Today’s procurement workshop, hosted by the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing and international lending agencies, illuminated the stringent processes that contracting parties must follow. The workshop also emphasized the transparency of contracts, which the ministry makes publicly available. However, when asked about allegations of inflated contracts, the minister explained that contracts undergo rigorous scrutiny at multiple levels before being awarded to a contractor.
Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure Development, Housing
“I don’t think you can ever one hundred percent debunk it. It is what people perceive it to be. We can only open it up as best as we can so that you can see the process and ask the questions and participate, look at the procedure, and that’s why we have the valuation. When we do an evaluation of a contract. It is the engineers from the Ministry of Infrastructure, it is the financial consultants from the Ministry of Finance; it is the consultants from IDB or CDB, their people participate. So it goes through different levels of scrutiny before it is awarded.”
As mentioned earlier, on Tuesday, Doctor Lin Chai-Lung and Belize’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Francis Fonseca, held a press conference in Belmopan. During his address, Doctor Lin revealed that the Government of Taiwan is gearing up to open its market to Belizean seafood, with the shrimp industry set to reap the initial benefits.
Lin Chai – Lung
Dr. Lin Chai-Lung, Foreign Minister, Taiwan
“This afternoon we have discussed some very important cooperation projects and we also reviewed the progress and outcomes of ongoing projects and explored directions for further cooperation. We are very satisfied with the result and are fully committed to further strengthening our robust relationship. For instance, I am grateful to announce that after two years, significant progress has been made on the issue of importing shrimps from Belize to Taiwan. We are not entering the onsite inspection phase. Once this is successfully completed and any outstanding issues, interministerial talks will go ahead. Our government looks forward to opening Taiwan market to Belizean sea food, in particular with your famous Marie Sharps. It is very popular in Taiwan. I can guarantee. During this meeting, I can also announce that the government for Taiwan in response to Prime Minister Briceño request during his visit to Taiwan in May, has agreed to provide financial support for the reconstruction of BelCan Bridge in Belize City. We understand this is a pressing issue concerning the city’s safety and its residents.”
Taiwan’s Foreign Minister also unveiled the Taiwan Ally Prosperity Project, which promises to bolster Belize’s development. Doctor Chai-Lung highlighted that this initiative will enhance cooperation in various sectors, including agriculture, health, and women’s empowerment, among others.
Dr. Lin Chai-Lung, Foreign Minister, Taiwan
“Some plans is carbon credit trading and smart agriculture and tourism, among many others. By sharing the Taiwan experience we will expand collaboration in many areas, including agriculture innovation, cultivation, public health, ICT, women’s empowerment, clean energy and the basic infrastructure. In particular we will extend either in large the ongoing women’s empowerment program. We will also increase the fellowship program to have more young talent to go study in Taiwan. We would like to encourage more fellowship recipients to return back to Belize to help develop your great nation. That is kind of a two-way for all in terms of talent exchange. So, it is with great joy we celebrate our thirty-five years of friendship and cooperation together.”
As October draws to a close, the deadline for the People’s Constitution Commission’s (P.C.C.) final report looms just two weeks away. However, with the clock ticking, it seems increasingly unlikely that the commission will meet the deadline. Nearly two years ago, the P.C.C. embarked on a comprehensive review of Belize’s constitution, conducting a series of public consultations and preparing recommendations for the Prime Minister. In June, the commission received a six-month extension to complete its work and was expected to present an interim report to stakeholders on October sixteenth. Unfortunately, that date has come and gone without any interim report. News Five reached out to P.C.C. Chairman Anthony Chanona for a comment on the delay, but he declined. He did, however, inform us that the P.C.C. plans to meet on November fourth to conduct the presentation. We also spoke with P.C.C. Commissioner Caleb Orosco, who attributed the delay to poor time management.
Caleb Orosco, P.C.C. Commissioner
“The commission process was to meet in October eighth, if I remember right, October fifteenthth deadline. And we were all supposed to sign off on letter heads back to the thirtieth, at least that was the original discussion. Now, there’s a request for a second extension of the time to address the deficiency of developing the recommendation report. And that’s problematic because if there’s an exercise in poor judgment and poor management in taxpayers resources what makes the chair think that a second extension will correct a problem of poor judgment and poor management in the first place. So that’s one. Two, the issue with the recommendation really, I predicted, would be one of delays. And unnecessary delays because a lot of these things could have been fixed months ago, but they weren’t. At the heart of this is getting a consultant who is struggling with keeping to deadline and making sure we have a, I guess a basic functional document for us to engage. Why should the process struggle with completing a report for recommendations, when there is foresight, when you have a committee of thematic chairs telling you what to do and how to do. You’re giving instruction and still instruction isn’t followed. The heart of this is, what’s going to happen? Will the request for second extension even go through? Because I personally don’t know that Parliament moves very fast to address issues of extension, especially with mandates like these. And I don’t know what will happen if the so-called meeting to review the so-called recommendation between, I believe, the fourth and the seventh is going to progress any further than making your comments and then we wait.”
