We begin tonight’s newscast with the arraignment of a young man who is accused of opening fire on the home of Commissioner of Police Chester Williams earlier this week. The incident happened on Tuesday night while the ComPol was out of the country. At home was his twenty-two-year-old son who contacted him by text message informing him that someone was shooting at the residence. Tonight, twenty-one-year-old Threvane Thomas is on remand at the Belize Central Prison. The resident of Camalote Village appeared in the Magistrate’s Court in Belmopan this morning. He is facing a raft of charges, including aggravated assault and possession of a prohibited firearm, which was a forty-five-calibre pistol. Police were quick in apprehending Thomas after surveillance cameras at the residence captured him.
Tag: 2024-06-28
Minister Musa Says Attack on ComPol’s House was Egregious
Thomas will have his day in court as he spends his first night in jail, and today we had an opportunity to ask the Minister of Home Affairs, Kareem Musa to speak about the attack on the commissioner’s home. He thinks the incident was egregious and cowardly and he says the police are looking for two more culprits who they believe acted along with Thomas to carry out the crime.
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
“It is, in my opinion, a very egregious and brazen attack on one of our most prominent public servants the commissioner of police. And our ministry and the government on a whole we absolutely condemn this type of reaction from these gang elements. Who in my opinion are trying to make a statement. I can tell you that individual has already been detained. He has already been charged with the offense of aggravated assault with possession of a prohibited firearm. And so that person will be spending some time at Hattieville, at Colby Foundation. But he did not act in isolation. He acted in concert with other individuals. We already have information on who those individuals are, and the police are actively pursuing those individuals.”
State of Emergency in Effect for Ninety Days
The alleged gang members who were swept up at the beginning of the state of emergency, in parts of Belize City and Cayo District, will spend the next three months behind bars at the Belize Central Prison. Earlier today, during the sitting of the House of Representatives, Home Affairs Minister Kareem Musa read the proclamation declaring the S.O.E. and how long it will remain in effect.
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
“Now be it resolved that this honorable house extends the proclamation declaring a state of emergency in certain parts of Belize City and certain parts of the Cayo District made by the Governor General on June 24th, 2024 for a period of two months. This motion, Madam Speaker, has the recommendation of the Cabinet. And by way of explanation, Madam Speaker, we have arrived at a point where decisions, swift and certain, must be made to ensure that our Belize remains on track to be the best country in which to grow up and raise a family. We cannot do that in a country where a few feel that they have the power and impetus to wreak havoc on our streets, planting seeds of fear in the minds and hearts of hardworking and law abiding citizens of our country. Belize is certainly not a state where lawlessness, more especially that which leads to the senseless loss of life reigns supreme. We are even more certain that we will not allow any corner of our country to fall into a state of normalized lawlessness. Opening fire on a mother and child exiting their vehicle, or the elderly men riding on bicycles is not normal. Blazing bullets in the dead of night at a police station is not normal, and most certainly, shooting a barrage of bullets into the home of a senior public servant, the Commissioner of Police, no less, is not the Belizean way. These wayward activities will not be countenanced will not be tolerated and will not be condoned.”
Doris Grant and Austin Underwood Remain in Prison Under S.O.E.
Two weeks ago, an attempt on the lives of Doris Grant and her common-law husband, Austin Underwood was made while the two were on their way home from a Trinibad concert in Belize City. Grant’s name had been in the news on several occasions, following an arraignment in the lower court for obtaining property by deception, leading to several raids being conducted on her property. Just four days after the shooting, forty-eight-year-old Grant and thirty-one-year-old Underwood were charged with being a member of a gang. Today, an application for bail was submitted on behalf of Grant and Underwood by attorney Ronell Gonzalez, on the grounds that his clients needed more medical attention than what is currently being provided to them at the Belize Central Prison. Grant and Underwood were subsequently granted bail to the sum of five thousand dollars each. Despite this, the two are being held in prison for an additional ninety days, under the state of emergency. Here is Gonzalez with more details on his clients’ medical conditions.
Ronell Gonzalez, Defense Attorney
“I submitted and filed a detailed application for bail on behalf of both mister Underwood and Miss Grant and a major part of the application was to outline to the court their medical condition. Both are in serious need of medical treatment at this time. mister Underwood has suffered a gunshot wound to the left leg that I understand is being infected because of the lack of medical treatment at the prison. That is my instructions from him and that in fact, miss Grant also has an injury to the hand. Now, I have presented medical evidence to the court saying that both these individuals have bullet fragments. They have the lodging of the bullets in the skin and in the bone still. On behalf of mister Underwood, he has it in the bone. And I have the x-rays and so on that I presented to the court to explain that they are in desperate need of medical surgery. We have shown that there is medical referral saying that they need to undergo immediate surgery. After a period of time, as I understand it, these matters can become poisonous within the skin and therefore it causes a threat to, in this case, limbs and possible loss of limb to the leg and to the hand of miss Grant. So that is the position in terms of their medical condition at this time.”
