The Belize City Council has faced this issue many times before, struggling to pay its garbage collection fees. It seems the problem has resurfaced, and the central government might need to step in. Today, Deputy Prime Minister Cordel Hyde explained that City Hall experiences peak and slow seasons for collections, and as it enters a slow season, it is having trouble meeting its commitments. However, he does not support introducing a garbage tax on residents to cover the shortfall.
Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister
“There’s a time of the year when they collect a lot of money, and there’s a time of the year when they don’t. And then usually, they have problems meeting their bills in the times when they don’t, but if you’ve had the contract for as long as you’ve had the contract and there’s no other business in town., there’s no other game in town. Then you have to be able to sit down and reason and work through these things. Like, you shouldn’t get here. And then, I mean, the city’s dirty as it is. Even with the garbage being picked up on a regular basis. So, something’s gonna have to give. So, I think central government is going to have to sit with local government and find out exactly what is the situation and see what we can do from here.”
Reporter
“Will you advocate or suggest a garbage tax?”
Cordel Hyde
“We’re not there. We’ve not been there for the last six years. I don’t see why we would have to go there now. We just have to figure out how to pay our bills and make sure that we’re consistent with that. I mean, they’ve been doing it for the last six years. I see no reason why they shouldn’t, why they can’t continue to do that. So, I am not advocating for the garbage tax at all.”
Earlier this week, a flyer promoting businessman Lee Mark Chang as a U.D.P. candidate for Mesopotamia started making the rounds online. The idea of a Tracy Panton supporter potentially challenging incumbent Area Representative Moses “Shyne” Barrow grabbed the public’s attention. However, Mark later denied any prior knowledge of the flyer and didn’t confirm his candidacy. We spoke with Freetown Area Rep Francis Fonseca to get his reaction to his former opponent’s potential run.
Reporter
“What do you think of your former opponent. Lee Mark supposedly seemingly thinking about running in Mesop?”
Francis Fonseca
Francis Fonseca, Area Representative, Free Town
“Interesting development. I really honestly I’ve not had an opportunity to pay much attention to the ongoing circus in the UDP. But obviously that development, if it takes place would be another very serious layer in terms of this drama that’s playing out for us. So we’ll have to wait and see.”
Ralston Frazer is a familiar face to Belmopan residents. As the former City Administrator and a past councilor, he’s now stepping up as the standard bearer for Belmopan under Moses “Shyne” Barrow’s leadership. Today, he told News Five that he’s been a loyal U.D.P member for many years and feels it’s time to serve the community in a new way. We asked him about his chances, especially with his party in disarray and an election likely less than a year away.
Ralston Frazer, U.D.P. Standard Bearer, Belmopan
“With God, all things possible, humanly speaking, and according to the current situation, under which the UDP exists and so forth, one would more than likely conclude that our chances of winning is not very good, but I firmly believe, like have been seen before in history, in political arenas, including in Belize, the political party, things can turn, a switch can be flipped and things can turn, and the UDP can become a quite formidable entity over the next, I don’t know, whatever month for whenever the PM calls election. So I think the chances of winning is always left to a day to day situational position. If can get ourselves together, I firmly believe within the next month, two months, I believe, if we have that much time, I believe we can, we can make a mark. But the UDP is going through a lot of internal warfare right now. Unfortunately, yes. And so the voters are saying out there, well, it’s not even a strong opposition. How will it make a strong government? Well, I’ll tell you this. When a strong person is sick, the strong person has become not strong because he or she is sick, but with the right medication, with the right doctors, with the right prognosis and so forth, that person can recover and can recover quite speedily and become that strong person that they were just days before they got sick. So for me, being weak is not a permanent state. Being weak is a situation that can change with the correct importation of what you need.”
Land clinics were a hit when Plan Belize announced that the P.U.P government would make it easier for first-time landowners to get a piece of land. But it’s been a while since we’ve heard any updates. Today, the media asked the Minister of Natural Resources, Cordel Hyde, about the progress. He admitted that the tedious process has been taking a toll on him.
Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister
“Land clinics have slowly been killing me. It’s a lot of work, it’s a lot of work, it’s a lot of work. We’ve been – we’ve had so many clinics all over the country, but it is how we carry them upon to the people of Belize. It’s how we make the services that are far out of reach of ordinary people accessible to them and lots of time like Monday I was involved with a family for an hour and a half solving a problem -an hour and a half. Normally you don’t get to do that, but that problem has been solved for twenty years, and I think we finally figured out how to solve it.”
Earlier this week, Belize’s Ambassador to Guatemala, Jose Alpuche, met with Guatemalan officials at the Municipal Office of Melchor de Mencos. They tackled several pressing issues, including border security, transportation, and energy. Today, Minister of Foreign Affairs Francis Fonseca shared more details about these important discussions.
