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Page 2 Capital Weekly Thursday, January 19, 2012

Capital WeeklyFrom the Heart of the Nation

To the Soul of the People

Published By:

Roots & Rhythm Ltd.

15 Gibnut Street

Belmopan

Chairman:

Delroy Cuthkelvin

Compositor:

William Cuthkelvin

Telephone:

802-1284

Email:

capitalweekly_bze

@yahoo.com

Lisa ShomanGave up SSB $3.34 Million

Delroy CuthkelvinChairman, Editorial Board

Borrow a Page rom Barrows Book

Shoman Casts Stones

We sympathize

with the BelizeCity Councilover the bind in whichit has consistently ounditsel where the garbagesituation is concerned;but we believe it is theinevitable result o a ail-ure to act decisively andresolutely in terminatingthe corrupt arrangementsinherited rom the PUP.

We had said it romthe start, and we are say-ing it again. Te garbagedisposal contracts, likemost other things underthe last PUP administra-tion, were conceived incorruption; and or thatreason, they can never andwill never be executed withhonesty and eiciency.

Upon taking oce

in 2006, other munici-pal councils ound them-selves in similar binds,and did not hesitate to putan end to those arrange-ments. For them, in thisregard, things have sincebeen working out well.

here are alwayslegal considerations en-tailed in decisions to ter-

minate binding contractsand agreements, but there isno way one can aord to beintimidated by the threat opossible litigation when therighteous objective is to de-end the interest o the Peo-ple, especially when one iselected by the People them-selves. Aer all, there is nocourt bigger than the Peo-ples Court, and no justicegreater than Social Justice.

Look at the examplePrime Minister Barrow hasset at the level o CentralGovernment, having acteddecisively and earlessly inthe ace o the biggest gunswe have ever known in Be-lize when it comes to legal

battles. Te Prime Minis-ter has, o course, acted inthe best interest o Belizeand the Belizean People.

here have beenenormous challenges alongthe way, countless twistsand turns, and still somedaunting curves ahead, buthe and his government havesteadily been progressingtowards the ultimate goal,

which is to secure the utureo our Country and People.

I our political lead-ers at the municipal levelwish to be truly successul,they should ollow the ex-ample o Honorable DeanBarrow who, by his deci-sive and resolute actionson behal o the Belizeanpeople, is quickly making aname or himsel as one o

the most patriotic and im-pacting leaders o all time,not just in Belize, but theentire region and the world.

Borrow a page romMr. Barrows book; andyour name will go down inhistory as one who was notaraid to deend, againstall odds, the interest o thePeople who elected you.

She is NO Without Sin!Wilred Sedi Elrington,

during his contribution to thedebate at last Fridays House sit-ting (reproduced on page 12),reminded those on the Opposi-tion side o two important quo-tations rom the Good Book asspoken by the greatest teachero all times, Christ himsel.

One o those quotationsis, Let he who is without sincast the rst stone.(John 8:7).

he message has cer-

tainly not gotten across, as thisweek when the Senate con-

vened, one o the rst stonesto be cast came rom noneother than Lisa Shoman, thesame woman who, as attorneyor the said corporation inquestion, SSB, gave up 3.34Million o the Peoples moneythat the Court had earlierordered the late Harry Cour-tenay to pay back to the SSB.

It was during the 1989to 1993 PUP administrationthat Harry Courtenay, actingon behal o Social Security,got the money to purchaseshares in a hydroelectric com-pany, BECOL. Te shares werenever obtained by SSB, and theCourts later ordered Courte-nay to return the money to SSB.

But, shortly ater thePUP returned to oce in 1998,

Lisa Shoman, acting as attorneyor the Social Security Board,inormed the Chie Justicethat SSB had no desire to havethe judgment enorced. It goeswithout saying that Shoman,thorough that single action,cost the government and peo-ple o Belize 3.34 Million.

Now she comes castingstones at employees o the verysame corporation, SSB. Onewould have to ask, how manymillions have the employees oSSB cost the government andpeople o Belize through theireorts to get on the housingmortgage write-o list. Andeven i they were successul,how much money would ithave cost us? We dare say itcertainly wouldnt be any-thing close to 3.34 Million.

We are NO at all sug-

gesting that where apparentwrongdoing is exposed, theUDP should not deal with it asit is doing in this and other suchinstances. But or those on theother side who the World andCountry knows could hardly bematched, let alone outdone, byanyone, where abuse o public

resources is concerned, is cer-tainly the heights o hypocrisy.

Its precisely the kindo thing the good mastercautioned us against, andwhich Hon. Sedi Elringtonreminded us o last week.

Stop casting stones, MissShoman! You, o all people, es-pecially where SSB is concerned,are certainly not without sin!


3/20

Thursday, January 19, 2012 Capital Weekly Page 3

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

On Lowering of ElectricityRates

Yes terday, the

Public Utilities

Commission o

Belize announced its initial de-

cision with respect to the 2012

Full ari Review Proceeding.

On behal o the Government

and People o Belize, I wel-

come that decision and greet

it with applause and jubilation.he short summary o

that decision is that electric-

ity rates will now go down by

almost 3 cents per Kilowatt

hour. In percentage terms, Mr.

Speaker, this is a 6.14 percent

reduction to consumers; and this

is the greatest gi over which

this administration (Applause),

this is the greatest New Years

gi over which we are presid-

ing. O course, Mr. Speaker,while it is the greatest gi, it is

not the only gi, as later I will

be introducing the 17 Million

dollar Social Security Board

Mortgage Write O Motion.

But, Mr. Speaker, this

slashing o electricity bills to all

consumers is an unprecedented

historical achievement; i you

will orgive me, the pice de r-

sistance, the jewel in the crown

o Governments sparkling pano-

ply o pro-people initiatives.

Mr. Speaker, every sector o

the public, o the economy, will

benet; the residential consum-

ers, the industrial consumers,

the commercial consumers;

and, o course, as is always the

case with an administration

that is always or the people,

the poorest will beneit most.

And that is because, Mr.Speaker, the PUCs decision

adds over 1,000 persons to the

list o those that pay only a

social rate or their electricity

consumption. Tat social rate

is currently an already low 26

cents per kilowatt hour, as op-

posed to the average o about

40 cents per kilowatt hour that

the regular residential consumer

pays. But that 26 cents social rate

will go down urther now to 24

cents. And, as I said, the number

o around 7,000 or so persons

that pay only the social rate

will increase to 8,000 persons.

For, Mr. Speaker, the

Country will remember that none

o this would have been possible

were it not or the bold history-

making decision o the UDP

and were prepared to cut o our

power supply and plunge the na-

tion into darkness, i we did not

knuckle under to their blackmail.

But the United Demo-

cratic Party braved local and

international wrath, to do the

courageous thing; the national-

istic thing; the right thing. oday

is thereore the sweetest possibleconsummation and vindication

o Belizean courage, o a signal

Belizean brave-heart, histori-

cal watershed (Applause) . Mr.

Speaker, the spirit o the Baymen

lives and is triumphantly rein-

carnated in a United Democratic

Party that isAlways or the People.

Mr. Speaker, in real

terms, the 6.14 percent reduc-

tion in electricity rates is about

12 Million dollars in annualsavings to the consumer. Tat

is new money now in dispos-

able income to help with per-

sonal spending and economic

regeneration, and I say it is

one hell o a stimulus package.

O course, Mr. Speaker,

when you look at the details,

no one will miss the act that

the only bill that doesnt go

down is what, in an otherwise

across the board the reduction,

is governments bill or street

lighting. We, the Government

o Belize, will continue to pay

at a whopping 55 cents per

kilowatt hour. (Its almost 600

dollars per year or one lamp).

But that is what is neces-

sary to oset the rock-bottom

social rate to those 8,000 poor

Belizeans, and it is a price that

is willingly paid by this Govern-ment, a government that is indu-

bitably, inarguably, and as a mat-

ter o conviction, belie, philoso-

phy and our very heart and our

very soul, Always or the People.

Read Capital Weekly OnlineIn Living Colours at:

belizenews.com/CapitalWeekly

Prime Minister Hon. Dean Barrow

(Statement Made During House Meeting, Friday January, 13, 2012)

Now, Mr. Speaker, this

decision which oers such dra-

matic relie to the people o this

Country would, under the law, as

it stood, normally not take eect

until August, but the Minister

o Public Utilities has already

signed a statutory instrument

(and it was just laid on the table

beore the House just a whileago); that statutory instrument

brings the new rates into orce

on the irst day o February,

2012. So that as o rom next

months light bill, Mr. Speaker,

every person in this country

will realize this huge savings and

have money to spend, in some

cases to splurge, as a result o the

action o this United Democratic

Party Government. (Applause)

Government to nationalize BEL.

