The PIV Three Remanded To Prison

The alleged co-leader of the PIV gang, 41 year old Edwin Drive Flowers and two of his associates, 25-year-old, Gaston Barrow and 32-year-old, Kenyon Dominguez were taken to court today. They were arraigned for a total of six counts: 2 for possession of a firearm and 21 rounds of ammunition, as well as 4 counts of drug trafficking for a total of 26 pounds of marijuana and five pounds of cocaine. On the charge sheet it says the men were found with these items on "St George's Caye.

Immediately after their arraignment, police escorted the trio to the Belize Central Prison where they were remanded until July 22nd.

They were all unrepresented but before leaving the court room, Edwin Flowers asked the sitting Senior Magistrate, "How quick can we get a trial date for this matter?..."

The answer was inconclusive but he was told he can apply for bail at the high court.

PIV Three, The Details Matter

Now, during the raid on Saint Georges Caye police say they found a number of firearms, a total of 5 - but in court the trio was only charged or connected to one of those five firearms and an amount of weed and cocaine.

Here's an update on what we learned yesterday:

This is the 223 rifle, this is the 40 millimeter pistol outfitted as a MAC-10 with sound suppressor, this is the M4 Carbine, this the 9 millimeter pistol, and this is the 5.7 x 28 mm - not a very common weapon in Belize.

These bundles are the 2.5 pounds of marijuana and the 5 pounds of cocaine found on island #1. They were found along with the .223 rifle.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Searches were conducted on that island and the search led to the discovery of 12,000 grams of cannabis. It was parcelled off in a number of parcels and 2,300 grams of cocaine that was in two separate kilo-sized parcels and one 2-2-3 rifle."

"On the island police also found three individuals from the PIV area. Those persons and the drugs and firearm were brought to Belize City for processing and the three individuals have since been arrested and charged for drug trafficking and for keeping unlicensed firearms."

That means the three persons charged, Edwin Drive Flowers, Kenyon Dominguez, and Gaston Barrow will only be charged for these items.

Police searched two nearby islands where they found the other weapons - all high powered and deadly - and possibly used in recent murders.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"We went and conducted searches on two other islands which we believe the PIV gang members have some connection to and on one of those islands we found one M4 carbine rifle, one assault 5.7 calibre rifle, one 22 rifle, one .40 calibre handgun and one 9mm handgun. So, a total of five firearms were found, three of which are rifles and two handguns. No one was on that island and so those items will be deposited as found property."

Found property is usually a signal that police and the suspects have struck a compromise - where they disclose the stash spot for weapons to have charges dropped. And, while 3 will be charged - reliable reports tell us there were 3 others on the island - two lookout men and a female who were released without charges.

We note that the volume of drugs disclosed yesterday - was less than the amount listed on the charge sheet in court today.

Police Minister Calls PIV Bust Historic

So did that kind of trade off happen in this case - where guns were given up in exchange for the freedom of persons who could have faced charges? Today the Minister of Home Affairs said he knows nothing about that - but he knows the bust is historic:

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"I'm not familiar with that trade off, you will perhaps have to ask the Commissioner that, I am aware that the police made perhaps one of the biggest busts of high powered firearms in the history of this country, I haven't seen such a cache of high powered firearms all together at once and so I want to commend the police on their bust yesterday, in addition to that, a substantial quantity of cannabis and a substantial quantity of cocaine as well. I think it deserves commending."

Reporter:
"But did they collaborate with the Coast Guard in tracking down this island?"

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"To my knowledge, no, but I believe they did have a captain who took them who might be attached to another department, I can't say if it's Coast Guard or not."

Why is PIV ACTING UP?

Reporter:
"Sir, I believe Drive and another LIU member was found on the island, they were charged, the PIV island. They were members of the LIU, so what happens? Do they get removed from the program?"

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"That is the natural consequence and it pains me a lot as minister because we have been working a lot over the last few years with some of these young men, not all of them, who have indicated that they do not want to lead this life and I could tell you right off the bat that last year PIV was extremely quiet, was extremely dormant, they were complying, they were a part of the LIU, they were active in positive ways and so it is very disturbing but if you have been following the trends lately with the passing and the murder of Jose Matus, there was left a huge void. As you might have known, Mr Matus was a major supplier in Belize and so perhaps the temptation got the better of them and based on these high powered weapons it's quite possible that this new group is working along with cartel elements and so we have to look at that possibility because these guns just don't show up just like that. And as you know the cartels are always looking for someone to work with for the illegal supply of cannabis and it's been something I've been saying since day one when we got into office, this illegal trade of cannabis is killing so many Belizean young men because of turf wars that are happening so if you analyze the situation there seems to be some sort of a transfer of power when it comes to this particular trade and we will do our very best from the police department to nip it in the bud and to go after these bad actors because while last year you might have been complying, clearly this year you're not."