Francis Fonseca
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs
“It was just a part of his normal duties. He engages with these communities. We’re always looking for opportunities to strengthen our cooperation and ties. And we’ve been looking at border issues, in particular trade issues. That’s essentially what he was doing.”
Reporter
“And a part of it that they had mentioned was electricity, but someone mentioned that in Belize we have our own issues with electricity. So how would that work?”
Francis Fonseca
“It’s all a part of our plan for developing more sustainable alternatives, energy alternatives renewable energy. So there are many people in the private sector, both here and outside of Belize in the region who are interested in what is happening here in Belize and providing energy not only to Belize, but to the region. That’s what he was talking about. That’s what they were talking about. A sort of fact finding mission to to determine exactly how we can address these issues and look at possible projects, especially as you mentioned in the area of energy. Renewable energy.”
All Saints Anglican is now officially a Doodle Learning School. It’s been four years since the COVID-19 pandemic turned our world upside down, forcing communities into isolation and pushing education online. This shift left many young children with gaps in their learning. But today, there’s good news. The Ministry of Education donated several Chromebooks to the school, allowing students to fully participate in the Doodle Learning program. This innovative initiative gives students the chance to boost their Math and English skills. Here’s News Five’s Britney Gordon with more details.
Britney Gordon, Reporting
Early childhood development is crucial, as these years lay the foundation for a child’s entire academic journey, especially when it comes to learning how to read. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to shift to online classrooms, which hindered many children’s academic progress. Today, the Ministry of Education took a big step to address this by handing over Doodle Learning Tablets to All Saints Anglican Primary School in Belize City. This initiative aims to bridge the gaps left in the wake of the pandemic.
Collin Estrada
Collin Estrada, Principal, All Saints Primary School
“During COVID we lost some time even though we had online classes. And when we had done Even our own internal assessments. We know that how some students are behind. And so this program will aid in terms of being able to fill the gaps that are there. So that our students will be able to be at level.”
The tablets are equipped with Math and English lessons, targeted for standard four students. The program is licensed by the school for one year so that the current standard three students will benefit as well when they advance to standard four.
Francis Fonseca
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education
“Students in that age group of say ten to twelve were most affected. And then it also highlighted, no surprise to us, it also highlighted that in these foundational areas of math and language, reading spelling, timetable those things were specific areas that were identified as areas that were weak. And those are obviously foundational subjects and foundational areas. So we had to come up with a plan to target that, and this is a part of that response. It’s not, obviously it’s a part of a much larger response to this issue that has been ongoing for many years.”
The project, sponsored by the International Development Bank, is set to expand and reach students across the country.
Francis Fonseca
“It’s going to target six students across the country from seventy different schools, seventy government and grant aided schools. It’s going to be for three years certainly in the first instance. So it’s a good initiative and the whole idea is to make, to take a very interactive, fun, experiential kind of approach to learning because we know that’s how young people today learn.”
Recent graduates of the school were not able to benefit from the program as it was launched after their graduation. Estrada assures us that while these children were at the school, they received all the extra help the school could offer at the time.
Collin Estrada
“One of the things that we at this institution tried as much to do during that period was that we had the Google Suite and even up to the point that we had here whereby we were able to lend students computer to be able to take home so there won’t be that much of a deficiency. Okay, so I could tell you while we are going through COVID during that time, we because of a donor, Anwar Barrow and our barrio, we had repurposed some funds and we were able to get in computers. And so we were able to loan them to our students who were in standard 5 and 6 at the time.”
Saint Joseph RC Primary School is on a mission to educate the next generation of STEAM experts. Today, the school received forty robotics kits and other supplies from the Ministry of Education. This generous donation is part of FIFA’s Digital Education Program, a three-year initiative introducing computer science and robotics to primary schools worldwide. Belize is the first country in the region to participate, representing one of six continents. At the ceremony earlier today, Minister of Education Francis Fonseca explained how Belizean students will benefit from this exciting project.
Francis Fonseca
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education “This is, as I said, a collaborative effort between the Government of Belize, the Ministry of Education, Football Federation of Belize, and the FIFA Foundation. The whole objective is that We’re trying to, of course, continue the work of ensuring that we’re equipping our students and teachers with competencies in programming, robotics, computing. So this is a program, we’re doing it here at St. Joseph’s today, but it will affect about ten thousand students across the country, and three hundred teachers are being trained. The entire objective of the program is, as I said, to ensure that our students are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to fully participate in this new world of technology.”
Britney Gordon
“And we heard them say on the podium that Belize was the country chosen for this entire continent. How did that come about?”
Francis Fonseca
“Yeah, that’s very interesting. Yeah, it really, we have to give credit to Prime Minister Briceño. He had a meeting with both the president and chairman of FIFA in New York, I think about two years ago. And so that really was the beginning of this process. He established that personal contact with them. And so it was out of that relationship that Belize was eventually. And so we followed up on that. We have to give credit to the Prime Minister.”