It is the case, Mr. Speaker,

that the ormer owners o BEL

were never going to give us any

reduction. In act, they tied us

up in Court and got injunctions

to block any possibility o lower

rates. And not only were they

not ever going to take our light

bills down; in act, and to thecontrary, they were determined

and demanded to actually in-

crease our rates, and in a major

punitive way, as all the World

knows, they actually threatened,

It is a price that is willingly paid by thisGovernment, a government that is indubitably,

inarguably, and as a matter o conviction,belie, philosophy and our very Heart

and our very Soul,Always or the People


4/20


Hon. John Saldivar

Mr. Speaker, Ireally haveto say that I

sense a hint o jealousy (ap-plause), jealousy on the parto the ormer Prime Minister,that when he was the PrimeMinister all he could presideover was corruption, corrup-tion, corruption; and we nowhave a Prime Minister that takes

care o the people (applause)!I dont understand thegall o this man; he has tohave serious gall to come hereand tell us that we must notbeat our chests because weare helping the poor people;when he came to this Honor-able House a ew weeks agoand beat his chest to tell us thatwe have to pay back Ashcrothe money that he gave to him.

So it looks to me, Mr. Speaker,that when he gives away theBelizean peoples money to richpeople he should beat his chest,but we should not beat ourchests when we help the peopleo this Country (applause).

heyre talking aboutthe money that were spend-ing on the People. Let us re-member that it was his ormerleader who said, Bring backthe money(applause)!And, inact, he didnt only say, bringback the money, he said bringback the millions (applause);bring back the millions thatyou made while your par-ty was in power (applause).Well, we are using the Belizeantaxpayers money to help thepoor people o this nation, notto beneit Michael Ashcrot.

And you see, he saidearlier, why dont we remember,

and he wants to bring back theaudit and these other things thatwe spoke about earlier. He is theone that should remember, youknow, Mr. Speaker; he is the onethat should remember that he,in one day, approved a $30 Mil-lion loan or the Novelos. Tatis what he should remember.

And, as I have said onmany occasions in this Honor-able House, he might not remem-

ber, but the people will not orget.What he should remem-

ber is how many times theysold and bought back BL; andwhen they sold BL they sold itor less, and when they boughtit back, they bought it or more.Tree times they did that. Andhe should remember which lawrm was benetted each timethese transactions took place.

Imagine the gall o this memberor Fort George to want to come

Remember Mahogany Heights.Lets remember 87 Millionthat went down the drain atMahogany Heights. I like, Mr.Speaker, when the memberson the other side get up and tryto play these games, because itgives us the opportunity to ex-pose what they were in the tenyears that they ran this coun-try between 1998 and 2008.

And, as I have said tothem, one o the reasons that

jobs to the write-o. I have towonder, where is he living?Let him go and ask any othe 781 people who are get-ting write-os, and ask themi they are not happy.

In act, I heard one othem say, irst time she everget anything rom a govern-ment, whether RED or BLUE.She is happy! Almost touchedthe roo when she heardthat we wrote o the loan.

So, Mr. Speaker, I wontbe much longer, except to saythat these people, really, havehow Honorable Finnegan wouldsay itmore nerves than ten badteeth, to get up here and wantto criticize a government thathas now established the recordo being always or the people!

Mr. Speaker, I will closeby saying that sometimes we

have to be honest with ourselves.For ten long years, aer 1998,we here in the United Demo-cratic Party had to live downVA and Retrenchment. Wehad to carry that each time wevisited peoples homes, and theyreminded us about VA and Re-trenchment; and they remindedus about the Christmas thatwe had retrenchment.

Well, I believe that with

what this government hasdone in the last our years,and what we have done inthis last Christmas and NewYears Season alone, we havenow lived down, we have nowmoved beyond VA and Re-trenchment, and have estab-lished ourselves now as theparty or the People (applause)!

It is now, Mr. Speaker,going to be le to those who takeover rom that bunch over there(because, I tell you, theyre notseeing Government until all othem are gone), it is going to bele up to the young PUPs; it isgoing be le to the new PUPs (Idont know where theyre goingto get them rom) to live downthe ten years o corruption un-der the Peoples United Partyunder the leadership at thattime, o Said Musa (Applause)!

Tank you, Mr. Speaker.

Saldivar Scolds PUP LeadersYou Cannot Recycle Corruption!

and talk about corruption!What the PUP do when

they discover corruption? Teycover it, and they hide it, andpretend that nothing is hap-pening. And this Government(and I will repeat it, and we haverepeated it on many occasions),no government can completelystomp out corruption. But itswhat you do when you discoverit that is important; and thisGovernment has the recordo dealing with it every time itrears its ugly head (applause).

alk about remember?

they are going to take a lickingagain at the polls is that youcannot recycle corruption (ap-

plause). You cant bring backthe same people who ran thisCountry into the ground, youcant bring back the same cor-rupt people to run this Countryand eel that the people o thisCountry are going to vote youback into power (applause).

I thought it was theLeader o the Opposition, butperhaps it was the ormer PrimeMinister; he said, ask the re-cipients i they would preer

You cant bring back the same people whoran this Country into the ground, you cant bringback the same corrupt people to run this Countryand eel that the people o this Country are going

to vote you back into power.


5/20


Housing, SSB, Heritage Bank

DFC will be Next, says PM BarrowMr. Speaker, in moving this

motionand I do so with greatpleasure in view o the tremen-dous relie it represents or almosta thousand Belizean amiliesIwish to make some clarications.

Mr. Speaker, I had saidpublicly, both on WAVE Radio andon KREMs WUB Show, that whenI negotiated with SBB to buy thesemortgages in order to write themo or Belizean homeowners, Idid so on the basis that the peopleto be covered are those that hadoriginally borrowed 50 thousanddollars and below. I was given alist o such persons current as oSeptember 30, 2011. Tat was thelist that ormed the basis o thecontract that I subsequently, onbehal o Government and theMinistry o Finance, concludedwith the Social Security Board.hat list contained 781 names.

However, the current act-ing CEO o SSB double checkedthat list or me yesterday in order to

nalize it or todays House Meet-ing, and she did some disaggrega-tion. O course a copy o that listhas been deposited with the Houseor all members to examine andextract i they wish; totally trans-parent, totally open, totally aboveboard. But, the acting CEO haspointed out that, as a consequenceo her review, it is conrmed thatthe vast majority o the personson that list, in act, 94.5 percent,did in act borrow originally at 50thousand or less. But the remaining

5.5 percent had loans at the start inexcess o 50 thousand; not greatlyin excess, but still above what hadbeen my negotiating threshold.

O course, the Governmento Belize has already paid or allthe loans whose principal balanceswere at September 30, 2011 (and,o course, continue to be now)all below 50 Tousand dollars. Ithereore proceed to place all thosenames beore the House, and all othem will benet rom the write-o.

I should make one thing

clear. Te list, as I said, that wasgiven to me as o September 30,2011, no name has come o; noname has been added. Tere wasa great brouhaha about goings onamong sta at SSB. Let me makeabsolutely clear, and again mem-bers on the others side will be ableto look at the original September30, 2011 list to veriy that it is thatexact list that is being reproducednow or the House to approve.

But, since September 30,

2011

(I was given that September30, 2011 list sometime in Octo-ber, I believe, late October), sincethat time, persons on the list havecontinued to service their mort-gages, so the principal balances,the statement that will accompanythe list will have the balances as oSeptember 30, 2011. Some o them

there was a eeling that perhapsthose that I have now discovered,the ew that did not start o origi-nally at 50 thousand when they rstmade their loans, should perhapsbe removed rom the list. But I re-ally dont think that would be air.But I want to make it clear to theacting CEO o SSB that this is mydecision and the decision o the

Government; so she doesnt have toworry about the act that she maythink that morally those peopleought to come o the list. It was thelist that SSB gave me; it was the listI took to Cabinet; it was the list Ihave always been operating on; andI dont think it is air now to takeanybody o, just in the same wayas we are not putting anybody on.

Again, there may well be,Mr. Speaker, as we proceed, thediscovery that one or two names

on the list may be the names opersons that have died, and theirloans would as a consequence havebeen written o by insurance. Inthat case, I will need or SSB to re-place those loans, because we havebought 781. At that juncture, whenthat can becomes clear, i there aresuch instances, we can look at whonext there was on the list that was

just over $50 thousand and try toslot them in. But that will have toawait the exercise that SSB will dowhen there is rather more time.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I hadannounced todays move in myNew Years Message, which wasaired when I wasnt even in theCountry, and the details were onlysupplied aer I returned home andduring the rst working week o theyear. Tere seemed to have beensome initial conusion on the part,certainly, o some talk-show hosts(either conusion or bad mind, butI wont bother to try to determinewhich). I will just say that thereclearly was a lack o inormation in

terms o the details. I have claried,I have set out painstakingly in myradio appearances what the back-ground to this thing was, but I do soagain or the benet o the House.

Most o the beneciaries othe write-o did not have originalmortgages with SSB. What the lastgovernment did was to bundle upa number o dierently sourcedmortgages, including some heldwith the Ministry o Housing, withBIMCO, with the Belize BuildingSociety, St. James Building Society,and sell them to SBB. Tis was inthe bad old days o the PUP whenSSB was little better than a eedingtrough or government, so SSBsthen directors and managementwere easily compliant. SSB turnedaround and securitized the mort-gages, principally as I understandit, with RB, the Royal MerchantBank o rinidad and obago.