Tonight, police are delving into the tragic death of a man in southern Belize. On Tuesday, at approximately 3:47 p.m., officers responded to a distressing report at the Red Bank Dump in Stann Creek District. Upon arrival, they discovered the lifeless body of thirty-five-year-old Wilmer Che, bearing multiple cut wounds and discarded among the trash. Che was swiftly transported to the Southern Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. As the investigation unfolds, we await further details from the authorities.
On Tuesday, Belize Sugar Industries (B.S.I.) proudly announced a record-breaking price for sugar cane, heralding a promising boost for the livelihoods of cane farmers across Belize. This increase in cane prices paints a hopeful picture for the local agricultural community. However, it’s a bittersweet victory, as the global market price for sugar itself has taken a downturn, posing significant challenges for the industry. In an interview, B.S.I.’s Financial Director, Shawn Chavarria, shared insights on how the company is proactively addressing these hurdles to ensure sustained growth and stability.
Shawn Chavarria
Shawn Chavarria, Financial Director, B.S.I.
“We’ve started to see prices come under pressure. And so we’re not expecting a third consecutive year of record prices, unfortunately. But what we continue to have in a sense as an advantage is that the expansion in value-added production will help to cushion this fall in the world market price for sugar. And so by having that diversified portfolio of being able to sell more value-added sugar, that helps to soften some of the blow when prices see these dramatic fall. Prices for direct consumption sugar will also reduce, but the volatility will not be as much as raw sugar. And so we’re not expecting that prices will fall to the levels we saw in the when the EU deregulation took place in 2017 but it will start feeling some pressure due to the fall in global sugar prices.”
Reporter
“Who is buying these dc sugars?”
Shawn Chavarria
“It’s actually a wide group of customers. We’re currently selling these direct consumption sugars to over twenty-five close to thirty countries. In the world. And so we’re selling to a majority of the Caribbean countries presently, even the small eastern Caribbean islands. We’re selling to a number of countries in Europe. We’re selling to the UK. They are one of our biggest takers of product. So over the past five, six years, we’ve really been able to develop and diversify the customer base so that we are able to take advantages and divert sugar to where we’re seeing more attractive prices.”
Today, the Belize Bureau of Standards hosted an engaging familiarization workshop for key industry players involved in measuring, weighing, and quantifying goods. This initiative is part of the Bureau’s mission to advance Belize’s national quality infrastructure, focusing on standardization, metrology, and conformity assessment. The workshop aimed to refresh participants’ knowledge as the Bureau transitions from policy development to active implementation. Director Samantha Banner emphasized the crucial role of diverse sector participation in this process. Adding an international perspective, Riccardo Benvenuti from the British Standards Institution lent his expertise to support the initiative.
Samantha Banner
Samantha Banner, Director, Belize Bureau of Standards
“It’s an opportunity to bring everybody together to work to develop this quality infrastructure system that will help improve the quality of life for our Belizeans, one where we look beyond price because that’s always the major point, looking beyond price and looking at quality and start demanding quality in everything that is done within our country. As it relates to verification of wing and measuring instruments, we do have a system schedule where we do verification exercises. We do ensure to the best of our ability that these weighing and measuring instruments are verified. And as a consumer, you can identify that we verified a weighing or measuring instrument by a sticker that we affix to that instrument. We also encourage you to look up for that sticker. If it’s not there, you can always give us a call and you can let us know that your local grocery down the street from you doesn’t have a sticker on their scale. And you want us to come and we come so we and we have a hotline number. It’s zero, eight hundred, two, eight,three, five, five, eight, seven or you can email us at the help desk at.”
Riccardo Benvenuti, Rep., British Standards Institution
“The idea is to support government standards body abroad, but also private sector to use international standards to open their opportunity to international and sustainable trade. We’re really happy to see that in these years the policy has been approved by the government. But we all know that one thing is approving a policy, and the other thing is actually implementing it. So, there are a lot of policies sitting on shelves that are actually not implemented. So, under standard partnership, we are supporting and empowering BBS, the government of Belize, or also all the other stakeholders in implementing this policy, which is really key for the economy of Belize.”