Police Want To Extend SOE But Politicians Have A Different Calculus

So with all this gang activity in dynamic ferment, will the Home Affairs Minister agree to extend the SOE? The commissioner has been pushing for it, but the political calculus is different. We asked Musa about it today:

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"I believe the SOE expires next week Friday or so, those are discussions we are currently having at the Cabinet level and you will know soon enough whether that decision will be made but I will not disclose that at this time."

"If it is that you are going to be charging any of the individuals, for instance, the particular SOE, if you look at it, has had great success in that it snuffed out, it flushed out the actors from PIV that took all of their stash to an island and so we were able to flush them out and identify all of these high powered weapons and take them off the street saving many lives and so those individuals will be charged. The investigation in relation to the two murders, those are ongoing, whether there is an SOE or not, those investigations will continue."

Minister Says Other Officers Being Investigated In Alleged Rape Of 15-year-old Boy

But even though several gang members are still locked up under the SOE, maybe it should be extended to some police officers as well. That's because, as we reported yesterday, an officer was arrested and charged for raping a 15-year-old boy. 29-year-old Marcus Che is accused of sexually assaulting the minor at the police station. Today the media asked Minister Kareem Musa if he's sure the other officers attached to that precinct weren't also complicit.

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"That is part of the investigation that is being carried out because like you rightly said if it is happening at a police station then of course there might be other officers who have knowledge and that of course is certainly going to be a part of the investigation that is currently being carried out but I join the commissioner of police in expressing the fact that I am extremely disturbed by this kind of news coming out of Punta Gorda by a police officer. Again, the people of this country have trust and confidence in the police department to protect us, to serve us, to keep us safe, not to be doing these kinds of things and I know the argument can be made that we cannot control every single human being and what they are going to be doing but this certainly is a black eye on the department and this certainly needs to be dealt with very stiffly."

Minister Says Police Should Have Picked Up Dying Man

Another divisive public issue that police have to deal with is Michael Usher's murder in The St Martin's area on Monday night.

The Compol spoke with us regarding the lack of urgency among his officers to rush the dying shooting victim to the hospital.

He said he would have acted differently. Today the minister of home affairs chimed in to say that perhaps the officers should have done the same.

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"I saw the video footage and yes I did feel a lot of empathy, a lot of sympathy for the victim, particularly because I knew him well. I knew Mr Usher well and to see him take his last breath like that on the ground a few minutes before the ambulance arrived it certainly was very painful as most Belizeans had to witness that take place and I know your follow up question is why didn't the police officers take Mr Usher to the hospital and I will agree with you to come extent. But as you know they are not trained medical professionals, they are not trained to deal with injured individuals like that in emergency training, that is best left to a doctor. I actually had a conversation with a doctor at the KHMH who deals in this type of accident, trauma, fire, gunshot wounds and he said the best case scenario is the police are not to touch the individual and so that is coming from a doctor that if an ambulance is nearby it is best to wait for an ambulance to come but again in a situation like that, it did take a little while for the ambulance to get there and so I think in a circumstance like that where the ambulance is not immediately around the corner, that perhaps the police department and police officers should have taken him to the hospital."

"We do have training in terms of first aid emergency response but not to the level of training them to be these types of doctors, they're not trained doctors, they're police officers. We have to understand, or EMTs, they're not EMTs, yes we do have first aid training for our police officers but at the same time we have to understand there's a separate department for fire, there's a separate department for doctors, who are properly trained, it takes years and years for them to be properly trained in order to deal with victims like this. The doctor I was speaking with this morning mentioned that one bad turn that you handle a particular victim could result in that person dying because of the gunshot and the way that the individual is placed, one bad handling of the individual could result in their death and so there are two sides to that argument but we have to look at it and certainly I think there is some middle ground that we can arrive at."