O course, most, i not all othe homeowners whose mortgages

Prime Minister Hon. Dean Barrow

Social Security Oce in the Old Capital, Belize City Continued on Page 16

would have paid down a little bitmore. I only say this because I dontwant them to come later on andsay, I want a rebate or the amountthat we paid between Septemberand December. We are alreadywriting o everything; and I onlyconcluded the deal with SSB at theend o December, and the Houseis only approving it now; so what-

ever you paid between Septemberand now, thats or Social Security.

What is being writteno is the principal balance as itstood at that time and whateverinterest there was, and escrowamounts in the particular accounts.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I havemade the clariication because

But it is clear that the joy at what we are doing isnot conned only to those homeowners that are benettingdirectly; all right thinking citizens resoundingly approve ocompassion on the part o their government, compassion

that gives a welcome and signicant boost both to individualdisposable income and to collective economic activity.


6/20


Faith LiftAvoid Revenge, Embrace Forgiveness

By Zelda Hill

As humans living in a

fallen world we are

all victims of evil

- and perpetrators as well.

It may have been a private

injury inicted by a stranger,

a co-worker, a neighbor ora friend or a major offense

for which we had to rely on

the State for relief or justice.

And as heirs of a cor-

rupt nature, we are prone

to return wrong for wrong,

tit for tat, or an eye for an

eye, often quoted to jus-

tify personal vendettas. The

infamous eye for an eye

ruling [though commonly

misconstrued] found in three

Books of the Jewish Law pro-vided for public justice by the

judges of that time. It was not

a personal guide for private

vengeance but a measure to

ensure that the punishment

t the crime and was neither

too lenient nor too strict.

But even then, this

regulation was seen as a

warrant for taking redress

into ones own hands. Con-

sequently, and since the oldlaw could never transform

the heart, Christ came and

offered a higher standard by

instituting the new law of

nonresistance recorded in

the Gospels and reiterated in

other parts of the New Testa-

ment (Matthew 5:38-39;Luke

6:27-28; Romans 12:17-21).

The counsel in Pauls

epistle to the Romans is

worthy of quoting: Do not

repay anyone evil for evil. Be

careful to do what is right in

the eyes of everybody. If it is

possible, as far as it depends

on you, live at peace with ev-

eryone. Do not take revenge,

my friends, but leave room

for Gods wrath, for it is writ-

ten: It is mine to avenge; I

will repay, says the Lord

Do not be overcome by evil,

but overcome evil with good.

The desire we have for

justice is proof that we were

indeed created in Gods like-

ness, but clearly the Scrip-

tures stress that retributive

justice is Gods prerogative

and we must not take Gods

work out of His hand. To

understand why a wise and

omniscient God restricts us

from avenging ourselveswe can look to experience.

For those of us who have

entertained the desires to

one day even the scores or

may have done so, we can

agree that revenge is not as

sweet as is often promoted.

Seeking revenge for

an insult or injury is just as

wrong and always costs more

than we may have initially

realized and can afford. Even

before the vindictive actionis carried out, the mental,

emotional, psychological and

physical toll exacted due to

the harboring of resentment

and vindictive thoughts trig-

ger various stress related

illnesses that may even short-

en our lifespan when these

emotions become habitual.

The countless hours

and sleepless nights spent

nursing a fretful and vindic-tive spirit while concocting

ways of exacting revenge,

ruin our peace of mind and

are to the detriment of our

own bodies. Spiritually,

we allow the devil to intro-

duce evil strategies into our

minds and we may begin a

new day certainly equipped

to act on our des i res .

Nursing an offense

by constantly bringing it

to memory or by repeatingit frequently to others will

certainly make factual for us

the statement, I can forgive

but I cant forget. Resur-

recting the offense is often

accompanied by an increase

in blood pressure and the

anger experienced initially

and we cause ourselves to

experience the hurt all over

again. With time and forgive-

ness we can forget the wrong

done to us; after all, we often

unwittingly forget the good

deeds of others. Instead of al-

lowing hurtful memories and

revengeful thoughts to eat us

alive and hence fall under

the control of the offender,

try this prescription for of-

fenses often repeated by my

father: When offended donot nurse it, do not curse it, do

not rehearse it, but immerse it

and you will soon reverse it.

Revenge also increas-

es the chances of retaliation

since it is uncontrollable

and each act of retaliation

brings another. It is said that

retaliation is like adding fuel

to a re and like a boomer-

ang that cannot be thrown

without cost to the thrower.

We may feel that once we getrevenge it ends there but we

fail to realize that the other

person may also be planning

another round of offense.

The pages of history

and our local nightly news

are lled with blood stories

of revenge. The conict in

the Middle East today among

the Israelis and the Palestin-

ians, though sprung from

cultural and religious roots, isperpetuated by an enormous

appetite for revenge on both

sides. The acid of revenge

trickles from one generation

to the next causing unneces-

sary suffering and destruc-

tion, which could have been

avoided if one party had

chosen to take the higher path

and leave the matter to God.

Leaving the matter to

God spares the victim and

his generations from un-necessary grief. Moreover,

who can fully understand

the root cause of the offense

or the heart of the offender

but God? A victim may be

convinced that the perpetra-

tor had malicious intent or

he could have been injured

without the offender be-

ing aware. The offender

may have already suffered

enough through a burdenedconscience, through uneasi-

ness and fear of expecting

retaliation or from provi-

dential events since we can

be sure that God will justly

repay those who deserve it.

In no case does leav-

ing the matter to God rules

out the necessity of repelling

an assault, defending our

lives and the lives of others

or seeking the protection of

the law; it simply rules outa malicious desire with the

motive to do wrong in ex-

change for the evil done to us.

Forgiving and pray-

ing for the offender are the

only gears that can halt

the revenge cycle. We

can never hate someone

or seek their harm after

we have prayed for them.

As the adage con-

firms, to err is humanand to forgive is divine,

as long as we are in the

flesh, offenses will come

but we adopt Gods divine

nature when we forgive

and are spared the dreadful

consequences of revenge.

Christs nobler path is

not just for the Christian but

for everyone who desires to

live in peace and be at peace

before we get to heaven,

the only place where wewill be free from offenses.


7/20


Information From The

Department of TransportTHERES A THIN LINE

BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH.

TRAFFIC SAFETY TIPS FOR DRIVERS

1.Check your motor vehicle to ensure that everything is in good workingcondition. Example- brakes, all lights, horn, wipers, tires, spare-tire, tire

tools, oil, water, brake uid & dash board gauges.

2. Ensure that your drivers license is valid and that your vehicle is licensed and

insured.

3. Wear your seat belts at all times when on the highways. (It is an offence for

drivers and front seat passengers not to wear seat belts on the high ways).4. Dont carry passengers in the back of open pickup trucks. (Vehicle only insured

to carry amount of passengers as stipulated on certicate of registration/title).

5. Dont drive if you are consuming Alcoholic beverages or taking medication

(drugs). Have designated driver (alcohol and drugs affect your vision and

judgement).

6. Avoid making calls on cell phone when driving, it is best to pull off to the

right to make calls or to answer your cell phone, dont text whiles driving.

7. Wear your helmet at all times when operating or being carried as a passenger

on a motor cycle.

8. Only overtake if you have a clear view of the road ahead, never overtake

around blind curves or when driving over a hill.

9. Drive within the speed limit at all times.

10. Obey all trafc law and signs.

THINK! DONT DRINK AND DRIVE


8/20


Breaking it Down to Small ChangeHulse akes Opposition to Flipping School

Let me start o by

saying that botho my colleagues

have successully been able todemonstrate the overwhelming

justication or all actions taken,and that I cannot treat any actionin its individual components.Were talking about the orgive-ness, the write o o the govern-ment housing loans; were talk-ing about the write-o o SocialSecurity Mortgages; were talkingabout the Christmas Assistance

Program; were talking aboutthe nationalization o BEL, BL;and o course we have Water.

Let me try to translatethat into real terms and whatit really means to grass-rootpeople. Many times we get car-ried away with the actual mea-sure taken at the top level ogovernment, and we dont un-derstand what really goes ondown at the grass-root level.

Let me start with this

Housing thing. Sometimes weget carried away and say, boy,how you went and do that, anduse taxpayers money? Let me tellyou something: taxpayers mon-ey gets paid in to Governmentor one undamental reason, tomake lie better or grass-rootpeople. Tat is the whole bottomline o it; whether you spend it onxing their streets, whether youspend it to survey lots, whetheryou spend it to make them livein a decent place. Because, Mr.Speaker, what was happening(and my colleague here romPickstock spoke about it) wasthat a lot o those grass-root peo-ple went to get Housing loans,and a lot o them went and gothousing rom Social Security andDFC. I dont ault them or that.Tey knew it would have beentough to pay it back. But whenyou are out there struggling andnot getting a break to own yourown house, you will gamble andrisk so that you could at leastput our walls around you, androo over your head; and youhope that some miracle downthe road is going to help you.

