Tonight, a family is heartbroken after a tragic motorcycle accident claimed another life in Belize. The victim, Eric Williams from San Pedro, was found injured on the ground early Sunday morning. Despite being rushed to the hospital, Williams sadly succumbed to his injuries. ACP Hilberto Romero has more details on this heartbreaking incident.
“On Sunday, the tenth 2024, there was a fatal road traffic accident in San Pedro. Police visited an area around one a.m. where they saw a motorcycle with damages. Also, they saw the body of a male person. The person was taken to the hospital for treatment for treatment where he succumbed to his injuries. He was identified as Eric Williams of San Pedro. Investigation revealed that he was riding his motorcycle when he crashed into a lamppost. And thereafter, he was taken and succumbed to his injuries.”
Courtenay introduced the second reading of a bill to allocate additional funds for public services for the 2024-2025 financial year. He emphasized that this bill aligns with the national policy of presenting supplementary appropriation bills to the National Assembly, ensuring the public is informed about extra spending beyond the approved budget before April first. However, Opposition Senator Mike Peyrefitte voiced his concerns, attributing the need for roughly ten percent more funds to poor planning, sloppiness, and misjudgment by the government.
Mike Peyrefitte, U.D.P. Senator
“I see something here in the Supplemental for general elections. Now that one line item, Madam President, I fully support and we fully support. The rest we do not support. Madam President, I urge the government to use this money, use every penny to call the general elections now because you’re budgeting for it. And if it comes in a supplementary that is in a budget cycle that will end in March 2025, it means clearly then that the general elections is going to be before the end of March 2025. So don’t be secret about it, Madam President. Say what you’re going to use the – now to be fair, you’re saying what you’re using it for – general elections: three hundred and forty-three thousand, seven hundred and eighty-seven dollars. So, Madam President, what they should do, the Leader of Government business should announce the date for the elections. Now you come to the National Assembly and you say approve us one hundred and six million dollars. That’s what we’re talking about today, in this nondescript room, this body will decide that the people of Belize need to approve a hundred and six million dollars more on top of the billion-dollar budget that was present earlier this year. With a full four to five months left, you come here, and you ask for about ten percent of what you asked for in 2024. Madam President, that’s unacceptable.
Ministry of Finance was approved ten million plus and now they’re coming back for four million plus – forty percent – that’s how much you have miscalculated how much you needed for 2024-2025 and we’re only in November, Madam President. Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security for Cap 11 was two hundred and twenty thousand. Today you’re asking for three point two million dollars. Either you nuh know how fi do a budget if you are the minister for that or this da wa hustle. What do you need that money for that you didn’t need it for just in March?”
Business Senator Kevin Herrera pointed out several line items requesting additional funds, raising concerns about the amounts being asked for. He noted that the supplementary budget represents a significant request for new spending. Herrera expressed hope that the P.U.P. administration will continue to maintain fiscal discipline, as it has done in reducing foreign debt. He also criticized the Ministry of National Defense and Border Security, accusing them of simply ‘copying and pasting’ their requests.
Kevin Herrera, Business Senator
“The Ministry of National Defense and Border Security [it] seems like they’re copying and pasting previous budgets, and the numbers really didn’t make sense. I highlighted this is my budget presentation last year and this year, in terms of the new personnel, in terms of what was required, in terms of the supplies and – it just didn’t make sense. So it doesn’t come to me as a surprise, Madam President, in looking at these figures, the Ministry of National Security and Border Security is asking for three point three million dollars more or fifteen percent of the nineteen million dollars that was budgeted earlier. It’s a significant ask in terms of new spending, Madam President, and I wanted to highlight that. But also, I think we have to look at in terms of what we were trying to achieve in March. What we had in March, Madam President, is we had a margin of less than one percent of expenditures over revenues, so there was a very small financing gap that was required, and I think that spoke to fiscal discipline. We were trying to really balance those number so now that begs the question: when you throw a hundred and six million dollars on top of that, what does that mean in the larger context? Does that mean that we’ve thrown that fiscal discipline aside and we’re saying let’s expand the deficit? Or does that mean that we’ve brought in unforeseen or unexpected additional revenues into the system, and we’ll maintain those ratios?”
Senator Eamon Courtenay acknowledged that it’s not ideal to ask the Senate to support the appointment of an Auditor General for just four months, but it’s the reality they face right now. He reminded everyone that Dorothy Bradley was brought out of retirement, and her contract was extended until it expired in August. Since then, the Auditor General position has been vacant. Courtenay cited the 2001 constitutional amendment that allows for the appointment of an Acting Auditor General. The government has recommended Deputy Auditor General Maria Rodriguez for the temporary role. Today, the Leader of Government Business explained the reasoning behind this short-term appointment.
