Atlantic Bank activated a receivership to recover 60 million dollars that it loaned the project - while investors from Salvador and Honduras are owed another 160 million dollars.

That's at least 220 million spent - and the project needs another 50 to 100 million to be completed!

It's a huge mess, and an ugly fight for control. And today we asked the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance if government has any plans to get involved:

John Briceno, Prime Minister "It's unfortunate but let me say at this point that I will not comment, quite likely that's ending up in court and if at any time the government believes that it needs to step in for the interest of the country, we will consider, but we're not there yet. I am confident that the governor of the Central Bank along with his officials are doing a good job and that they're going to be managing this well."

Courtney Menzies: "Do you suspect that there will be any risk to the banking system?"

John Briceno, Prime Minister "I don't expect that." ]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70000 It says, quote, "The Central Bank…assures the public that Belize's financial system continues to be supported by a stringent regulatory framework and diligent oversight measures that safeguard the interests of depositors.

The public is urged to exercise caution and discernment in consuming information. Furthermore, the media is strongly encouraged to be prudent and responsible in disseminating information to the public and to avoid the spread of false news." ]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70001 Both events are unprecedented - and symptomatic of the escalation in what can only be called a dirty war for ownership and control of Stake Bank.

And tonight, the bank is fighting back to secure its reputation with a press release headlined, "Mike Feinstein Sued For Fraud". It notes that the bank has filed a lawsuit in the High Court personally suing Feinstein for fraud and breach of trust.

It adds, quote, "The Bank is aware of...a letter written by attorneys for Michael Feinstein to the Central Bank of Belize…in which certain allegations were made in relation to the Bank's financing of the…Project for Stake Bank Enterprise Limited. The Bank categorically denies those allegations and is evaluating a claim for libel with its attorneys based on the defamatory statements in the letter," end quote.

The release also refers to the ad which started airing last night on this and other channels. It says, "The Bank is aware…of an ongoing advertising campaign with the sole purpose of eroding public confidence in the Bank and the financial system in general. In this regard, the Bank says that its fundamentals are strong. Underpinning the Bank's stability and strength is its Paid-Up Capital, which is the largest within the banking system. The Bank remains the second largest financial institution in Belize, with the largest lending portfolio, funded by the second largest deposit base. Additionally, the Bank is buttressed by a $21 billion US (dollar) financial group with over 50 years of service in Belize and more than 110 years of service in the region." End quote. ]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70002 Of course, this is just one of many sinister allegations of misdeeds coming from both sides.

Another has to do with the claim of fraud - that Mike Feinstein defrauded the bank and investors by making shady moves with Stake Bank's asset. Jules Vasquez looked at one of the allegations:

Who will own Stake Bank? The Atlantic Bank and its related investors? Some foreign cruise line? Or will Michael Feinstein return in glory to ownership? Even the other Michael - Michael Ashcroft - has expressed interest in buying it.

The future remains uncertain. Right now, the bank and the group of investors are reportedly trying to salvage it to make it operational and revenue earning while the receiver, Marlowe Neal - is trying to figure out what he has to work with. Reports say it's not much and this letter from Neal to Mike Feinstein shows him trying to recover all the pieces.

He wrote to Mike Feinstein on April 8th demanding the return of a dozen company-owned vehicles. Neal says, according to his records, the 12 vehicles listed are the property of Stake Bank. They include late model Lexus's and a Toyota Land Cruiser - vehicles valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

One week later, Feinstein's attorney from the Marine Parade Law Chambers wrote back to Neal saying that 8 of the vehicles, quote, "were purchased with our Client's personal funds and were registered in SBEL's name for the sole purpose of allowing our Client to benefit from duty free exemptions held by SBEL. These vehicles are therefore his personal property and not subject to return to SBEL."

That's a pretty bold declaration of questionable use of a development concession. But, undaunted, the attorney adds that SBEL simply holds the ownership of these vehicles in trust for Mike Feinstein and Feinstein is, quote, "under no obligation to deliver these personally owned vehicles to SBEL's compound."

We understand this struggle to recover assets extends also to heavy equipment owned by SBEL - but not in its possession.