And let me tell you some-thing. Tis is not like the rich.When a grass-root person loseshis or her home, that persondoesnt have a snowball chancein hell o getting a loan again and

trying to build back. It aint goingtofippinghappen! OK. So, thatswhy at no time you ever heardus ocusing (we went throughalmost en Tousand at HousingDepartment, Seven Hundred,almost Eight Hundred in SocialSecurity), never one day did weisolate any name and say this

twenty house, and you have Ma,Pa, Bredda, Sister and about tenpickney, its no joke, the licking

that you take.

So, when we got backthat money and we went toh e l p p o o r p e o p l e t o i xtheir house, they criticized.Ten they turned around, andthey were glad to get their pieceo the fippingpie. I didnt hearanybody complain when theygot their share to help peoplein their constituency. Let metell you something, everybodyon that side got their mon-ey beore me. Right, Finny?

Dont get caught up by the

ancy headings these programsall under or helping the People.ranslate it into what kind ohelp really went to the people.Now they are getting jealousbecause we went and gave oodto poor people or Christmas.Madda Fish! What more do theywant? Cross! Tats why I alwaystell people, a lot o peopleand Idont blame them, because mostpeople start out rom village androm grass-roots; and I am proud

o them, when they get their littleeducation, get a decent job; someo them are working or manyyears now, and they dont haveto worry about putting oodon the table on Christmas orthemselves and their children;and I am proud o them; nobodyhas a right to envy thembut weorget that in every part o thisCountry we have poor peoplethat have a diculty; they havea hard time to ind rice andbeans, our, sugar, lard, cookingoil to put on their table. Tat isreal lie, and it happens in everysingle village in this Country. Sowhen the Prime Minister wasable to shufe that money, youknow what his goal was? Hisgoal was to make sure that everypoor person in this country hada meal or Christmas; becausesometimes some o us orgetthat they are poor out there.

he Prime Ministermade it plain that not one in-dividual in this National As-sembly beneitted rom that.

And, what are you ussingabout? What about this Christ-mas package are you ussingabout? What did the people get?Tey didnt get any rerigeratoror car or something expensive;they got ve pounds o rice, vepounds o beans, ve pounds oour, ve pounds o sugar, some

cooking oil, they got onion, andthey got lipping salt. hat iswhat grass-root people live with.

How can you, underthe sun, have a problem withthat? I would have thought youwould have gotten up and said,boy, our people had a meal orChristmas day. Maddash! Howcan you not want that? You aregoing to condemn us or helping

Hon. Melvin Hulse, Stann Creek West Area Rep

(Continued on Page 9)

one is PUP or that one is PUP.We did not say that a-fipping-tall; what we said was that theyare poor people, they are in

trouble, they need help. We helppoor people; that is what we do!Again, we went and helped them(poor people) with the Venezuelanmoney that we took back.

Boy, those o you on theOpposition took us to task orgoing aer those rich people andtaking back 20 Million dollars.Imagine! We poor people donteven know how many zeros thathas; but we know its a lot o mon-ey. And that money went into 31

constituencies in this Country.And that money went to helppoor people x their house, theirlittle verandah, the leaking intheir roo. It might not sound likemuch, because we did not buildany ancy big ancy house, butlet me tell you, when you havea amily living in a twenty by

Tis is not like the rich. When a grass-root

person loses his or her home, that person doesnthave a snowball chance in hell o getting a loan again

and trying to build back. It aint going to ippinghappen!...When you have a amily living in atwenty by twenty house, and you have Ma, Pa,Bredda, Sister and about ten pickney, its no

joke the licking that you take.


9/20


Breaking it Down to Small ChangeHulse akes Opposition to Flipping School

poor people to eat or Christ-mas, and then turn around andwant to ask the grass-root poorpeople put you back into o-ce? Somethingsfippingwrongwith that kind o reasoning.

Let us go now to BEL andBL. Tey had big demonstrationthat we must not nationalize BELand BL because we are takingadvantage o Stan Marshall romCanada; we are taking advantageo Michael Ashcro with BL.

Let me tell you what hashappened with BL. As a gov-ernment, talking and acting anddoing on behal o the grass-rootpeople, we took BL and todaybecause I dont try to pretendthat I know every part o thisCountry, but I can tell you thatin Stann Creek Westtoday, wehave more coverage in the vil-lages. Digicell works! We cancall people in emergency, we can

do our transactions, and we haveentered into the modern age. Itis out there now; and commu-nication is the backbone o thedevelopment o a country, andit was not right that those vil-lages out there should not havehad communications or years.

We couldnt call the Policein emergency; we couldnt callthe ambulance; we couldnt callanybody. Sometimes we had totry go to Independence or Dan-

griga and use their phone andput an announcement over LoveFM and say, anybody who knows

where such and such a person

is? Please tell him his atherdied. You couldnt call anybody.

Tat is what we solved. So,dont jump up and say, boy, we aretaking away your constitutionalright, Ninth Amendment, andhorse at and cow dead. ranslateit into how it helped the poorpeople to get the communication.Te electricity, I dont even wantto concentrate too much on thereduction now, because this isno joke. Because you know the

licking you take to pay light bill?Light Bill is nofippingjoke, boy.Every pay day you have to won-der i you could pay or it. Andyou have to decide, boy, can Itake a chance and not payingmy light bill, and instead pay mygrocery bill, because I need ood;and hope that they dont cut meo beore the next pay day whenI can try to pay it. Or maybe wepay a little ten dollars towards it.

Let me tell you what hashappened since we have BEL, asa Government or the People.Electricity is now out there;Electricity way back in MayaMopan, in Cow Pen, in SantaCruz. I like how you all do it,you know. Madda Fish. Boy, youall have more gall than me. Youon that side were saying that weshouldnt have taken over. Andnow, you are talking about youwill do Electricity expansion and

whats not. Hey, you all had tenlong, fipping years, and whenthe UDP le oce in 1998, there

were already lampposts, and

those people needed electricity,and those people had to live indarkness or ten, long, solid, dry,miserable, pitiul,fippingyears.

And that is a basic neces-sity or this time and our genera-tion and our liestyle now. So, wegot with European Union andwere getting grants and pushingit. But we will not only make surethat everybody in this Countrygets Electricity (because we havea lot more expansion to do), we

will also make sure that whenyou get it, it doesnt kill you topay or it. You think its just a littlethat this thing is being reduced;a ew cents? Let me tell yousomething; that thing adds up.

And on top o that, we aretalking about another thousandpeople who will pay a little 15dollars at rate. What we need tounderstand, Mr. Speakereventhough you hear me touch-

ing on dierent subjectsitis the translation into whatthis Government has alwayssaid it is about, and has exhib-ited in real tangible ways; weare always or the poor people.

Te last topic I want totouch on, Mr. Speaker, is this.Notice in Stann Creek and o-ledo districts, and around theCountry, you think its a joke, thePrime Minister has done it withHousing, the orgiveness, and

with Social Security. We havenot orgiven Education bills, butwhat we have done now is that

every single person, and let me

say it very slowly, because peoplelike to complain and play the oolwhen they want to talk stupid-ness out there; every boy and girl,every youth who goes to Firstand Second Form in the StannCreek District (and oledo Dis-trict) gets 300 dollars assistance;no matter who you are (ap-plause). Nobody says, boy, Hulse,you are Area Representative, sopick out a ew UDPs whom youwant to get assistance or. You

step through the doors o thathigh school in the Stann Creekor oledo districts and you au-tomatically get 300 dollars help.

And we have quite anumber o high schools now;Ecumenical, Delille, IVE,George own, IndependenceHigh School. So we have helpedwith this Education thing,and we have built the schools.

So they want to know the

benets we have gotten by acqui-sition and assistance, Mr. Speak-er? Tese are the things we havebeen able to do with the money.Tis is how we have helped themto live a better lie. And, I am gladthat we are now into the NewYear, because there is a lot moreelectricity expansion to do; andwith the lower rates now, peoplecan aord to fippinghook up.We as a government must alwaysbe or the grass- root people, and

do everyday something to makethem live decently like a humanbeing. hanks, Mr. Speaker.

(Continued rom Page 8)


10/20


Fire Service Steps Up

Nineteen New Recruits Graduate

It resembled a Policeor BDF passing outceremony, but it was

neither of the above. It was apassing out ceremony, alright,but that of the Fire Department.

It was held last Thursday,January 12, 2011 at the Fire

Department Belize City Head-quarters on Cleghorn Street,and the men of the momentwere nineteen new recruitsthat have now taken their placeamong other seasoned fire-fighters in the Department.

Neither was it any ordi-nary passing out ceremony.It marked a new phase in thesystematic upgrading of the De-partment under the leadership

of the no-nonsense Ministerin charge, Hon. Melvin Hulse.The last passing out cer-

emony held two years agohad already marked a sig-nicant upgrade in the level of

preparation for new recruits,and this one marks a furtherupgrade to yet another level.

