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A Fence For Cotton Tree School
Wed, March 22, 2017
We met Espat today in Cotton Tree Village where he had installed a fence for the village school. As an opposition representative, he had to beg sponsorship and he told us how he did it:…



Kareem Riled Up For Budget

And keeping it on politics tomorrow is the first day of the budget debate.  The PUP and UDP Representatives will go back and forth on the virtues and vices of the budget.  The Opposition have called it "the Barrow bogus budget” and Today PUP Area Rep. for Caribbean Shores, Kareem Musa, gave us a preview of his angle of attack: 

Hon. Kareem Musa - Area Rep, Caribbean Shores
"It is a train wreck that is what it is. It is the debris after a train wreck that all of us as Belizeans are standing around debris looking at it. Essentially the train that Mr. Barrow has been driving over the last 8 years was an unsustainable one that can only be characterised by wasteful spending of the people's money and I'm speaking specifically of the petro-Caribe spending over the last 3 and a half years, some 350 million dollars. I'm speaking specifically about the 560 million dollars that he paid for BTL and if you listen to Mr. Barrow still blaming the PUP over a super bond when the payments for that super bond is only 50 million a year, 25 million US but in just two years Isani, in just two years he spent almost one billion dollars on petro-Caribe spending which has no accountability whatsoever. If you recall the month before the general election of 2015, Mr. Barrow brought another supplementary to the house where he spent 40 million dollars and you know what that said? The kind of accounting they are delivering to the people of Belize, it said for flood relief. That is it, it doesn't say if it was for sand, for houses, how much materials, which contractors, none of that sort of accounting you would expect from a responsible government was provided and has never been provided. So where we are today, the prime minister has presented a budget and you have to look at the context in which he's presenting this budget because he is predicting believe it or not that we are going to have a primary surplus of 3.14% of GDP. In the same year that he predicted that we are in a recession, so imagine that the last couple years he has been operating at a deficit. Even in his glory days when he had so much money, he could not produce surplus but now that the economy has crashed, that our industries are failing, he is predicting a surplus. Imagine how incongruous that is, it makes absolutely no sense in a year when he has to pay 90 million in salary increase to the teachers, in a year when he continues to pay more and more on this judgement to his good friend Lord Michael Ashcroft, a total of 600 million, he still has payments to make. And so how is it that you want the Belizean people to swallow that you are now going to turn this thing around, you are now going to be a responsible prime minister and curtail your expenses but you know where the expenses are going to hit? It is the people of the Belize that will have to tighten their belts, not these ministers in government that are wastefully spending our money. It is the people of Belize that will have to bare this burden and that is what I find to be totally disgraceful and totally disgusting."




Forest Day At Sacred Heart

Taking a break now from politics, yesterday was the Forest for Life celebration at the Sacred Heart High School and Junior College Auditorium in San Ignacio Town.

More than 800 students focused on the dependency on forests. Keynote speaker Marcello Windsor explained that in 30 yearsBelize's forest cover has gone down form 80% to 60%:…




Kenzle Hulse Arraigned

Last night, we told you how 27 year-old Kenzle Hulse, son of Agriculture Minister Godwin Hulse, was charged yesterday for harm. Well, what police hadn’t said was that Hulse was arraigned yesterday, and he’s out on bail  tonight.

His case has been adjourned for May 18, 2017, but what is of concern to outsiders is he wasn’t charged with aggravated assault with a firearm. You’ll remember that he is being accused by Albert Santos Lopez, a cohune walk businessman. Lopez reported to police that Kenzle Hulse allegedly hit him in the face with a licensed firearm. 

Police sources say that major crimes, which is part of national crimes, handled the case and not Belmopan police. The decision to charge Hulse with harm, was reportedly due to legal advice given to the arresting officer.




Feeling Festival 2016

And keeping it on the kids, we close tonight with highlights from night one of the preschool festival of the arts which took place on Monday at the Bliss center. Enjoy the Belize District presenaitons, and have a great night…



7News for Wednesday, March 22nd, 2017 from 7News Belize on Vimeo.

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