There are many more money mysteries to be unfurled on both sides, and we continue to follow them.

]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70003 But PM Briceno told us that he was shocked when he received the news since he'd just spoken with Espat and said did not notice anything wrong health-wise.

And he said today that even though Espat has passed, he hopes younger politicians - and those aspiring to be - can follow his example.

John Briceno, Prime Minister "I did had a meeting with him on the Monday before I left at his office and we had a great meeting, we did not speak about his future, we were just talking about some of his concerns in Toledo East and also his views on the issue of the Maya Indigenous Rights, on the issue of the land, how that's going to be able to work out and him expressing some of his concerns. I must tell you I was shocked actually because he looked quite healthy, his usual self, you know that smile sometimes, that sly smile in some of the things that he would say. So it was beyond words when I heard he had a massive heart attack and that he passed away. I must quickly add, and I said it in the National Assembly and I said it in the house for the budget debate, recognizing the tremendous work that Mike Espat has done since he offered himself for electoral politics in 1989. But we forget that he was a public servant even before that, he was a teacher, he was a principal, so he was always about public service and we must never forget that and I hope that younger politicians and people that are aspiring to represent people to look at him as an example of what it is to do public office, that it's humility, it's hard work, and love for the people you represent and love for your country. He loved Toledo East, he loved Toledo district, he loved Belize and of course he loved his party."

With 7 successive terms - the Prime Minister is the most senior house member in terms of continuous service - but he started serving in 1993 - while Espat started in 1989 - but lost twice-leaving him with 6 terms. ]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70004 But who will replace him as the new PUP standard bearer? The Prime Minister's own CEO, Dr Osmond Martinez, has expressed interest, but so has Espat's son, Melhem Espat.

In the case of David Vega, who passed away from COVID before he was even sworn in, his sister took the mantle. So will PUP choose to keep it in the family again, or offer the position to Dr Martinez?

Here's what the PM told us:

John Briceno, Prime Minister "Let me start off by saying that it would be difficult to replace Mike Espat, Mike Espat was larger than life but with that said, I don't think that we should be discussing that at this moment. Right now, we need to recognize the tremendous work and life of service of Mike Espat, we should respect the mourning period of the family, we have time to deal with all of that and as a party we will deal with that after we have put him in his resting place which will be in PG I'm told, next week Wednesday."

Courtney Menzies: "And in this case the government plans a state funeral, right?"

John Briceno, Prime Minister "The government is planning I think it's an unofficial funeral, I'm told that only heads of state and the Governor General gets state funerals, be it present or retire heads of state. All officials get, or members of the House, would get an official funeral but I think that Mike might be the only one that has died in office. We've had others that died but they already retired so he died in office but we are going to give him a proper sendoff that he deserves." ]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70005 Dolores Balderamos Garcia and Espat had a difference of opinion after he made derogatory remarks about Mayas referring to them as "Indians."

That was in January 2023, and as the Minister Of Indigenous Affairs, Balderamos Garcia had to be diplomatic in mending fences with the Maya communities.

But today she reflected on their time working together during the Maya Land Rights issue, and how his passing now makes her the most senior parliamentarian in the house - by age.

Dolores Balderamos, Minister of Human development "We are very saddened that the passing of Hon Mike. We used to call him iron Mike, and with good reason because when he took a stance on some thing, he was absolutely committed to that, and I think that the stances that he took were always in support of the people of Toledo. Toledo in particular his constituency. He held some very strong views I can share with you that he was not at all in favor of the proposals for the Maya communal land rights. You know he said we are all Belize and we should all have the equal right to land. He was very vocal about that and we had to work with him. Because we have different opinions and respect one another. I can tell you about a few weeks before the budget debate. I had a little chat with him and it was absolutely cordial and respectful, and he did attend our ministerial meeting on the Maya land rights issue in December. And he made very valuable contributions. And we took those contributions into account. So I want to say in his memory, we thank him for all the work he has done and I want to say this. With the position and the strong stance that he took it Forced us to look at a different point of view, and not only because of that, but because it is the correct thing to do. we made it clear that whereas we need to implement the judgment of the Caribbean court of Justice in relation to the Maya case we must do so, keeping in mind the balance that we have to maintain and also forgetting the constitutional rights of all Belizeans."