The recruits who under-went 13 weeks of intense train-ing, displayed at the pass-ing out ceremony some ofthe valuable skills and dis-cipline acquired. During anexhibition presentation, theyshowcased a physical drill, a

wet drill and a parade drill.Among the pack of 19,

recruit Deitrick Kingston wasrecognized as the most out-standing and had the honourof delivering the valedictoryaddress. He also received anaward, presented by ministe-rial guest, Edmund Castro.

He was selected as vale-dictorian because he is therecruit that has shown the most

steady improvement; becausehe has done well in his physicaltraining and has demonstratedsteady improvement in practi-cal and classroom sessions;because he is a team player andoften takes it upon himself toencourage other recruits to im-prove themselves whether it be

in discipline, practical drills orclassroom work; and because hehas displayed maturity, respon-sibility, leadership, dedicationand seriousness in his work.

Second place award wentto Recruit Kareem Underwood,

and Third place to Guyon Gaynar.

Delivering the main addressand handing out certicates was

Minister with responsibility forthe Fire Service, Hon. MelvinHulse. He told the recruits theymust be serious about their

new career ,and the dutiesand respon-sibilities thatcome with it.

Respect

yourself and

make people

respect you;

never forget

that you are

obligated to

the people and

the country.They are pay-

ing us and we

owe them the

best service

Hon. Melvin Hulse handing out certicates to the new recuits Hon. Edmund Castro handing out awards to outstanding recruits

Recruits taking part in a drill

More drills forthe new recruitsGuests include Hon. EdmundCastro and CEO CandelariaMorter

asValedictorian Deitrick Kingston delivers his speech

(Continued on Page 11)


11/20


Fire Service Steps Up

Nineteen New Recruits Graduate

we can give. We must be ready

and alert to do what needs

to be done to make the Fire

Department better, he said.Hulse told the new re-

cruits he is proud of them fordisplaying the kind of team-

work as a unit and for theirindividual ascendancy to newand higher standards in a careerthat is being modernized andis now respected worldwide.

We older heads are vir-

tually finished; were just

hanging on until you all

can earn your stripes and

get there and take over our

positions, he concluded.Other special ministerial

guests at the ceremony included

Minister of Health Hon. PabloMarin, and Belize Rural Cen-tral Area Representative Hon.Michael Hutchinson, in whoseconstituency the new Lady-ville Fire Station was recentlyinaugurated, modelled off thenew Pomona Fire Station inHulses own constituency.

Other rural substationsare also being established inPlacencia and Independence.

The Ministrys CEO, Can-delaria Saldivar Morter toldus the new recruits will be de-ployed throughout the countryto beef up the Fire Service,which under this administrationis becoming a true NationalFire Service, not only in name,but in practice. The next intake,she said, will be in February.

The National Fire Ser-vice is currently headed byColonel Francis Thomas.

BWS Delivering Water and More

BWS submits Annual Review Proceedings (ARP) application

On December 23, 2011, Belize Water Services Limited (BWS) submitted its formal notication

for an Annual Review Proceeding to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) for the determination

or conrmation of the regulated values, rates, tariffs, fees and charges for the period April 1, 2012

through to March 31, 2013.

This submission is being made in accordance with Section 27, Part IV of Statutory Instrument 67

of 2002. The submission ofcially commences the companys Annual Tariff Review Proceeding.

BWS has informed the PUC that the company is not seeking any change in tariffs.BWSs submission is available for viewing at the branch ofces of BWS andon its website atwww.bws.bz, and at the PUC ofce at 41 Gabourel Lane, Belize

City, and the PUC website atwww.puc.bz.

Members of the public may participate in the ARP by submitting writtencomments on BWS submission to the PUC by January 13, 2012, by email at

[email protected] or in writing at the PUC ofce.

Where any person submits comments or informaon purported to be factual, such comments

or informaon shall be accompanied by a sworn adavit.

Three copies of all applicaons, reports, documents, comments or informaon provided by

members of the public shall be led at the PUCs oce and a copy shall be provided to BWS at

its principal oce of business on the same day.

The PUC is required to issue an Inial Decision on the submission by January 23, 2012.

The licensee or an interested party represenng users of at least 10% of the water supplied in

the preceding year may submit wrien comments on the Inial Decision within 15 days.

Where there is no objecon to the Inial Decision the PUC shall adopt it as its Final Decision.

Public NoticeJanuary 5, 2012

Te new recruits looking like Soldiers One o the new re-stations, this one in Pomona, Stann Creek



12/20


Insider Trading & HypocrisySedi Shines the Light on PUP Leaders

Iam very concernedabout what is unold-ing. And in making my

contribution, I am reminded o twoquotations in the Bible, the rst owhich says, Let him that is withoutsin cast the rst stone. Tat is inrelation to the woman who was al-leged to have committed adultery,and the righteous in those dayswanted to stone her to death. Andthey went to Jesus and the matterwas raised beore him, and he said,

Let who is without sin cast the rststone. And within a short whilethe entire crowd had disappeared.Tere was nobody without sin, sono stone could be cast. Te secondis that we do want to seek to takethe speck out o our neighborseyes, but we dont see the wholeblock, the whole tree, the wholeplank that covers out own eyes.

Let me give you an exampleo insider trading, and you willknow exactly who I am reerring to.

I have a great diculty with

hypocrisy. I have a eeling that thewhole issue o insider trading atSocial Security is a side show thatis being used to tarnish a beautiulprogram that is bringing benetto the people o this country, thepoor people o this country, themajority o whom were PUPs;because the majority o the peoplewho got those houses were PUPsunder a PUP program. And it wasnormally done just beore electiontime. But I believe that so longas you are helping poor people,

so long as you are helping them,its a good thing. So they gave thehouses at election time to try to buy

votes; but the poor people couldnot pay the loans; and they knewthat. We are now doing the rightthing in writing o those loans.

Well, let me give you someexamples o insider trading. Iwas at one time the legal advisoror the Central Bank o Belize.Central Bank had two beautiulbuildings right behind the Bar-racks. Do you know who nowown those buildings and who areliving in them? Tey were not putto tender. But do you know whonow own those buildings, andwho now occupy those buildings?

Well, I will give you a hint.I wont tell you, but I will give youa hint. It starts at the top o thePUP party, the present PUP party,the present leadership o the PUPParty; the present leadership othe PUP party who are now talk-ing about corruption; and another

aspiring leader o the party, whois not in power right now, butwho is a very close associate oLord Ashcro himsel. Tose arethe people who now own thoseproperties. hey were not putto tender, and they were pickedup or a song. It was scandalous.

the reputation o people who havedone stellar work and who havestellar reputation in this country.

Let me give you anotherexample: When I was growingup, the Barracks out there wasempty, you know, and we all usedto go and play ootball on the

Dont mess with the Barracks!Well the Ramada is there,

now the Princess, providing em-ployment and entertainment, butyou know who got the next big piece?A place called Marina owers. Andask who owns Marina owers. Weare not supposed to be hypocriti-cal, when we live in glass houses.

Do you know how manychoice pieces o land the peopleover the other side o the Houseown? Not only Government lands;

lands that they took away romprivate people, people who theyhad inuence over, they took awaytheir best lands. And, wheneverthey decided that a new road wasgoing to be built, do you knowwho bought up the lands along theroad? Do you know who boughtup all the lands where that roadwas going to be put? It was beingdone consistently or all the yearsthat the PUP was in government.

And that is one o the rea-sons now that so many o their

staunch supporters are goingcompletely and totally broke; be-cause they really did not havebusiness acumen, but they weregiven these choice lands and thesechoice opportunities, includingthe Port and the Airport, and thelike; because o insider trading.

I dont think that it is acriminal oence in our country. Icant recall seeing a legal criminaloence such as that. I know that itis considered to be morally wrong,but I dont know that it is a legallycriminal oence. But I dont knowabout the Belizean in high placeswho is not guilty o it. And youmust ask yoursel. And the lastthing we need is to be hypocritical.

Now, people dont go intopoverty suddenly and overnight.he single biggest cause o thereversal in ortunes or Belize isthe debt, that 3 Billion dollar debt.And that 3 Billion dollar debt wascaused by the member on the otherside who was the head o the ship

at the time. For ten years, they bor-rowed monies rom wherever theycould borrow, treated the peoplesmoney as i it was theirs; everybodytook. Ten, they sold out every-thing they could sell. You couldntnd anything in the country thatbelonged to the Government andPeople o this Country that wasntsold out. Tey sold out everything.

So when we got into o-ce now, we could not borrow as

Hon. Wilred Sedi Elrington, Pickstock Area Representative

Continued on Page 13Te shaded home o Francis Fonseca, ormerly a Central Bank House

So I cannot condone peoplewho do that kind o thing rou-tinely (because thats not the onlyexample; Im only reerring to thatone) coming now in this sancti-monious way and seeking destroy

Barracks. And when the UDPrst decided that we were goingto build the Ramada out there tostimulate the Economy, there wasa big PUP demonstration: Savethe Barracks! Save the Barracks!