MOHW Vehicle Stolen, Ends Up In Guate, GOB Trying To Recover

A Toyota Hilux was stolen from the Western Regional Hospital last night around midnight. According to reports, a security guard saw a dark-skinned adult and a male minor leaving in the vehicle from the hospital. But apparently no one sounded the alarm until the driver of the truck showed up at 5:00 am - to see that it was missing.

Police were called this morning and they activated the GPS tracker, which showed its location in Flores, Guatemala. The Minister of Police did not have the full details, but he said that the cops acted quickly.

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"Very brief information I have, I don't have the full details of it, but I am aware that our police department acted swiftly with our counterparts in Guatemala and they will be getting that vehicle back."

Reporter:
"Do you know how they managed to steal it from the hospital?"

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"I don't know the particulars of the theft no."

Reports are that the Government has sent ownership documents to Guatemala and hope to get back the truck.

Exhibit Keeper's Charges Changed

The cannabis infused candies incident that occurred last year April sent the public and parents into an outrage after school children got hold of treats laced with cannabis.

The entire incident was traced back to the police evidence room where 38 year old exhibit keeper Mario Bustillos allegedly improperly disposed of the gummies without proper authority.

He was previously charged with 10 counts of negligent harm after 14 students, all of them minors, ended up at the KHMH. But, the charges against Bustillos were secretly withdrawn in October of 2023. And he was later served with a new charge of Willful Oppression.

Bustillos appeared in court today with his attorney Nazira Myles. Where he was served with 14 pages of disclosure including two CDs.

The magistrate adjourned the preliminary inquiry today until May 3rd so Bustillos attorney can access the contents of the second CD in order for the case to proceed.

16 Years After He Killed Sandra Ruiz, Darrell Grant Apologizes To Her Family

16 years after he killed mother of two Sandra Ruiz, Darrell Grant apologized to her family in court today.

Grant - who was already sentenced to life in prison - was back in court to get a fixed sentence. He told her family, quote, "I am sorry for what I did. I was young and immature... I am sorry to her family and for the pain to my family...I know I can't bring back Ms. Sandra life..."

Grant was Ruiz's neighbor when he broke into her house in the King's Park area in August of 2008. He sexually assaulted her and then bludgeoned her to death inside her home. He also badly injured one of her two young children.

In her victim impact statement, her daughter - who was 13 at the time of the murder stated that 15 years later she can still recall the smell of the iron from her mother's blood after they had to clean up.

Justice Nigel Pilgrim today told the now 37 year old Grant that he will not be eligible for parole until after serving 30 years which started on August 12, 2008.

He was initially sentenced to life imprisonment but the new legal standard is that those must be fixed sentences.

Visiting Cancer Specialist Treat Dozens Of Belizeans

Once a year the Belize Cancer Center welcomes a team of Oncology specialists to provide specialized assistance to patients. We got to meet the team today and learn a bit more about the magic they've worked over the past few days with these cancer patients. Jomarie Lanza reports.

A team of Doctors - oncology specialists - are in Belize this week working alongside the the Belize Cancer Center, Dangriga. They hail from Rochester New York, froma volunteer group named Intervol. They bring a wide range of knowledge and expertise, assisting patients to get the best of treatment options and advice.

The team is currently in Belize City doing their rounds and today we stopped in at the center to meet them and discuss how exactly this partnership and medical mission began.

Dr Saad Jamshed, InterVol
"It dates back to many many years, InterVol is one of the volunteer organizations we have in Rochester regional health and we have been coming here doing different medical camps since late 2000. I got involved in coming to the cancer center in 2018. There was a little bit of a gap during Covid because traveling was difficult but coming here and seeing patients has been very rewarding. The team here does a phenomenal job of providing care to patients. It is difficult we see the challenges patients face day in and day out. They experience through different barriers that they have all the way from screening being able to conduct their testing and being able to afford all the care that they need and to be able to be a cancer survivor takes a lot both not only in the patient but in the family and multiple stressors so the team does a mi r job over here providing care locally cause I can imagine that it will be difficult to provide all that care of here in Belize itself without the cancer center and Dr Grant and sister Dellone."

Dr Roxana Vlad Vonica, InterVol
"And he convinced us to come cause I specialize in prostate cancer and Dr Kirtani specializes in breast cancer and we see a lot of cases here so I think it is a need."