Funeral arrangements for Mike Espat have not yet been announced. ]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70006 But, through direct mediation, the commissioner of police has reportedly made a move to get 20 guns off the street.

Reports say the the various city gangs being held under the SOE were encouraged to give weapons up in exchange for going home a few days before the SOE expired. Reports tell us police collected a number of weapons weapons last night - as many as 6. No official announcement has been made. ]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70007 These trees are a part of BTB's city beautification project. They've embarked on renovating several areas of the city. You might have noticed some new plants by Berger Field, and in February, we showed you the new additions to Constitution Park.

But according to consultant, Elena Usher, at every stop for this project, vandals have destroyed what they recently erected. Today she expressed her frustration.

Elena Usher, Consultant, BTB's City Beautification Project "We have tried to do all that we could to make it really pretty for the city but we have been having a very bad problem which is the theft of the plants. As soon as we lay some of them down, tomorrow morning when we go back, they're gone. This project on the northern road, this is all palms we're going to do and so far it has been going good until last night, five of the palms have been stolen. everywhere we work, this has happened. In Constitution Park, BTB put a little maintenance hut in the park, the doors and the windows were taken. Things like that happen. There was another part of the boulevard where we put down, like today we would put down 114 and tomorrow we go back to water and 89 of them are gone. Another problem is if they don't steal it, they just destroy the plants. They just root them out and leave them there or they just stand on it or they just pass through it, people just don't have any respect or any care for it, it makes me wonder, what kind of a society we're living in? Is it that they have lived, or we have lived in such an ugly environment that when we see something really nice we want to revert to it being ugly."

"The actual doing is not a problem, it's just the frustration of having to go back and do it and believing that the people will appreciate it, it's heartbreaking, it's disheartening. The government is here trying to make the place look pretty, trying to attract tourists, when people come in they see that our place is nice and pretty, but if we have all these vandals living among us it's not going to happen and then people will say, oh the government does nothing, but here is a good example of them trying to do something and the people just destroying."

"There's a lot of effort in doing it, to take it out, and maybe the way they take it out is not going to survive so it's just a waste of money, time, energy, resources, everything. It's disappointing, it's disheartening."

Usher is looking at surveillance footage and is planning to get the police involved. ]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70008 A widower from Dangriga, Pastor Dozie went to Elrington in May of 2022 because he was not being allowed by social Security to claim his survivors grant after his wife died. Dozie said he was being discriminated against because he is a widower and not a widow. So he asked Ellington to file a constitutional claim.

Dozie paid down $1,500 dollars and they signed an engagement agreement where Elrington would get a percentage of any sums recovered from SSB.

Elrington got into negotiations with the Social security Board, but then a strange thing happened. His paralegal reported to Dozie that Social Security had made an offer of 40,000 thusand dollars to settle the claim. But the law firm advised Dozie not to take it. And then Elrington went ahead - and did just that, he accepted a settlement for a little over 46 thousand dollars - except he never told Dozie.

Elrington then collected the settlement sum - and according to the GLC opinion, he continues to possess the said sum and has not paid any portion to Dozie. In his defense, Elrington says that Pastor Dozie never gave him a bank account number to transfer the funds to.

In his defense Elrington said that Pastor Dozie was not concerned too much about the settlement sum, but was more interested in the legacy of his deceased wife. He wanted to get a commitment from the SSB and the government that the law would be amended for pension benefits to be paid to widowers as well as widows. Elrington said that's why he approved the settlement since it contained the commitment to amend the law.

Nonetheless, In its findings, the council concludes that Elrington "was fully aware that the standard practice in settling claims for clients was to obtain their written approval" for settlements, which was not done in this case. And that he signed off on the order without consent which constitutes "grave professional misconduct." They have summoned him to a hearing on May 24th to hear the sanctions that will be imposed against him.

