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Over time, both Barry Bowen and Michael Ashcroft have made no secret of their dislike for Manuel Esquivel’s style of Governance between 1993 and 1998 – and it’s also widely knows that they did all they could to get him ejected from office in 1998. But tonight those two – who are also two of the richest men to hold a Belizean passport – share a very high honour with Esquivel. What’s more Ashcroft, Bowen and Esquivel are now the only three Belizeans to share that honour.

Scratching your head? You should be because in the post colonial era – the abbreviation KCMG is slightly arcane. It means "Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George" and in Belize it is the most senior appointment in the queen’s honour system bestowed upon persons other than Belizean Governors-General. In plainest terms, it is a higher honor than a regular knighthood.

Lord Michael was appointed in the year two thousand, Sir Barry in 2008, and now Sir Manuel is the first KCMG to be appointed by the Barrow administration. He is appointed for services to political and good governance.

He is joined on the list of Queen’s New Years honours honor by an old Cabinet Colleague of his Henry Young who received the honour of CBE – Commander of the Brtish Empire. The OBE honors list includes Reverend Charles David Goff of the Methodist Church, and Romel Perdomo, while the MBE honors go to Eulogio Cano, Antonio Duncan McPherson, Kenneth Wilfred Morgan, known to radio listeners as DJ Morgan, Philip Norman Timmons and former UDP Area Representative Sam Rhaburn.