It’s that time of year again when we come together to spread some holiday cheer to kids who might not be as fortunate. Many groups are raising funds to buy toys for children who otherwise wouldn’t get any gifts. Traffic safety activist Phillip “Faada” Henry dropped by our office to ask for donations for his Christmas toy drive and party. He also had a special request for the Belize City Council on the day he plans to kick off his toy drive.
Phillip “Fadda” Henry
Phillip “Fadda” Henry, Organizer, Christmas Toy Drive
“The Christmas party comes up on the, it’s actually the 20th of December. Okay. Basically, I am all over the city at this time to try to gain 500 toys for 500 children who will be happy for this Christmas. I am here at Channel 5 also to pledge to Channel 5 to be a part of this initiative to make children happy. The reason for this Christmas party is for the Cinderella Plaza area to be closed off by the traffic department. I appeal to the Mayor of Lee City for closing off of the Cinderella Plaza, whereby all these children will gather on the 20th of December, which is, a day of fun, you know I’m appealing to the entire community, across different community. I will also have 36 elderly women. Why will I have 36 elderly women? These are the women who grandmothers who take children to school and pick them up back. We found 36 elderly lady who have been doing great over the year and coming to the end of the year. I will do a makeover of these ladies they will get a fully makeover dress Well, and they will be taken out for dinner and also be received our pantry for their home As well and gift by different business community Miss Marianne i’m appealing to everybody to try to throw in a toy to be a part of this initiative so that we doesn’t have a child left out. The toy is going to be from a female and male. Any, so a girl toy or a boy toy. If you cannot give a toy, we are asking you to please donate to, um, my, my phone number, which is 600 1288. My name is Philip Father Henry. I also want to show that I have received, a donation from the Princess Ramada Hotel. An overnight stay with breakfast and dinner. And also five tickets to go into the casino, and I will be raffling it for $10. So somebody will get the opportunity to go either with their husband and wife or either with their sister for this Christmas. It’s valid up to 2025 October.”
This year, Belize Electricity Limited (B.E.L) faced a lot of heat over the dreaded “load-shedding” – those planned outages when the power supply can’t keep up with demand. But today, B.E.L held a media session to shed some light on their efforts to boost capacity. Emmanuel Pech, B.E.L’s Senior Corporate Communications Officer, shared that one of their big moves is swapping out street lights for energy-efficient LED ones. He assured everyone that the company is taking steps to ensure they can meet the power demands by 2025.
“We know that energy has been a topic, uh, a heated topic in the media recently, particularly because of the year that we’ve had with all the challenges. But we want to reiterate that we remain optimistic that we will be able to meet our customers energy needs into 2025. Of course, 2025 won’t be without its challenges.”
Marion Ali
“What makes feel sure that what you have acquired or can acquire secure will meet 2025 demands?”
Emmanuel Pech
“Well, again, refer back to the presentation. As you may have heard, we are in a much better position today. We have improved by thirty-three percent our in country capacity, and we continue to implement different initiatives. To on the demand side management of things as you may have heard one of the projects we’re working on is the replacement off streetlights countrywide. To L. E. D. And that will that was just one example of the initiatives that we’re doing on the man’s side management. The other aspect of it is informing our customers with your help as well. of the media to, we had an energy management activity that you guys were able to participate in and could have acknowledged how. Different small initiatives that small acts at home or the office can create a big impact in reducing your overall demand. So it’s a combination of many things. BL has its plan. We are doing our part.”
The National AIDS Commission celebrated World AIDS Day today in Belize City. Although the official date is December 1st, they held the event today since the first falls on a Sunday. This year’s theme is “Take the Rights Path.” We caught up with Enrique Romero, the Executive Director, to discuss some of their successes and the barriers that still exist in accessing services.
Enrique Romero
Enrique Romero, Executive Director, National Aids Commission
“World Aids Day is observed in December first every year and this year falls on a Sunday. So, we decided to observe it this year Friday under the theme “Take the Rights Path”, which focuses on human rights as a strategy, or as the need to make a significant dent on the HIV response. The Government of Belize has been providing medication free of cost now. Other commodities include condoms, lubricants and so forth. So, to end the HIV response will require strategies and innovative interventions that go beyond the biomedical approach. Evidence and data have shown that one of the key strategies to ending the epidemic is through a rights-based approach. In order to end aids, we need to eliminate all the barriers that prohibit persons from accessing services. In my presentation earlier I spoke about young men being affected by HIV and getting young men to access HIV services. Those are the things we need to ensure. In tandem with that we need to ensure we remove the barriers. For example, one of the critical barriers is the fact that young people consent to have sex at the age of sixteen, but they cannot access health service until they are eighteen. So that disparity creates a huge barrier.”