Notably, the GLC also expressed concern about the authenticity of a document allegedly signed by his client that Ellington entered as evidence. They say they will send it to the police to determine whether Pastor Dozie's signature was fabricated. ]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70009 But is the government trying to undermine the process? The PM today said it's not their fault, it's Chanona's. Here's how he put it.

John Briceno, Prime Minister "That's absolutely, that's nonsense. We have supported the Senate Inquiry from day one and we have done nothing to undermine the process. I think it's unfortunate that Senator Chanona did not do her homework to find out that the House is in recess and had she done her homework she would have realized that she needs to wait till the House, that we finish the recess and then she could continue her work and she will continue to have our support."

Reporter: "Have you been briefed whether you will be called before the committee?"

John Briceno, Prime Minister "I have absolutely no idea." ]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70010 In terms of whether part of the forest will be de-reserved, the PM said that hasn't come to his desk as yet.

John Briceno, Prime Minister "I have not been briefed on that but we constantly, in the national security council meetings, we get briefs of incursion of Guatemalans in Belize and in many instances they are illegally cutting our trees. It is something that we have to handle delicately simply because of the agreement that we have through the OAS that we have to go through a lengthy process of having the OAS verifying whether they are within our land. What we have done at the last meeting in our frustration we have said that whenever the OAS has already identified a point to say that is Belize and anything that happens east of that is Belize you don't have to wait for the OAS to come in and verify that is why this time around we told the BDF go and break down those bridges that were built over some of the creeks and to be able to confiscate anything that we see beyond those points that have already been identified by the OAS as being within the country. We just need to continue at it, we can't stop. It's unfortunate that on the Guatemalan side the oligarchy has taken up pretty much all of the land and the poor people, the farmers, the people living in the poorer areas don't have land, they don't have access to land and on the other side, on the Belize side, they see this lush forest and they want to come in. We are going to do everything to protect our land. As to the de-reservation, it has not come to me as yet, certainly it's something that the Ministry of Sustainable Development would have to take a look and decide because from time to time there are areas that no longer need to be kept as a reserve and I remember in my time we'd de-reserve an area and reserve another area so we kinda keep the same amount of land, I think we did that with Payne's Creek National Park back then so it has not come to me yet but I'm certain that Minister Habet will inform me at the appropriate time if that's what they're planning to do." ]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70011 John Briceno, Prime Minister "That's a matter that's being handled by Minister Henry Charles Usher who is in charge of the Elections and Boundaries and I am sure that there is some legitimate reason why it has not gone to the National Assembly but I think he would be the best person to answer that question."

Courtney Menzies: "They say that they're planning an injunction if elections were to be called early before the redistricting process is completed, they are willing to file an injunction, will you fight against that?"

John Briceno, Prime Minister "As I will always say, it is a free country, it's a democratic country and it is within their right whether they want to take out an injunction or not."

Courtney Menzies: "But will you fight against it?"

John Briceno, Prime Minister "When that time comes we will decide what we will do."

The matter was set for a hearing in the High Court this week but it was adjourned. ]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70012 Yesterday Dr Osmond Martinez spoke about the finalized MCC grant of 250 million dollars. According to the PM, negotiations have been in the works for over two years, and all that's left now is for it to be ratified. Briceno told us how that money will be used.

John Briceno, Prime Minister "I think it's historic that it is our government that one year after we were in government, the United States government saw fit to sign a compact with Belize through the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the MCC, they look at the government, they look at what we're doing, they look at how we're handling the economy, the issues of the private sector, the issues of transparency and accountability, and they saw that we have been doing the right things and so since 2021, I think it was December 2021, we've been negotiating as to what it is that we want. We immediately said the two main things that we want to address is the issue of education and energy, we didn't have to go through no long process of consultations and that's what we did. The negotiations were finalized and it comes up to a total of $250M Belize, of which 80% is going to be invested in education and 20% into energy. Now that that has been finalized, it will go to the US congress for it to be ratified, and likewise it will go into our National Assembly for us to be able to ratify so I'm quite excited, I'm quite pleased and I want to put on record my appreciation to the US government, to President Biden and certainly Ambassador Kwan and all the people who have helped us to make this possible." ]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70013 But with an agreement signed, and relative calm prevailing, Briceno rescheduled his trip. He left Belize on April 17th, and during his visit with the Pope, presented him with a painting by Penn Cayetano.