L.O.O. Says Attack at ComPol’s House is A Sign
We took the opportunity while we spoke with the Opposition Leader to ask him about his thoughts on the attack on Williams’ residence. He said that while it was relieving to know that no one got hurt during the shooting of the house, the act itself was a sign that Williams’ time as commissioner has expired, a message that the opposition has been sending a while now.
Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
“Despite my vehement criticisms of the Commissioner and denunciation of his poor performance, I’m happy that no one was injured, happy he wasn’t there. And I’m happy that his son was not injured. I don’t know if happy is the right word – maybe relieved, because there is still a sadness in the fact that we have come to a point in our country where criminals feel that they can attack the Commissioner of Police. If this is not a sign that for the commissioner to go, I don’t know what is.”
P.M. Addresses Crime and Violence in Belize
Prime Minister John Briceño also weighed in on the crime situation this morning. He pointed to various initiatives that his administration has undertaken to provide employment for opportunities youths, as an alternative to crime and violence. He also touched on the importance of education and the need to keep children in school.
Prime Minister John Briceño
“As a government, we’ve been saying it over and over, that we would not allow a small group of people to terrorize our law abiding citizens. We have been doing everything possible to assist everyone. We’ve been working and growing the economy that presently, Madam Speaker, there is an unemployment rate of three percent, never seen in the history of Belize. I make that point because if these young men want to work, there is work for them. We have been working with small businesses, with MSMEs, creating opportunities and again, many of them will say, “Oh only the big guys have access.” We have changed that so if they want to get a taxi, they could come in and register themselves as an MSME and get a taxi to run or whatever it is. What is important is that we have to ensure that we protect the little ones because whenever I speak to my colleagues, especially those on the south side where we have the most pronounced areas of gang activities, they are telling us that we have to ensure that these little kids stay in school.”
House Speaker Addresses L.O.O. Concerns on Standing Orders
Today’s house meeting was a one-sided affair after the Leader of the Opposition and four other U.D.P. area representatives boycotted the sitting of the House of Representatives. On Thursday, Shyne Barrow wrote to the Speaker of the House, pointing out that the schedule for the meeting deviated from the five clear days notice that has been established. In his letter, the Leader of the Opposition wrote, “failure for this honorable house to follow the five-day notice protocol disenfranchises the Opposition, obstructing our ability to satisfy the required five day notice as per Standing Order Nineteen-three for the extremely crucial questions to ministers.” This morning, at the start of the session, House Speaker Valerie Woods addressed the letter in the absence of the Opposition Leader.
Valerie Woods, Speaker of the House
“I also would like to bring to your attention, members, that I was contacted by the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Mesopotamia, regarding the concern on the late notice, as he worded it to me, regarding this meeting. In the interest of disclosure, I was given an official complaint letter yesterday during the course of the day and I responded. With your indulgence, I would just like to give my response to you so it forms a part of the record, but also to ensure that members on both sides are aware of the rules that are currently in the standing orders. And it reads: Dear, Honorable Moses Barrow, Leader of the Opposition, I acknowledge receipt of your letter of protest on the notice period for the house meeting called for tomorrow, June 28th, 2024. The Clerk of the National Assembly was notified on Sunday, June twenty-third, by the Cabinet Secretary on behalf of the executive for June twenty-eighth to be set aside for a house meeting. This was brought to my attention and the notice went out on Monday, June twenty-fourth when the orders of the day were verified. I do appreciate the concern on notice, however, the notice for this meeting is not in contravention of the standing orders.”
Shyne Barrow Says the Executive Abused Its Powers
We asked the Leader of the Opposition to explain his reason for boycotting today’s House Meeting. He said that if the Opposition had attended the session, it would not have sent the message that they wanted to send. He also shared with the media his concerns over a couple of the bills.
Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of Opposition
“When you see that the Speaker has allowed the Executive to abuse the rights, the duty, and the privileges that the Opposition members enjoy in the House, this boycott of today’s Sitting arose as we have disclosed to the media by way of the house deviating from established protocol which gives a seven-day notice, five clear days, five business days but seven days from the Sitting is when the Speaker would notify all members. The Prime Minister is the minister in charge of parliamentary affairs, and he is well aware of the established protocol and this contemptuous behaviour will not be tolerated by the Opposition. Why is it important that we get seven days’ notice five clear days because of Standing Order? 19 (3) Standing order 19 (3) requires that in order to questions to ministers you must give them five clear days’ notice. So, by giving us three days’ notice of a host meeting, you abrogate the privileges of the members in a very, crucial tool that we have for oversight that we have for representing.”