Eamon Courtenay
Eamon Courtenay, P.U.P. Senator
“The Government has come asking the permission of the House of Representatives to approve the recommendation to the Governor General to Miss Rodriguez as Acting Auditor General for four months. The period of four months has to do with, as I understand it, completing the process of advertising and interviewing and hopefully recommendation of a person to be appointed the Auditor General. My appeal to this Honourable Senate, Madam President, is to reflect soberly on whether or not we prefer to continue for one minute, one hour, one day, one month, four months without an Auditor General in an acting position. Is that better than having an acting Auditor General? If the social partners and the Opposition, as they have articulated, are not supporting the motion, then the motion will fail and it means that we will have no Auditor General. I do not believe, with respect, that is in the interest of the Belizean people. All the criticisms that have been levied are taken on board. I am not standing here to dispute them. What I will say is the importance that is attached to this Constitutional Office – the fact that the Constitution was amended to allow for an Acting Auditor General to be appointed should be borne in mind to say where the public interest lies. Is it in having an Acting Auditor General on a short-term basis so that we can complete the process of making a formal appointment? Or is it better to have the office without someone acting in the interim?”
Peyrefitte raised eyebrows over the amount allocated for grocery bags. Initially, the budget was around three million dollars, but now the supplementary budget is asking for an additional two and a half million dollars. He used this as an example to accuse the government of politicizing the system. In response, P.U.P. Senator Bevington Cal explained that many of the grocery bags distributed in Toledo go to single mothers, the elderly, and people with disabilities who genuinely need the help.
Bevington Cal, P.U.P. Senator
“When it comes to the Ministry of Human Development, again he criticized what we call the grocery and food assistance program, Madam President but this government is not giving Mickey Mouse nor Minney Mouse any grocery bag. We are making sure – Madam President I work in Toledo East especially now Madam President and we make sure the priority is for the elders, Madam President, the single mothers. We have a lot of our elders who have done a lot for our society, they’ve done their part for the growth of country and of course we need to take care of them when they cannot help themselves, Madam President. For us this is the priority, and we have a large number of our society that is in that age range that really need it. I see the appreciation that these senior citizens have, Madam President, when they get these grocery bags – the smile on their faces and for me, if we can continue to support them, I will fully support that, Madam President, and even ask for an increase in this allocation so that we can take care of these elders. We actually support a lot of the organizations as well that deal directly with senior citizens, single mothers, people who are disabled. These are the people who are getting these grocery bags.”
After the launch of ‘Jacito Learns to Budget,’ a book by Doctor Carol Babb aimed at teaching kids financial literacy, Holy Redeemer Credit Union kicked off its open-day festivities. Celebrating eighty years of service to Belize, H.R.C.U. invited customers to learn about the company’s history, ask questions about their procedures, and join in fun games to win prizes. H.R.C.U. Chief Finance Officer, Clement Usher, shared more about the event’s purpose.
Clement Usher
Clement Usher, Chief Finance Officer, H.R.C.U.
“The first event was to open for the book launch for doctor Babb. She’s on her third book launch Jacito learns the budget and we decided that we would do it in along with the open day so that our members could come up and ask questions to the staff about delinquency or loans or anything that they wanted to talk to our staff more intimately about because you know when you’re transacting at the counter downstairs it’s very difficult to ask questions. So we decided we do this open day and they can come up and ask whatever they want, read up about the credit union. And then we also did a historical display of H.R.C.U. from it started way back in 1944 and up to present 2024. So it’s eight decades of eighty years of helping people financially. If you look at the display, we started off with three women, and seventy-five cents each, and we are now at almost sixty-five thousand members, with assets of just, I think by next week we’ll be over eight hundred million. So we’ve really grown over the eight decades that we’ve been in service. And it’s thanks to our loyal and faithful members, who are always inside the office, even though we’ve given them access to online and ATMs where they don’t have to come into the credit union, they always prefer to come to H.R.C.U. to do, to the do their own transactions. And of course we have a branch in Independence and so they are also doing their open day today as well. And eventually, by next year, by middle of next year, we should have a branch in Belmopan Capital City.”
Just before midnight on Sunday, an old two-story wooden house on Freetown Road was engulfed in flames. The owner had deemed it unsafe to live in months ago and moved out but allowed someone to stay on the first floor despite the lack of electricity. Tonight, the fire department is investigating to find out what caused the blaze. News Five’s Paul Lopez has the story.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
A wooden structure on Freetown Road went up in flames on Sunday night. This morning, we met the owner of the property at the location assessing the damage.
Maurice Francis
Maurice Francis, Fire Victim
“So far, I don’t know what happened. I was playing football at Berger Field yesterday evening. Then I went to my little spot where I hang out. Then early this morning I get a video, and it was blazing fire. I come down now and it was blazing fire.”
Francis explained that he grew up in the home and had to move out after the house almost fell during a hurricane.