Today he told us the experience was inexplicable.

John Briceno, Prime Minister "I wish I could find the words to describe meeting the Holy Father, Pope Francis. To me, it's one of the highlights in my life, to meet such a humble and holy man and we had an opportunity to be able to speak on a number of issues. I was fortunate that we had just a one on one and we had an interpreter but we spoke Spanish, he was happy that I could speak in Spanish with him and so we went beyond the time that was allotted to me and spoke about Belize, asking how is my family, my mother who was a very religious person in the Catholic faith and of course I asked him to pray for Belize, to pray for my family, to pray for all of us and I ended up by extended an invitation to visit Belize and I said by visiting Belize he could, there's a group of people from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador who will be able to come and see him and he said he would wish to come, hopefully someday he'll be able to come but we shall see. Now when I get back to the office, I do plan to write to thank him and also reminding him about the invitation that I extended him to come to visit Belize." ]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70014 Have you ever seen a standing garden? Plants shooting upright from a bunch of PVC pipes using the latest technology to code a watering system.

This contraption was designed by the students at ITZ'AT STEAM Academy who entered the Ministry Of Agriculture's School Garden Competition in partnership with the National Agriculture Trade Show. It took about 3 weeks to build and today the students showed us why they were recognized for their innovation, technology and regenerative design from a total of 12 schools.

Bryan Garcia, Student "The name of the project is a vertical garden. As you can see it is vertical like a skyscraper and what we had planted is a different variety of household items used mostly. Like tomatoes, cilantros and herbs and cucumbers so yes."

Reporter "Were there any challenges you guys faced in putting this together?"

Bryan Garcia, Student "Yes we did face many challenges to be honest, first we started by transplanting because some of the seeds did not grow and did die and some of them managed to survive. The pipe leaked sometimes but we managed to get the right size and manage to like you know. Also we didn't have water to put in here so we had to find a way to pump water through these pipes so water can come up here and go to the little plants so yes."

Jahzhia Morales, Student "So this is a micro bit and the coding software that we use is Microsoft make code and this took a while to code a day maybe to figure out all the elements."

Reporter "And what does it do."

Jahzhia Morales, Student "This detects the moisture of the soil so there is a little display at the front so if it doesn't detect any it will show zero and start beeping."

Their teacher says that due to the lack of space on campus to construct a normal garden, they had to get creative and do some research as to how they could make a vertical garden work.

Lionel Palacio, KLA Teacher, ITZ' AT STEAM Academy "We have about eight or 10 kids working on it. They came up with the design knowing that we did not have a lot of space on Campus and so we noticed that we had to go we have different concepts. This is almost the final part of it. We are still working on it into a larger scale and working on the technology aspect of it as well. The experience was really awesome having the kids build this and do the measurements and learning how it works putting it together maintaining the soil maintaining the plants and all of this it is the students work. Also Ms Jasmine mentioned she learned how to do the recording so it can detect when the system needs water. the system runs on its own. It is sustainable sustainable. It has a reservoir that pumps the water whenever it signals that it is getting dry or whenever there is a certain time of the day that it needs to be watered it works itself."

The School Garden Competition is part of the 2024 National Agriculture and Trade Show. Schools across Belize participated and in the Primary School Competition, San Victor R.C.S in the Corozal District won first place and San Antonio United Pentecostal in the Cayo District won second place. In the High School Competition, Valley of Peace SDA Academy in the Cayo district won first place and second place went to Belize High School of Agriculture from Trinidad Village in Orange Walk.

Additionally, two schools were recognized for Innovation, Technology and Regenerative Agriculture. The winning schools are Escuela Secundaria Tecnica México in the Corozal District and Itz'at Steam Academy from the Belize District.

