7 News Belize

Barrow Says Social Partners Will Not Dictate
posted (November 1, 2013)
And keeping it in Belmopan - we go back to the House of Representatives. As we told you earlier, the only three significant pieces of legislation presented today were the Immigration Amendment Bill, the Belize Nationality Amendment Bill and the Passport Amendment Bill.

They tighten up on nationality requirements, document integrity, increase independent oversight and impose stiff penalties for those who violate the law - including ministers. A key part of the oversight are the social partners - including the churches, the unions and the chamber. They all say that they like the idea, but have insisted on specifics which the Government balked at taking on. Today, in introducing the bills, the Prime Minister outlined some of the differences in approach between the government and the social partners:..



The pieces of legislation were presented for first reading today and now go to Committee for public consultations.

The Ministry of Immigration is currently conducting an inventory in the nationality section of the immigration department- and will be closed for at least two weeks. The police department continues to investigate and have interviewed several immigration officers, and have reviewed what they say are five files handed over by Arthur Saldivar. Notably, on Monday of this week, the Auditor General launched a comprehensive investigation and audit into the issuance of nationality certificates, passports and visas from April 2011 to September 2013.

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7 News Belize