Maurice Francis
“I was not living inside but I had someone staying here that watched the place for us. But I haven’t seen her or speak to her yet. So I don’t know what really went down. To me it is a great loss, because where I am at I am punishing and I was planning to come and get this place together right away and this is what happened. I was planning to just take a little bit and put it on the side so that I could stay in there. But now it is just too late.”
Paul Lopez
“And with everything destroyed you cant salvage any of it.”
Maurice Francis
“Can’t salvage no part of it.”
Fire personnel responded swiftly on Sunday night, but their efforts proved futile as the old wooden house was fuel to the fire. This afternoon fire personnel were back on the scene to conduct further investigation.
Gladstone Bucknor
Gladstone Bucknor, Commander, Belize District
“We didn’t have electricity at the time. We had people living downstairs. The upstairs, at this time it is unknown if it was occupied.”
Reporter
“Have you managed to establish the cause of the fire as yet?”
Gladstone Bucknor
“At this time, we have a slight idea, but it is still under investigation to determine the fire. Compared to fire burner analysis it seemed to have started from the center of the home. The guys they did a really good job keeping it contained. As you can see to the rear, there is an abandoned structure. The guys are training twice a week, so they are really keeping up their training so this is the outcome we will have from here on.”
Without electricity on the property, those who occupied the home would have utilized candles.
Maurice Francis
“But I am not saying it is their malfunction. I am not pointing fingers on anybody. The house is a sore eye anyways. I am personally nuh like it, afraid of it, I was going to come back and take it down. I would ask the whole of Belize to support Mr. Magic Francis. They have my phone number, six, two, seven, five, three, zero, eight. Just call me and help out the superstar for Belize. I devote all my playing football and I don’t get nothing. I don’t beg nobody for nothing and this time I feel like I have to ask, because the bible say ask and it shall be given unto you.”
The Belize City Council says it needs one point six million dollars to fix the damaged streets across the city, but they’re not sure where the money will come from. Today, Belize City Mayor Bernard Wagner told News Five that it’s unlikely the council can raise these funds on its own, so they’ve asked the central government for help. Meanwhile, work has started on Saint Thomas Street, which was in terrible shape, just like the worst streets in the Old Capital. However, these repairs weren’t included in the council’s damage assessment report. Belize Telecommunications Limited and Belize Water Service are teaming up with the Ministry of Infrastructure Development & Housing to cover the repair costs. News Five’s Paul Lopez has more.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Belize City streets are in terrible shape, as confirmed by a damage assessment report from the Belize City Council. The poor conditions have even sparked a viral parody that’s making the rounds. “Muffler mih a look…..bruk down pan street. Pit hole, on the road again. Yeah.”There’s finally a ray of hope for motorists navigating the streets of the Old Capital. Over the weekend repair works began on one of the city’s main thoroughfares, St. Thomas Street. It is a welcomed sight, according to one Belize City resident who lives nearby. He mentioned that he recently shelled out up to one thousand, one hundred dollars in vehicle repairs after hitting a pothole on the street.
Jorge Pelayo
Jorge Pelayo, Belize City Resident
“This street has been like this for quite some time, most of the streets in this area. But what gets to me is the time they take to fix the street; I had to take my vehicle to the mechanic and it cost me eleven hundred and eighty dollars for the parts and pay the mechanic. It is time they fix it, but I do hope they give us a good job and don’t give us a cover Benjamin.”
And, according to Mayor Bernard Wagner, the cost of the St. Thomas Street repairs is being covered through an innovative three-way agreement between B.T.L, B.W.S and M.I.D.H.
Bernard Wagner
Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City
“Remember when that project started, I believe it was late last year. One entity was going to do it, and they pulled out. So we were left with a street that was basically dug out, so we collaborated with B.T.L, B.W.S and the M.I.D.H and us and what we did their in this instance is to offset trade license, property taxes, over a three year period so that it does not hurt the council in terms of its revenue. So, they would inject the funding to rehabilitate the street and thereafter we would offset what they inject over a three-year period. So, you kill two birds with one stone, you get the street fixed and you do not compromise the cash flow of the council in a one-year term.”
And works are already underway, with one side of the street almost completely resurfaced. But this is separate and apart from the one point six million dollars that the council estimates will need to repair damaged streets across the city.
Bernard Wagner
“Most of the damages we see are the streets that are not paved. The ones that have been paved have generally held up. The concrete ones held up generally one. So it is a clear indication that maybe it is time to go that route fully in terms of concrete or hot mix.”
Paul Lopez
“Your city admin says the money will come, where will the money come from?”
Bernard Wagner
“At the city level this is sort of next to a disaster or hurricane event. To us finding the capital would be highly unlikely. So, we had to send a request to the M.I.D.H and the Ministry of Finance to see how they could assist us, and we are not asking for funding. We are asking to assist with the material.”