]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70015 Well, a short while ago - his firm issued a release saying, quote, "It has been alleged by Mr. Dozie that he did not consent to the settlement agreement finally reached, leading to a complaint lodged with the GLC. It is important to clarify that the complaint pertains solely to the consent issue and not to any unwillingness to hand over funds, as erroneously suggested by certain media reports."

It continues, quote, "The GLC has determined that there was a breach of the Legal Profession Rules, based on their assessment that Mr. Dozie did not consent to the settlement. Mr Elrington maintains that while his office inadvertently failed to secure his consent in writing, Mr. Dozie, over a telephone conversation, verbally agreed to the terms. The GLC agreed with Dozie that proper consent was not obtained. While we may not fully agree with this decision, as officers of the court, we respect the authority of the General Legal Council. We intend to present our reasons to the GLC as to why we believe no sanctions are warranted in this case." ]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70016 It's a deep dive into the history of an organization with roots that predate the nationalist ear. Jomarie Lanza attended the launch and here's what she learned.

The idea for a historical text which details the work of the YWCA over the years first began in 2020. And now four years later, the publication of the story of the Young Women's Christian Association in Belize has finally launched. It is authored by Lawrence Vernon, a retired librarian who compiled the history on the Y and its accomplishments and progress since its inception in 1956.

Lawrence Vernon, Retired Librarian "I was approached by Ms Sonia Linarez three years ago wanting to document the history of the YWCA in Belize. And she said she had some archive all materials some files and what not that I can use in researching the history so she made those available to me and commissioned me to write the history of the YWCA. When I, as an author before, I was happy to do it and I like to see a librarian I like to see the literary input improved in Belize because it is very sparse. I think we need more people writing not only history but biographies and even short stories poems we need more literary people writing like that."

This project was made possible with support from the Ministry Of Human Development, whose minister spoke about how intrigued she was taken by the work of the Y.

Dolores Balderamos, Minister of Human development "I think all the respect goes to the ladies of the Y. You know we don't even say YWCA anymore because once you see the Y everybody knows what you are talking. And I just want to say what a pleasure it is to be here to support the presentation of this publication called Woman Empowered To Lead Change. It is a history of the YWCA from 1956 to 2020."

"I have read it cover to cover. I love the documentation. I love the history. I love the names that have been put there so that I can go. Oh, I know that person. Like Ms Norma Sutherland, Lady Middleton we know these people, and we know that these women have contributed greatly. I also noticed that when the Y first started in 1956 with the then and the first president The Y in Belize was a lady named Winnie Ward. I think she was a British lady because we were in colonial times at that time but starting with her and then moving onto our various presidents and leaders all the Y we have had a very good history. I noticed when they first started one of the programs that they had in addition to the embroidery and the needle work on that kind of thing they had something called Maltese work. I had to ask Ms Sonia what that was and she said something like embroidery, but at that time it was something that was popular. it is not as popular now, but it sent me into the dictionary to look up what it means. And you learn something new every day. And as Mr. Yasser Musa of NICH said it is good to hold a book in your hand."

]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70017 Dolores Balderamos, Minister of Human development "I have to agree that it has taken some time to be rolled out. I think the cabinet approved the pay scale is not just areas of pay for individuals but a pay scale raise because social workers of the ministry of human development have not received a scale increase since 2002. So I am so happy once again to be the minister of human development I was back in 98 to 2003 and we have not had a pay scale increase since then. so I am very humbled and proud that we put into place that pay scale raise now. The ministry of the public service has to do their adjustments Of those pay scales sometimes it takes longer than we expect, but I know it is coming on stream shortly. I would say within two months we should see the adjustment so that social workers can be granted the level of pay that other people get."

According to minister Balderamos Garcia, the ministry currently has six openings for social workers. ]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=70018 Searle was born in Wales, and came to Belize when he was 15 and was noted as a pioneer in the tourism and aviation industries. He founded Belize Global Travel Services and Belize Aero Dispatch. He was also a leading Rotarian and chaired various statutory boards.

His son John Searle told us that his father was in Belize a few weeks ago - and fell ill - which is when he was rushed to Texas for care. He said his father was, quote, "Born in wales but made in Belize."

John Michael Searle was 86.

]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000