And that is one o the reasons now that so manyo their staunch supporters are going completely andtotally broke; because they really did not have busi-

ness acumen, but they were given these choice landsand these choice opportunities, including the Port andthe Airport, and the like; because o insider trading.


13/20


we would have been able to dobecause so much debt had beenincurred; and we really were lim-ited in terms o what we could do,because so much had been soldout. With a debt payment thisyear o between 30 to 40 Milliondollars (US currency), how are wegoing to be able to help our people?

And yet, I will tell youand I challenge anybody to con-

tradict meno section o BelizeCity has benetted more over thepast our years than then South-side section o the City. Te peoplein the South-side section o theCity have gotten subsidized ood;their children have been sent toschool through scholarships andnancial contributions; we haveilled up everybodys lots whowanted some landill; we haverepaired homes or everybody

Insider Trading & HypocrisySedi Shines the Light on PUP Leaders

whose homes needed repairs; wehave built homes. In the PickstockConstituency, or example, wehave built at least 30 homes out oPickstocks share o the 20 Millionthat the ormer leader o the PUPhad diverted to a private bank.

And that is the same storyall over the South o Belize. In ad-

dition to that, the government hashelped our armers in the Northso that they could have a success-ul cane season. We have helpedthe armers in the South whosebananas had been blown down bystorm, and we have done so in aquiet and eective way. We haveused our resources to employandthis is particularly touching to meat home, and I wish we could domore o itwe have used our re-sources to employ the abandonedand neglected youths in Belize City

who were so rustrated that theywere killing themselves. And now,that has subsided because we areproviding employment or them.

And, I must congratulatethe Prime Minister and urge himto do all in his power to con-

tinue to make monies availableor their employment. And, yousee, as soon as we started spend-ing money on them, Mr. Speaker,the violence has subsided. Belizeis a more peaceul and sae place.

But the members on theother side, i they really look atthe history o their party, they willsee that the party systematicallydestroyed all the institutions thatwe had, that used to develop ourpeople. My wie is a product oBelize echnical College. When shewent to Belize echnical College,she paid 30 dollars or the year. Tatis no longer the case. Te PUP gov-ernment presided over the destruc-tion o Belize echnical College.

In my view, the best, the very best secondary school inthe Country was Lynam Col-lege; it provided just about thebest. One o the students is sittingright at my right here (MelvinHulse); just about the best; anawesome institution (applause).

Te Peoples United Party

closed down that school and turnedit into a prison. We came back andrescued it; twice. We are doing, theMinister o Education is doing all inhis power to make sure that every-body has a good education, and tomake sure that everybody benets.

Now, how is it that thepeople on the other side can beupset? I dont understand, becausethe majority o the people who are

benetting rom these write-osare people who are ormerly PUPsupporters, staunch supporters.So, I nd it incomprehensible thatyou should have diculty with ourgovernment trying to help all thepeople o Belize; and, incidentally,your people are getting assisted.And I nd it equally reprehensiblethat there is so much hypocrisy.

Really and truly, the per-ception seems to be over on theother side, that the Belizean peo-ple are stupid. We are not stu-pid. We may be poor, but weare not stupid. And, unless anduntil the Peoples United Partysleadership understands this, theywill never come back into oce.

So, Mr. Speaker, I ullysupport this initiative to write othe loans and I will want to end bysaying to those on the other sidewho are critical o the behavior othe people at the Social SecurityBoard, they might want to stop and

think about the two biblical quotesthat I presented earlier, about theirown practice during all the timethat they had been in govern-ment. Te evidence is still thereand can be reerred to at any time.

I thank you, Mr. Speaker.

(As Hon. Sedi Elrington not-ed, there are many more instances oPUP insiders using their positioningto set themselves up; in many cases,ending up with valuable governmentassets sold o at ire sale prices.

Another example that werecall instantly is that o the Govern-ment Printery. Te man who headedit or government ended up being amajor nominal shareholder when itwas sold. As to whom he was ront-ing or, the act that two secretar-ies closely connected to the Musaswere also listed as shareholders inthe company give more than a hint.

Well said, Sedi; well said!)

PUP Leader Francis Fonseca and ormer PUP Minister Godrey Smithboth recipients o houses ormerly owned by the Central Bank

Marina owers built on portion o the BarracksSaved or Brother Billy

Continued rom Page 12

Te Printery that was owned by Government o Belize, now owned by PUP cronies


14/20


15/20


Deeds are More Powerful Than WordsAttorney Generals Address at Supreme Court Opening

renovating our Belmopan Ofces to

ensure that we have the space required

to accomodate more Counsel and to

provide all staff with a more comfort-

able working environment, and the

tools with which to work. Given the

volume of our work, this expansion

has been well needed and deeply ap-

preciated. Our Ofce of International

Legal Cooperation, headed by a Di-

rector, has had its scope widened and

renamed, International Legal Affairs

Section, headed by a Deputy Solici-

tor General in the person of Ms Iran

Tillett- Dominguez.

Along with our renovation

and expansion of the Belmopan Of-

ce, we have also received the support

of the Honourable Prime Minister

in opening Ofces of the Attorney

Generals Ministry on Albert Street,

in Belize City. This renovation has al-

lowed the AGs Ministry to be served

the requisite notices and other legal

documents at its Belize City Ofce

as well as provide the dire needed

administrative support for our Coun-sel who are otherwise bereft of same,

when they journey to Belize City and

leave the ofce in Belmopan. Given

that our courts have such a presence

in Belize City, our Ofces here will be

very much used.

Our ministry has already

established a Law Revision Unit of

which we are receiving full support

from the Commonwealth Secretariat

and CARICOM. The revision unit is

headed by Justice Dr. Zuru supported

by staff we have provided. Dr. Zuru

has already been appointed by me

as Law Revision Commissioner. Hiswork is on the verge of completion and

arrangements are being made for the

laws of Belize to be printed. Ive re-

quested and received full support from

the Honourable Prime Minister for the

publication of the laws expeditiously.

In addition to the revision

of the laws of Belize, the Attorney

Generals Ministry is also upgrad-

ing its web site to provide the newlyrevised laws of Belize to the prac-

titioners and public in a sustain-

able manner. Laws will be able to

be read on line, and purchased for

printing. The web site will also

feature certain information of our

legal fraternity and judiciary along

with some general information to us-

ers seeking to know more about the

jurisprudence of Belize.

Without repeating the names

of my staff, whose names Ive men-

tioned at my last address, I wish to say

that all my staff members are working

quite well and in most instances be-yond the call of duty, even when they

have been called to work on Saturday,

Sunday or early as 6am on a Monday.

Mr. Lewis Belisle has also been doing

his part in order to keep us going and

to see to the needs of our Ministry.

The Commonwealth Secre-

tariat and the Government of Belize

have recently acquired a draft person

of enormous experience, Ms Michelle

Daley, as assistance in our drafting

department and to help train our

counterpart drafters. She is with us

in the rst instance for two years, andsubject to extension as has been agreed

by the Government of Belize and the

Commonwealth Secretariat.

We have had a busy legisla-

tive year in 2011 and we are projected

to be equally occupied in 2012.

My lord, as I say with a full

heart and apprehension that it seems

to me that it took the death of one of

our most illustrious members of our

profession, Dr. Elson Kaseke, that

another illustrious colleague and Se-

nior Counsel Mr. Michael Young saw

it t to circulated in an e-mail for all

of us to respect each other and to act

as lawyers should, and remember that

we are all ofcers of the court and are

an integral part of the administration

of justice.

We must also remember that

we must be respectful of all the courts

and judges including the magistrates.

I wish to remind members that your

lordship by virtue of his appointment

and position knows what to do in

administrating our courts and will

deal with matters only and when they

arrive before his courts. I am sure that

whenever your lordship or any of the

judges need help from any of us we

would be called upon as an amicus

curiae.

I conclude by exhorting

my fellow practitioners to re-

spect our profession; remember

that facta sunt potentiora verbis

(deeds are more powerful thanwords), but being mindful that by

our words, we should seek only to

enrich and leave a resounding legacy

of this noble profession of ours.

I thank you


Te procession by members o the Judiciary and the Bar

BELMOPAN CITY COUNCIL

INCENTIVE PACKAGE

2012/2013

As of January 1, 2012, Property Owners in the City of Belmopan are eligible toparticipate in the following discount package:

25% Discount for full payment of 2012/13 Property fees made ON or BEFORE

January 31, 2012.

20% Discount for full payment of 2012/13 Property Fees from February 1 and

February 28, 2012. 15% Discount for full payment of 2012/13 Property Fees from March 1 and March

31, 2012.

N.B. Senior Citizens (65 yrs or older) are eligible for an additional

5% discount for properties on which they reside.