Dr Vatsala Govind Kirtani, InterVol "I will say something I found actually very encouraging is that every patient that I've seen is actually very involved with their healthcare they know a lot about themselves they know about their medication and have a good and reliable history and I think that involvement of community for themselves is the first step and they have it down. So that is great and I think we can build from there at this point."

Although a week might not seem like enough for this team to complete their work here in Belize, CEO Pascascio says that they're on an intensive schedule:

Dellone Pascascio, CEO, Belize Cancer Center
"They see both oncology patients and they see patients with hematologic diseases. Much of what we have seen is there are patients with sickle cell, a number of sickle cell patients and sickle cell of course is a hematologic condition. So far I would say that over the last three days we probably have seen about 10-12 patients with sickle cell. Either sickle cell being treated or active sickle cell disease and we are expecting to continue to follow those patients and then we have seen a sprinkle of patients with prostate cancer patients with breast cancer and one patient I think who has cervical cancer."

"We've been very very fortunate. The value that they bring in terms of their services and expertise to us is incalculable. Most of these patients would have to wait and many of the subject matter expertise that they provided in consultation is something we could not duplicate had they not been here with us."

President of the organization Kim Simplis Barrow says that this partnership serves as a testament to the cancer center's commitment to exceed barriers to source the best care for patients.

Kim Simplis Barrow, President, Belize Cancer Society
"For us it's so very important to have a collaboration and partnership with the Belize Cancer center Dangriga and with InterVol. It's such a great collaboration and partnership. Today I think we are seeing about 21 patients just here at the center. They have been here for over the past 4 days and so in Dangriga they were seeing patients as well. It is an opportunity that perhaps some of our Belizeans would not have had and it is always good to get a second opinion and to have a dialogue with professional oncologists."

The specialists concluded clinics today and will leave on Saturday.

Illegal Logging In Maya Mountain Reserve?

The Maya Mountain Forest Reserve is a 36,000 acre site situated in southern Belize. It's where the Hummingbird Group Limited has gotten permits and licenses to conduct logging activities sustainably. As the founder, Bobby Lopez, explained, there are some trees they can cut and some that must be left alone to ensure that the reserve lives on. But when his workers went into the reserve recently, they noticed other loggers without the necessary permits - which alarmed them since they were engaged in cutting down trees and drawing survey lines. Yesterday, Lopez told us more about the encounter.

Bobby Lopez, Founder, Hummingbird Group Limited
"Now that we're in the reserve, putting in our roads and everything is monitored by the Forestry Department. They're very, very strict with these long term sustainable forestry licenses. We come upon about a week ago a group of men in the reserve cutting survey lines. And immediately we called the Forestry Department. But our crew had an encounter with them, and they're saying that they have met."

"And I have a recording and I will send it to you because they specifically said Minister Cordell Hyde. We met with him in 2022, January of 2022 and he has given us permission. They call themselves Green Hill Farming cooperatives, something to that effect. Well, I got a call this morning that they're in there again, and word is that Minister Mike Espat has told them to go in and cut and that he will see to it that it gets dereserved."

"When are we going to learn to preserve what we have? What we have is long term sustainable license. Give you an example of the 680 something mahogany trees for this harvest plant. We're only cutting about 60 10%. The rest, we're not going to come back for another 30 years to look at. So you see how sustainable it is."

"But further to that, our company already paid Springfield Nursery for 4000 assorted forest trees and we ourselves harvested seeds, mahogany and cedar and other prickly yellow and others from the reserve. And we have a nursery right now and I'm going to invite the meadow to see this because I know that this is going to blow up and this tells me that elections is coming."

"When you tell a whole group of man, go man go cut it and I will get it to dereserved. And we're hearing that from more than one person."

We reached out to the Minister of Natural Resources Cordel Hyde stated who told us that he would not - and cannot - give permission to log in a reserve since forestry and reserves such as the Maya Mountains are not his domain.

We also reached out to the Chief Forest Officer, Wilbur Sabido, who said, quote, "We have been following that report that we received from Mr Lopez., we had encountered people in the past in the Reserve doing illegal logging or hunting. We haven't authorized any surveys in the Reserve nor do I think that we will, and no one has approached us about doing any surveys. We are doing our own assessment and investigation to get some clarity about this situation." End quote.

We will keep following this story.