This morning, convicted sex offender Bert Vasquez made a return to the Court of Appeal after a five-year hiatus. Back in 2019, Vasquez, unrepresented, attempted to challenge the four-year sentence he received in November 2018 for attempted rape. However, his appeal was dismissed due to insufficient evidence. Currently serving a ten-year sentence for the forcible abduction and sexual assault of a sixteen-year-old girl, Vasquez is once again seeking the court’s reconsideration. The specifics of his latest appeal remain undisclosed, as media access was restricted by the President of the Court of Appeals. Presenting his case without legal representation, Vasquez addressed Justices Minett Hafiz-Bertram, Woodstock Riley, and Peter Foster, who, along with the Director of Public Prosecutions, participated virtually. The court has reserved its decision on today’s proceedings, with no date set for the next session.
On Monday night, we shared a father’s distressing account, accusing the Northern Regional Hospital of negligence. He claimed he had to rush his son to a private clinic for urgent care after the public facility failed to treat him. According to the father, his eleven-year-old son, who had suffered a deep gash between his eyebrows from a fall, waited over an hour without receiving any medical attention. Frustrated by the long wait and lack of care, they left the hospital. The father also mentioned seeing the medical staff chatting idly when he peeked into the ER. In response, the Northern Regional Hospital defended its actions today, stating that the child did not wait for an hour and that his vitals were taken promptly. However, by the time the medical team was ready to attend to his injury, the child was no longer there. Attempts to contact the hospital for further comments were unsuccessful, as the phone lines were reportedly down on Monday. Felix Rhaburn, the Regional Health Manager, provided their side of the story, emphasizing the hospital’s commitment to patient care.
Felix Rhaburn
Felix Rhaburn, Regional Health Manager, N.R.H.
“We would like to empathize with the client and the father for their experience. And, secondly, we did a review or an investigation of the complaint, and we were not able to verify a significant portion of the statement that the individual had given to different media hosts. So, we verified and the child arrived with the mother at two-fifty-six p.m. And they left at around 3:30, so they didn’t spend an hour at our facility.. So the client and the partner for, um, their experience. And, um, secondly, we did a review or an investigation of the complaint, and, um, we were not able to verify a significant portion of the statement that the individual have, um, given to different media hosts. So, we, um, verified and a child arrived with the mother at 2. 56 p.m. And they left at around 3. So they didn’t spend an hour at our facility. In response to no interruption, the healthcare provider, again, that was incorrect. Immediately, the child was triaged and classified as a priority case. And, um, from there, they have a turnaround time that we work with and they left within that turnaround time. And as far as we’re concerned yesterday, we had some issues with the phone line.”
A few weeks ago, we shared the story of eleven-year-old Jenica Jenkins, a brave young girl battling Scoliosis, a condition that causes the spine to curve abnormally and progressively worsen over time. Today, there’s a glimmer of hope as Jenica has received a response from Shriner’s Children’s Hospital. Her mother, Kezia Young, is reaching out to the community for support. If you wish to help, you can contact her at 621-8940. Kezia is eager to explain the next steps in Jenica’s journey towards better health.
Kezia Young
Kezia Young, Mother of Jenica Jenkins
“I got in contact with Shriners Children’s Hospital in Tampa, Florida, and her case was closed. After communication, they reopened her case, so we are going through the application process to have her get the care she needs. So right now what we are looking for is sponsorship because they can only provide a certain amount of care for the patient. But when it comes to parents and guardians to travel with her, there’s certain things we would have to cover like getting her visa, getting transportation to and from the U. S. So those are things that we are currently working on. We do have a couple people who have reached out, willing to donate and pay for certain things. They don’t want to be considered sponsors because they’re not sponsoring the whole trip, just portions of it, which we are very grateful for. We need to apply for both our visas, however, the application is – until we are definitely granted approval, then apply for the visas, but that’s it. By the grace of God, we will be granted, and her case will be approved. So, we still need to apply for a visa. And in the event that we can’t get care from Shriners, we do plan on still going to the U. S. To get help for her. So, visas are needed. Money for tickets is needed for food and lodging, food and lodging. Of course, we don’t have somewhere to stay yet. I do have family; however, they are families that have their own life, and things that they’re dealing with right now. So, my family unfortunately can’t assist us at this time, but they have been donating. They have been reaching out and helping us, you know, find places that would be reasonable hotel-wise or lodging-wise. They’re sending different information that can help towards us getting over there. We just need to finish the application process for confirmation approval.”
Marion Ali
“Okay. And baby, how have you been lately?”
Jenica Jenkins
Jenica Jenkins
“Well, sometimes when I’m trying to relax, my back hurts and I have to get in a position where I can get comfortable. And I’m feeling okay right now, so I hope everything is going to be fine with me.”