For more inormation visit your Belmopan City CouncilOces at 36/38 Trinity Boulevard, Belmopan City

Or call: 822-2271, 822-2319 or 802-3679


16/20


Housing, SSB, Heritage BankDFC will be Next, says PM Barrow

were sold by the PUP, were not con-sulted or even inormed until aerthe act, and in many cases, whenthey discovered what had hap-pened, they also ound that theirrepayment schedules had been al-

tered by SSB to their disadvantage.In any event, the PUP gov-

ernment pocketed all the proceedsrom their sale o the mortgages toSSB; but when SSB securitized toRB, it had to take a discountedpayout or the mortgages. Gov-

ernment, it turns out (and please,Mr. Speaker, I wasnt around, andyou know how they used to layerthings with a view to making itimpossible or a proper light tobe shun on their transactions, so

in trying to reconstruct what hadhappened, recollect that I am ata two-old disadvantage; I wasntthere, and also Im trying to workrom data that was designed toobuscate and conuse and con-

ceal, so Im doing the best I can).So, SSB took this discount-

ed payout rom RB. In turn,or that amount, lets say it was 70Million, SSB had to service the 70Million with RB. For some rea-

son, I dont why it had to be thisway, Government pre-paid some othat 70 Million that SSB then had toservice to RB. Te amount thatwas pre-paid by Government toRB was then in turn to be repaid

to GOB by SSB in monthly install-ments over a number o years.

SSB has been repaying the

Government o Belize, which col-lects the monthly repayments ina lump-sum at the end o each

nancial year. It is a line-item inthe budgetyou will see repay-ment o securitization monies, itis a line item in the countrys an-nual budgetand or the nancialyear ending in March o 2012,Government o Belize was bud-

geted to collect 4 Million Dollars.It turned out that the ac-

tual amount scheduled by SSB asthe annual repayment to GOB wascloser to 11 Million Dollars. Sothat I ound out that Governments

desire to answer the cry or reliecoming rom the mortgage holderswith SSB could be done withoutdenting Governments actual cashow. It was a matter simply o notcollecting 6.9 Million o the money

SSB already had or us, and using itthereby to pay or the mortgages.

O course, we will still endup with our budgeted collectiono $4 Million since, as I said, the

total by the end o March was go-ing to be a little over 11 Million.

I need to add, Mr. Speaker,that the call or help rom thehomeowners indebted to SSB hadincreased in volume aer Govern-ment wrote o the GOB Ministryo Housing Mortgages, all nine

thousand and odd, almost tenthousand. You see, in a sense, youbecome victims o your own suc-cess. But we are willing and happy

victims. We wrote o all o those;people come and said, what happen

to us, we would have beneted romthat write-o i only the last crowddidnt take our mortgage and sellit to SSB without our knowledge.

It was in that kind o aclimate that we decided we had

to nd a way to help as many othose persons as we could. And,this being an administration thatis always or the people, it really be-come a matter o a moments workto answer the call and producewhat, i I might say so mysel, is the

wonderul result that the House isblessing and implementing today.

Mr. Speaker, but you knowwhat happens. Now people are say-ing to me, what about the loans andthe mortgages that are at DFC. Well,

being always or the People, we canpromise today that there will alsobe soon a orm o assistance withthe DFC mortgages (applause).

Now, Mr. Speaker, let mebe clear; I dont know whether

it will be a complete write-o,whether it will be a lowering o theinterest rates, or a combinationo both, so I cannot go beyondsaying, assistance there willbe inone orm or another (applause).

But, or now, Mr. Speak-er, we are happy that so many

additional amilies are beneit-ting once again rom another othe UDPs pro-people initiatives.

Tere are some would-bespoilers; some, what they call them,blue koncas, that have tried to rainon his parade; but it is clear that

the joy at what we are doing is notconned only to those homeown-ers that are benetting directly; allright thinking citizens resound-ingly approve o compassion onthe part o their government,

compassion that gives a welcomeand signicant boost both to in-dividual disposable income and

to collective economic activity.Te nominal value o the

mortgages being written o is

just under 17 Million dollars;though we have been able to ac-quire them or 6.9 Million be-cause o the impairment actor.

Mr. Speaker, on behal oa Government that is always or

the People, I now take pleasure inmoving the motion (Applause).

Wrap up o Debate onSSB Write-of Motion

hose on the other side,who tried to concentrate their reon the CEO o the Social SecurityBoard, cant get away with that.

What it appeared was be-

ing attempted by staers at SSBhad, and has nothing to do withthe Governments write-o pro-gram, per se. In any case, what wascontemplated could never havehappened because, rom the time

I learnt o the allegations that were

making the rounds, I spoke to the

Chair o the Social Security Board,and I knew that the Chair was goingto convene a meeting to deal withthe allegations. I also knew that Ihad the list upon which the contract

was concluded, the list on the basiso which I had negotiated, and therewas no way anybody would havebeen able to add to that list withoutthe approval o the Government oBelize; and there was no way in the

World that the Government o Be-lize would have given that approval.

So, Im not going to tryto deend the CEO; but I do haveto observe that the thunderousdenunciation o the CEOcom-

ing rom the member or FortGeorgeis rich, is ironical. I Iwere the CEO, I would take somecomort rom the act that the manwho is my greatest detractor is theman whose record is so well known.

You know, he puts me in

mind o what a amous actressin the golden era o Hollywoodhad once said. Tere was a lady,

a young starlet whose reputationwith respect to promiscuity, sexualmatters, was similar to the mem-

bers reputation with respect to thiswhole issue o corruption. I listenedto the member or Belmopan talk-ing about all the compromises thatthe member or Fort George madewhen he was Prime Ministeror I

should rephrase thatthe variousways and the countless individualsto whom he was compromised.

And, I recollect what Bet-ty Davis said about that star-

let. Looking at her, she observedto people, here goes the good

time that was had by one and all.In relation to the member

or Fort George and the question othose with whom he was compro-mised, we can look at him and in that

respect say, Tere goes the goodtime that was had by one and all.

Again, I am at the point nowwhere I dont pay too much mind towhat he says, you know. Maybe it isbecause I dont want to personally

get aer him that I am driven to re-sorting to quotations and analogies.

Tere was a amous literaryeud between the critic Mary Mc-Carthy and the playwright LillianHellman. And Mary McCarthysaid about Lillian Hellman, Every

word Lillian Hellman writes is alie, including the words and andthe. Every word my riend says isa lie, including the words andandthe; and so, you will understand,

Heritage Bank Headquarters in Belize City


Continued on Page 17


17/20


Housing, SSB, Heritage BankDFC will be Next, says PM Barrow

thereore, why I pay him no mind.

In terms o the Leader o

the Opposition, Mr. Speaker, I

cant sit down without saying thatIm at a lost to understand how the

Leader o the Opposition can say

that what we are doing today is asa consequence, is a sort o bene-

cial consequence o what the PUP

did when it was in oce. Ive said

to you that part o the motivationor doing this program is because

o the countless complaints rom

people currently with SSB Mort-gages who were not inormed or

consulted when their mortgages

were bundled up and sold to SSB.

I had in my oce yesterdaya marshal o the Supreme Court o

this Country who said, please, can

I be written o; my house is on theauction block, and I originally had

my loan with the Ministry o Hous-

ing; and nobody told me, nobodyever told me that it was transerred

to SSB; I did not ind out until

I saw the publication o the no-tice o oreclosure in the papers.

And. I tell you that when

they transerred these mortgages

to the Social Security Board, SSB,under its watch, altered the repay-

ment terms and conditions. Tey

couldnt change the principal, but

i the people were paying $250 permonth to the Ministry o Housing,

they had to start paying $400 to

SSB. How can you be proud o that?And to say that these homes

were constructed as a consequence

o good PUP programs? Please!

Youre talking about BIMCO andRay Fuller; youre talking about St.

James National Building Society

and Glenn Godrey? alk about thepoor quality o the houses that were

built? alk about the inated cost to

Government? And we come alongnow, and we give relie; and you

say, you know what, boy, we cant

praise you or saving the Belizean

people because, i we didnt gunshotthem in their head, you couldnt

operate on them and save them.

hat is the kind o thing thesepeople on the other side are saying.Mr. Speaker, no time to

waste. his is a government onthe move. here is still somework to be done; there is yet moregood tidings or this governmentto bring, again, on the basis thatthe United Democratic Party isAlways or the People (applause).

Loans at Heritage BankMr. Speaker, I move

yet another write-o motion,this is the Government HousingLoan Write-o motion, 2012.

Again, as Ive said earlier,these people on the other side,all these twisting and turning,multi-layered transactions thatlet people who had mortgages


DFC Headquarters in Belmopan City

originally with the government

not knowing whether they were

coming or going, resulted as well

in the discovery now o about

17 loans that they actually gave

to Heritage Bank. here are 17

such loans all or relatively small

amounts, 30 thousand, 17 thou-

sand, that sort o thing. Again, the

total value o those mortgages is

about 400 thousand dollars. Most

o them are non-perorming. So

were coming to the House now

to write o those mortgages or

those 17 or so persons (applause)

including our good riend EricNeal, Rico, a very good man at SJC.