Training Medical Professionals To Better Handle Sexual Assault Cases

Over the past three days, a workshop was held with 26 members of the medical community from across the country to train them on the management of sexual assault examinations. Many times these examinations are mishandled due to lack of standards, and that affects any court cases that are being heard. This training sought to ensure that medical professionals are better equipped and have a set of guidelines to follow, in the doctor's office and in the courtroom. The session was headed by a consultant from the University Hospital in Jamaica. At the closing today, we learned more from the facilitators.

The training was in collaboration with the EU and UNDP.

BNFSS Director Says Transportation Issues Preventing Haunted Man From Burying Wife

Yesterday you heard the ComPol say that he will swoop in to assist Miguel Choco - the southern man who hasn't been able to bury his wife for the past two weeks. He made a public plea for assistance because he said his wife is haunting him. Today, the executive director of the National Forensic Science Service explained what the hold up is.

San Pedranos Petition Environment Minister Against Invasive Developments

We've been reporting on the invasive,"clear the land" style developments on San Pedro for a few weeks and tonight a group of islanders are saying they have had enough.

They have sent a petition bearing about 700 signatures to Minister of Sustainable Development, Orlando Habet.

A covering letter says they are concerned about, quote, "land filling, canal path covering, environmental impact, marine fauna, flora and habitats." In the San Pablo area.

They are asking the Ministry and Department of Environment to take action and address this issue.

The letter states, "We, the undersigned, request that the development is stopped and that the canal will be dredged back to how it was."

We'll reach out to let you know what the Minister says.

Panama Wants You To Visit

If you're thinking of going on vacation, you should consider heading to Panama. The Central American country is a quick flight from Belize, and today the Panamanian Embassy held an educational workshop explaining why you should give it a try, and what incentives there are. The Travel Trade & Strategic Alliances Director of Promtur Panama told us more.

Lorena Correal, Travel Trade & Strategic Alliances Dir., Promtur Panama
"Today's presentation was to inspire your tour operators and agencies to recommend out destination to Belizeans. We want you to come and explore our country, our beautiful city, and all our priority destinations. Belize is just one and a half hours away from Panama and I think it's an ideal destination for Belizeans to go and experience."

"We at Promtur Panama, we collaborate with COPA Airlines, COPA Airlines is Panama national airline and we work with them to invite more visitors to our country and one of those strategies is the stopover program which allows visitors to experience two destinations with one ticket so visitors would have to book their tickets in advance with the stopover program and they can stay in Panama from one to seven days with no additional cost on their airfare."

"I know that Belize has beautiful beaches so I think when you come to Panama, you would look for something different that would complement your life and I think our modern city could give that to Belizeans. We have a big city, very modern, full of contrasts, our gastronomy is very rich, it's delicious, when you come to Panama, you're going to gain a few pounds and also we have a lot of other destinations outside of Panama City and I want to highlight the Chiriqui province, the districts of Tierras Altas in Boquete. Chiriqui is a mountainous province, the weather is milder, when you go there Panamanians even wear scarves because we're not used to the cold weather. So when you go there you can visit our coffee plantations and learn the coffee process from bean to cup and also you can go hiking, go up the Baru volcano which I told you, it's the only place on Earth where you can see the Atlantic and the Pacific on the same day. So there's a lot for you to explore, it's a small country, so you could visit it in a week, you get to experience all of this."

Labour CEO Says Belize Needs To Look To Its Dormant Workforce

For the last three weeks we've been reporting on the labour situation in Belize. Entry level and manual labour is scarce - businesses just can't find people to do those jobs. We've heard from affected business operations, the Prime Minister, an economist, and the CEO in the Ministry of Economic Development. They all acknowledge the problem - but also acknowledge that there's no silver bullet solution.

Earlier this week we spoke via zoom with the man who HAS TO come up with a solution - and that's the CEO in the Ministry of Labour,Valentino Shal. Here's what he told us:

Valentino Shal, CEO - Ministry of Labour
"We do have a tight labor market, as we like to say in Labor economics. Now, that means that we are at almost full employment. Everybody who is looking for a job technically is able to find one."

"But while this is a good situation to be in, it creates new problems because then you don't have the the number of workers you would need as a as an employer if you wish to expand your business or you wish to do additional work within your business. And so you run into a shortage of workers, and that's what we are currently observing."

"So it is good that, you know, those who are looking for work are able to find work. But the other side of that very same coin is that where employers need more workers, then they are not able to find them."