Marion Ali
“You are known, Leader of the Opposition, to present vehemently or argue strongly against presentations that are made during the host proceedings. Your absence, your entire Opposition’s absence does not give you that opportunity to stand up and to debate or to make a point today.”
Moses “Shyne” Barrow
“We will make that point right now. That is why we have the media. With the bills that are being passed today, let’s start with the motions. We have the loan motions that amount to $48 million Belize. That adds to the already $1.45 billion. And we have a government that decried. The debts that the U.D.P. amassed in a 13-year period and now in one term they have amassed more debt than the U.D.P., more loans than any government ever in their first term. And what they have done is a very clever manoeuvre, whereas they present these loan motions under captions that one would be hard-pressed to disagree with. But then the learned members of the Opposition and the public, you look closely and you scrutinize it and that there is no transparency and there is no accountability. You have with the urban development, for instance, and all of the loan motions that they have presented, there is never a pathway to accessibility, which allows for corruption and abuse because the $1.5 billion that this government has amassed in loans that the taxpayers have to pay back, it is not the P.U.P. taxpayers that will have to pay it back. It is all taxpayers, but what we see is a lack of transparency that allows for corruption and abuse of the process, whereas you have, for instance, in Toledo East, you have the, one of the candidates, Dr. Osmond Martinez telling you that Toledo East is still in the dark ages, and Toledo East is one of the worst constituencies in a deplorable state. Yet we have come into this honorable House and pass loan motions for rural development, rural funding to help.”
Eddie Webster Bids Farewell to National Assembly
The Clerk of the National Assembly spent his final day at work participating in the sitting of the House of Representatives. After fourteen years, Eddie Webster is saying goodbye to parliamentary life following his resignation from the post a week ago. Earlier today, the Speaker of the House acknowledged Webster’s contribution to the Government of Belize and the National Assembly.
Valerie Woods, Speaker of the House
“The National Assembly staff committee did receive the resignation from Her Excellency Governor General Froyla Tzalam of our clerk of parliament, Eddie Webster. Mr. Eddie Webster has completed fourteen years of service with the National Assembly. His family joins him in the gallery and we would like to publicly acknowledge his years of committed service to the National Assembly of Belize. If you would allow me, please, a round of applause for the service of Mr. Eddie Webster. Today marks Mr. Webster’s last sitting of the House of Representatives, perhaps not as the rambunctious Mr. Webster but it is the last sitting. His effective date is the thirtieth but operationally, today would be the last day. Thank you, Mr. Eddie Webster.”
A Proposed Amendment to Fiscal Incentive Act
In the House of Representatives today, Prime Minister John Briceno introduced a proposed amendment to the Fiscal Incentive Act which will do away with the need for a definitive agreement to be signed with outside investors. According to P.M. Briceño, the proposed amendment will create economic and employment opportunities for thousands of Belizeans.
Prime Minister John Briceño
“To avoid all of this, to ensure that everything can be done above board, to avoid these definitive agreements, passing laws for special investments, our government decided for us to set a minimum amount of investment that is needed to be able to get other incentives and the rest of the regular investments that they do in Belize. And so, we felt that by setting up the bar at over two hundred and fifty million U.S. dollars, which is half a billion Belize dollars, we believe that by making these amendments then that will be easier to be able to attract investments or investors and that the investors do not have to worry that the opposition will be using that as a football just for their political gain. This will ensure transparency. As you all know, whenever we approve these investments it is made public so that everybody can see what is taking place. But in the context of amending this fiscal incentive act, the new incentives that will be included for investments of over half a billion Belize dollars or two hundred and fifty million US dollars is one: the customs duty exemptions, and then G.S.T. exemptions for goods and services for the project construction and establishment. Once the construction is finished and the business starts to operate then they will be removed from that exemption. Thirdly, because of the size of the investment, in many instances they need to be certain types of skilled workers. So all foreign skilled workers or managers of the investment are to be granted six months duty exemptions for their personal items such as furniture and equipment when they first relocate to Belize. This is unlocking hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign direct investments in Belize and leading to hundreds, if not thousands of construction jobs and ultimately permanent operation staff for Belizeans. Madam Speaker, this bill is good for business, good for investment and good for Belize and it has the recommendation of the Cabinet.”