections, what priority area he has identified for Toledo East. He named two.
Marion Ali
“In terms of what you’d like to get done what would be the first things that you’d like to get done there?”
Dr. Osmond Martinez
Dr. Osmond Martinez, Area Representative, Toledo East
“Creation of jobs. It’s very important when you look at Punta Gorda and surrounding villages in Toledo East. Unemployment is very high and it’s historical, even when you look at the data from 1981, the biggest challenge is to create jobs and to even sustain jobs in Toledo East; and the second part Is to increase the human capital, and the only way we’ll be able to do this is through education, and when we talk about education we need to be able to diversify our expertise. At some point we might need to reskill the labour force to mitigate the mismatch of the supply and demand of the labour force that we currently have. So those are the two things that we want to accomplish, and those are the outcome. To increase the human capital and to be able to increase the income per capita through sustainable jobs.”
On Sunday, the People’s United Party held a convention to endorse a standard bearer for Queen’s Square. Retired educator, Doctor Lorna McKay was endorsed to do battle for the party in the next general elections. McKay will square off against Godwin Haylock, who defeated Shane Williams at a U.D.P. convention in 2023. Interestingly, the constituency has been dominated by the U.D.P. for decades, and in the last general elections, Denise “Sista B” Barrow won over newcomer, now Deputy Mayor, Alan Pollard by three hundred and thirty-one votes. McKay says she sees a need for growth and development in the constituency.
Dr. Lorna McKay
Dr. Lorna McKay, P.U.P. Standard Bearer, Queen Square
“I have been walking through the area with my campaign team, and there are a lot of room for growth in Queen Square, so far as education, so far as housing, so far as repairs to housing, so far as community projects, those are very needed in Queen Square. Queen Square right now is basically dead. Nothing is happening in Queen Square. It is very important that projects and plans and proper plans are put in place to make the people of Queen Square proper residents and to make sure that they are able to live just like everybody else.”
Marion Ali
“What plans, what proper plans are you talking about?”
Dr. Lorna McKay
“We’re talking about implementing projects for kids, implementing healthcare projects for people who are shut ins, um, looking at the housing situation in Queens Square, making sure that people can get some sort of assistance, so far as sometimes it’s just a sheet of zinc that a person needs to stop the water from coming in; looking at other things like community projects so far as parks, playgrounds, making people comfortable to live in that space.”
P.U.P. Leader, Prime Minister John Briceño wrote on his Facebook page, quote, “The blue wave was strong in Queen Square as our Party leadership and supporters turned out for Dr. Lorna McKay’s endorsement convention. Dr. McKay is a career educator now seeking to elevate her community service to the national level as standard bearer for Queen Square,” unquote.
Just over a week ago, Belize City fisherman Mark Francisco became collateral damage in an incident that ended with his murder. Fifty-four-year-old Francisco was shot and killed while preparing for an early morning fishing trip and, according to police, was not the intended target of the crime. Today, twenty-five-year-old Kentroy McFoy and twenty-five-year-old Degron Joseph were arraigned for murder. Just hours following the incident, the duo was picked up under the state of emergency and later linked to the crime by police who used surveillance footage to trace the perpetrators route in a borrowed vehicle following the incident. Police were also able to identify the owner of the vehicle, who notified police that Joseph had borrowed it the previous night. Both men appeared unrepresented in court and were remanded to the Belize Central Prison until their next court date on October tenth, 2024.
Twenty-one-year-old George Gabourel has been arrested and charged for the attempted murder of his foster brother, following a stabbing incident in Belmopan on Sunday night. According to Devon Bevans, he was at home in the Las Flores area around eleven p.m. and was about to play a video game when he was attacked by his older sibling. Bevans reported to the police that Gabourel jumped on his back and a struggle ensued. During the altercation, Gabourel inflicted multiple stab wounds to the body.
Elsewhere in Belmopan on Sunday, thirty-one-year-old Nisani Garcia and nineteen-year-old Vevaney Nolberto were busted at the Belmopan Bus Terminal with an unlicensed firearm and ammunition. The pair was on a bus when police searched a school bag belonging to Garcia. Inside the knapsack was a nine-millimeter pistol and several rounds of matching ammunition. Garcia and Nolberto were unable to produce a license for the weapon and were subsequently charged for possessing a firearm and ammunition without a license.