"One way to alleviate it as you rightly pointed out, is to is to import labor and encourage labor migration, which we already have. We, you know, the entire agro industry, for instance, is very dependent on migrant labor. We bring a lot of workers from Guatemala, El Salvador, to work in the citrus and banana industries."

"But what would be an addition would be to expand this a bit more and probably bring in additional numbers of workers in order to alleviate the problem. But again, this is not something you just do without careful consideration, because, as you know, we want to be careful as to who we allow into the country."

"But bringing in workers is only one step in addressing this current shortage of workers. There are other measures that we are looking at. We have a current active labor force of over a little over 190,000 persons. But we do have what we call the "not in the labor force" or the "inactive labor force", and that number is around 139,000 - 140,000 people."

"They are not active in the labor force currently. And so that's a pool of workers that we have our eye on. We are trying to figure out right now, looking at the statistics to see why exactly they are not active in the labor force. So you start with the pool of people you have available before you think about importing workers."

Tomorrow in part two of our interview, you'll hear how Shal hopes to re-activate that dormant part of the labour market.

5 High Schools Get 65 Laptops From BEL

BEL donated a total of 65 laptops to 5 five high schools in the South side yesterday.

The utility has embarked on an initiative to provide students with the resources needed to study, conduct research, and complete course work with the help of computer labs and after school programmes.

ACC Principal Nelson Longsworth shared more about the iniative.

Nelson Longsworth, Principal, Anglican Cathedral College
"So our business programme I think will be the one that will be the first to make use of these devices. We would like to be able to get our students who in the business programme to be able to reach a certain level with the accounting programme, that is widely used across businesses in Belize so that when they leave here they are far more marketable or because of the skill sets they have already acquired we also have a programme with the group of students called computer solutions and these require, devices that can handle new software and video editing and productions and so on. They do programming as well and other desktop publishing components to that programme and these kids they end up leaving here from very high level skills as it comes to the use of the technology. And can actually start up their own businesses etc. because these are becoming more and more what they need and I think that will well this will definitely push that programme even further."

The schools that received laptops are Excelsior, Maud Williams, Sadie Vernon, Gwen Lizarraga and The Anglican Cathedral College

Shortage Of Power Due To Lack Of Investments

And, in other utility news - we now have more of our conversation earlier this week with BEL Chairman Andrew Marshalleck.

As we have been reporting, BEL has a capacity problem because growth in electricity demand has far exceeded projections. But whilE that is an issue the problem really is that the power sector has been stagnant. And, as Marshalleck conceded, there's been no increase in capacity for a decade:

Andrew Marshalleck, Chairman - BEL
"We haven't had any new capacity put on the ground for more than ten years. None."

"Now everything is growing in the meantime, demand is growing and new capacity needs to be put on the ground. It's not BEL's responsibility to do that.

"The way it works is that BEL makes a request and the PUC puts out a request for proposals They entertain the proposals, decide who is to do what, and then send them back to BEL to settle the terms of the the power purchase agreement, the PPA."

"So that's how it works, except it hasn't worked. And I know you remember me telling you this: hasn't worked. So that process has failed to put new capacity on the ground for one reason or the other. And we can engage in blame games from the whenever. But the reality is it has not put any additional capacity on the ground."

"So BEL is taking it upon itself to do certain things, make certain investments to put capacity on the ground in the shortest period time period possible"

"The quickest way to get some power in was to upgrade the GT (gas turbine), which was planned in any event at Westlake. And we also bought mobile plant for San Pedro at 21 megawatt plant from GE."

"The reason why we've taken Westlake off line now and not later is because there's a date in May - tow days in May when CFE has already indicated they will need to cut completely. So I'm trying to get that done before that takes place."

"So while you're saying so you feel you're in a race against time?"

"You are to some extent, but the consequences of it is load shedding. And you're at a risk of load shedding in either case, from my perspective. You're saying that we're putting the grid in a precarious position, but we're not. It's already there. I'm trying to manage you out of it."

Jules Vasquez:
"So what is your more sage advice to consumers during this dry period when sources of power are scarce and limited?"

Andrew Marshalleck, Chairman - BEL
"Well it's scarce and limited. So we need to make good use of it. You use it when you have to, and you try to conserve when it's not necessary. And that's the message we've we've sought to put out: to be conscientious in your use of power during that period. But we also know that in a heatwave, certain equipment, your air conditioner, your refrigerators, everything works harder."

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