Paul Lopez
“What do you say to residents that don’t necessarily care for the financial deliberation to be made, they just want the streets fixed.”
Bernard Wagner
“My thing here is that taxes has to be paid, property taxes has to be paid. We are owed over thirty million dollars by property owners across this country. So, you can’t be on one side saying you want decent streets but you don’t pay your taxes. We know in some areas they have close to eighty ninety percent compliance. We have a tool we utilize with respect to compliance. if you at the city level is owed close to thirty million, that is a clear indication as to where we sit.”
The Belize City Council has reestablished its Utility Coordination Unit. Utility companies often get blamed for leaving streets in worse condition after working on their infrastructure. This unit will oversee these projects to ensure that when a utility company digs up your street, they leave it as good as they found it, if not better.
Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City
“We want to continue urge our utility entities; we have a good relationship. We have put together the Utility Coordination Unit. I sent out letters last week for those utility providers to have representatives on that committee and that committee is established by law. You have that committee which vets, to say that utility company will go on Penn Road to do works on their infrastructure, they will then send in an application to that utility coordination unit, they ten vet it and sign off on it to ensure there is some measure of accountability and at the completion of the world that the utility company would do they would be held responsible to put it back where it was before.”
Goodnight and welcome to another edition of Sports Monday, I am Paul Lopez. The Inter-office Basketball Leagues is winding down with its 2024 finals series. Tuff E Nuff is taking on Police in a best-of-five series for all the marbles. The first game of the series was played on Friday night inside the Belize City Civic Center. Tuff E Nuff played in their signature black jerseys while team Police wore black and white.
Griffith, big on the inside with the first two points of the match for Tuff E Nuff. Moments later, Belisle at the other end with a huge three-point shot and he draws the foul. Belisle would go on to miss the free throw. Tuff E Nuff went into the second quarter with a double-digit lead, securing twenty-points in the first quarter to their opponents’ ten points.Rivers using his size advantage to get inside and make the layup for Police. Late in the second quarter, Brown, for Police, exploits a weakness in Tuff E Nuff’s defensive lineup to get the layup and the foul. He went to the line and made the free throw. Team Police scored twenty points in the second quarter, to their opponents’ fifteen points. So, the first half ended with a score of thirty-seven to thirty, in favor of Tuff E Nuff.
After the halftime break, Tuff E Nuff came out of the locker room with fire in their eyes and ice in their veins. Valley with the long range three, extending his team’s lead.Rowland late in the third quarter worked his way through Ramos and Augustine managed to get the ball into the bucket over an airborne Williams. Rowland again, this time from the three-point line with another big shot for Tuff E Nuff. He finished his third quarter run with a fast break from the other end of the court that translated into a layup on the buzzer. Tuff E Nuff won game one with a score of seventy-two points to team Police’s fifty-five points. Game two will be played on Friday.
From basketball we move into some football action. One of the most anticipated football tournaments in the city, the Anthony Mahler Under Thirteen Mundialito Tournament, is back with its 2024 closing season. We were out at Berger Field on Saturday to catch two of the four matches played. The first was between Ebony Lake and Reality Youths. The match ended one goal to zero, in favor of Ebony Lake. It was an auto goal caused by miscommunication between the goalkeeper and his teammate. That one went in off a header from a Reality Youths player. But a goal is a goal, and a win is a win.
And the second matchup we covered was between the opening season’s sub champions, the Ladyville Rising Stars and Phoenix F.C. This one quickly swung in the Rising Star’s favor with this kick in front of the goal from Nigel Hulse at the fourth minute.Here in the second period Kent Noralez gets the assist inside the penalty box, and he makes it count. Another beautiful play here from Rising Stars as the ball is placed for Noralez off the head of his teammate. That’s goal two for Noralez. He finished the match with a hat-trick. Ladyville Rising Stars won the game, six goals to zero.
And finally in tonight’s coverage of Sports Monday, a delegation from Belize traveled to Playa Del Carmen last week to compete in the eighth Copa de Revolucíon Games in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Let’s look at some of the results from that tournament. In Shot Put, Gina Tejeda secured a gold medal.
In the open male one-hundred-meter dash, Fred Usher Junior secured the gold medal with a new competition record of ten point thirty-seven seconds. Usher also won the silver medal in the two-hundred-meter sprint. Donovan Grinage Junior secured two silver medals, one for Long Jump and the second for Shot Put.
In the under eighteen female races, Nyasha Harris displayed dominance in the one hundred and two-hundred-meter dash. Harris won gold in both races. Jaeden Williams added to the gold medal victories with a win in the under-fifteen long jump and one-hundred-and-fifty-meter race. In total the delegation brought home sixteen medals, including six gold medals, seven silver and three bronze medals.
Well folks that is all we have for you in tonight’s coverage of Sports Monday. Catch you in the next one.