18/20


Golf UpdateDear Belizean Golfers,

This Saturday, January 21st, the race to nd the 2012 champions of Belize begins, with our

rst tournament of the year. Gross, Net and the NEW Senior Net categories are up for grabs.

8.30am start. Register in Club House by 8.15am. All welcome to join. .

Email me to let me know if you are entering or call me (651 9929) or Mickey (665 3352).

Every monthly tournament we need 2 volunteers to help myself and Mickey. :

one volunteer to collect the $10 Side Pot.

one volunteer to organize the closest pin signs, long drive and long putt signs.

Can 2 members volunteer for this Saturday?

A few other points :

Prize donations. If anyone has a prize they would like to donate let me know. You can

choose what you want the prize to be for.

Please pay Treasurer, Mickey Thornton, your $80 registration fee.

2012 Match Play tournament SIGN UP form is on the Notice Board in the Club

House. Rules attached.

Belize Wins International

Award to Help Save Wildlie

Press Release

18 January 2011

he wildlie o Belize is oneo the most treasured andloved resources or Belizeansand people rom all over theworld, who come to enjoy thenatural beauty o our country.Dr. Isabelle Paquet-Durand, a

veterinarian who specialises inwildlie medicine, has devotedher lie to helping the wildlie oBelize. Up until now, Dr. Isabellehas been doing her best withlimited equipment and acilitiesand has literally had to operateout o the back o a pickup truck.

Despite the challenges,Dr. Isabelle is known by

everyone who works with heras a wonderul, cheerul anddedicated veterinarian, devotedto protecting the wildlie oBelize as well as to sharing herknowledge and skills or little orno recompense. Her ambitiousgoal has been to establish aworld class wildlie clinic inBelize to care or and treat themany animals that becomesick, orphaned or injured,

but which could be saelyreturned to the wild i theyreceived the help they needed.

So, when she entered acompetition run by Heska - aUSA based product and serviceprovider to the veterinaryproession - called Inspirationin Action to try and winunding to equip the clinic, she

never dreamed that she might just win. However the wordspread within Belize and thenbeyond, and on December 19th,Dr. Isabelle was astonishedand delighted by the news thatshe had won the public vote!Dr. Isabel le wil l use the$25,000US award to startequipping the Belize Wildlie

and Reerral Clinic (BWRC). h i s w i l l p r o v i d eveterinary services to the wildlieo Belize, supporting the worko the Belize Forest Departmentand all other conservationentities. Te acilities will alsobe available to all veterinarypractices across the country,allowing access to equipmentthey have never previously had.All the animals in Belize canbenet, and healthier animalscontribute to a healthier

environment or everyone.Tis week, on the 17th o

January, Dr. Isabelle attendedthe Heska award ceremony inFlorida, drawing internationalattention to the importanceo Bel ize s ecosys tem tothe health o the planet .

Dr. Isabelle said, he$25,000US prize money is

not only a substantial amounto money or this project toreceive, it is a resounding vote o conidence or thewildlie organisations and veterinarians o Belize.

Te clinic is strongly supportedb y t h e B e l i z e W i l d l i eC o n s e r v a t i o n N e t w o r k (BWCN), ounded by Dr.Isabelle - a group o individualsand organisations dedicatedto wildlie conservation andresearch in Belize. BWCNw o r k s c l o s e l y w i t h t h eBelize Forestry Department,p r o v i d i ng s u p p o r t w i t hhuman/wildlie conict issues.

I y o u w o u l d l i k eto know more about theacilities that will be on ofer,or would like to become amember o the Belize WildlieConservation Network, pleasevisit www.wildliebelize.com

I you are in possession ocaptive, orphaned or injuredwildlie, contact the BelizeForest Department on 8221524 or deliver it to the ForestDepartment on Forest Drive,

Belmopan.

.

Dr. Isabelle Paquet-Durand receives her award at the Heska Inspira-tion in Action Awards Ceremony. From lef to right: , Heska president

and Chie Operating Ocer Dr. Michael McGinley, Belize Wildlieand Reerral Center Founder Dr. Isabelle Paquet-Durand, Locustrace Veterinary Clinic Veterinarian Dr. Jim Martin Second Place

Winner, Dr. Robert Grieve, Chairman and CEO Heska


19/20


proportionate to the top brasswho are at high levels of man-

agement of these corporations,

and those who are well-placed

and wealthy enough to pur-

chase signicant shares in them.

There is no doubt in our

minds that the previous adminis-

tration sold us out lock, stock and

barrel, and that, in a basic sense,

our public utilities are much bet-

ter off in the control of the Gov-ernment and People of Belize.

It goes without saying that

the last administration did such a

horrible job defending the inter-

est of the nation and its people,

that its almost impossible for

any other administrationsave

another PUP administration with

another Fonseca at its helmto

do even as bad, let alone worse.

But, here lies the true test

for the government of Prime Min-

ister Dean Barrow: it must notmake the mistake of holding the

PUP as the standard by which to

measure its (the UDPs) success.

The truth is that the utility

companies in Belize, whoever

owns them, seem to have been

built and cultured more for prot-

making and less for delivery of

good and affordable service. That

is something that must be radi-

cally changed, if it hasnt yet been

changed. And, if it hasnt yet been

changed, we must ask, why not?In the case of BTL, the

competition, to some extent, is

addressing that problem. But, of

the three public utilities, one can

easily conclude that Telecommu-

nications, while it has indeed be-

come an integral part of life in this

modern world, is the least essen-

tial for basic survival and comfort.

Water were not overly

concerned about, as the slight

increases in rates have been gen-

erally affordable and apparentlyjustied in light of the welcomed

expansion in areas like Cotton

Tree and neighbouring villages

along the Western Highway,

and throughout the country.

Admittedly, there is, just

the same, a continuing demand

for expansion of Electricity. But,

BEL has long adopted a policy

of charging somebody upfront

whether the government, some

international agency, or the pri-

vate citizen who needs itfor

the smallest of expansion, lamp-

post and all. Yet, when major

public investments were made to

increase generation and improve

efciency in the transmission of

energy, the company treated that

as a given, and as if it owed noth-

ing at all to the Belizean people

for the investments made by

the government on their behalf.

We are also now hearingfrom the PUC Chairman, John

Avery, of the exorbitant legal

bills the company has been in

the habit of passing on to con-

sumers. All of this has changed

now, we are expected to believe.

And, on the face of it, we have

no reason to believe that it hasnt.

But, as they say, the proof of the

pudding is always in the eating.

To start with, the reduc-

tion of electricity rates, while

a welcoming gesture, is ratherminute. True, we know BEL

does not generate most of its

own electricity. And so, we must

concede that taking control of

the distribution of energy is only

half the job. The bigger half, if we

might so speak, is perhaps that of

taking charge of the generation

of that portion of energy that oc-

curs here at home; in particular,

that which utilizes the rivers that

belong to the people themselves,

and who have, to a great degree,already picked up the cost of the

hydro-investments in taxes to

repay loans, and in exorbitant

rates for more than a decade.

As to the further costs to

our environment and natural re-

sources, that is yet to be fully de-

termined, but there have been suf-

cient troubling signals to suggest

that those might be just as real.

All of that would be cause

enough for public concern and

demand for a proper accounting

of what were owed, what were

entitled to, and the cost we must

continue to pay. But what, of late,

has begun to trouble us is the fact

that the dark spells are suddenly

recurring more often than they

have in quite some months, one of

them occurring in the middle of

the very House Meeting in which

the Prime Minister had just made

his statement regarding the immi-nent lowering of electricity rates.

We hope it wasnt a po-

litically motivated act of sabo-

tage. We know that anything is

possible right now, as we are

certainly well into what some

have dubbed simple season,

another term for election time.

Whatever the case, the

explanations from BEL have

not been nearly as forthcoming

or clear as we deserve. But, be-

yond that, there are fundamentalquestions about how justied or

unavoidable the outages are; and

thus, how well run, at this particu-

lar point in time, is this essential

public utility; whether its new

management at the highest level

is really up to the task, and wheth-

er it is paying enough attention to

the service as against the prots.

It is well known that, on

the ground, BEL has had some

of the most skilled and efcient

technical people, a fact borneout by the dizzying speed with

which they restored power to

almost the entire country in

the wake of Hurricane Richard

of 2010. If theres a finger to

be pointed, it more than likely

must be pointed at some person

or persons in the boardroom.

Speaking of which, we are

certainly not at all amused by the

game-playing, if that is what it is,

that began to unfold his week as

the executives at BEL appear to

be quibbling with the PUC over

the extent of the rate reduction

that is justied and sustainable.

Out here, Mr. Barrow is

our defender, and we are behind

him one hundred percent as he

ghts for the peoples interest

and that of our country. The

foreign despots have, for the

most part been beaten back. But

now, we must ensure that were

not being suckered from within.Whether through negli-

gence, incompetence or pursuit

of the wrong objectives, things

dont appear to be going as

well as they should at BEL. The

Belizean people need, deserve

and

capital weekly 019 online[1]

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