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Jules Vasquez
"Are you able to give an accounting?"

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize
"Yes, man. We sold apart from the $50 million dollars worth bought by SSB, the good Belizean people, small man and small woman bought $4.5 million dollars worth. given the campaign against the sale we are absolutely pleased with that, there was a last minute flurry towards the close of the year, as a consequence as soon as we are able to number the share certificates and have them prepared so that all those who bought up to December 31 can come in and collect their share certificates. We will announce an extension of the offer for perhaps 45 days or so."

Jules Vasquez
"But no strategic investor at this time?"

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize
"No, we had a meeting with the Taiwanese, they sent a mission just before Christmas, and they have gone back to report. I have had a message sent me by a local business corporate interest that indicates that that interest would perhaps want to contemplate being the strategic investor, maybe in conjunction with a number of other business interests, but I am yet to discuss with the principal who is currently away."

New Chief Justice Soon to Be Decided

The Prime Minister also announced that the short list of applicants for the post of Chief Justice is now down to just 3. They are a candidate from Guyana, a Jamaican from new Zealand and an Australian living in the UK.

They were shortlisted by the advisory committee comprising bar president Jackie MArshalleck, Senior Counsel Derek Courtenay and Senior Counsel Michael Young.

Each candidate is being flown in to be interviewed - and the Prime Minister discussed the timeline for his installation..

PM: royal Family Campaign "In Poor Taste"

And finally, we also asked the Prime Minister about those Royal Family ads that you've seen on this newscast and the billboards that you've seen all over.

It's a part of the PUP's new campaign against the PM - and he said that he finds it in poor taste:..

Jules Vasquez
"How do you feel about the royal family ad campaign that.. I know you have to pass it every day on the Western Highway, it's on TV."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize
"I think it's distasteful but I don't think its effective, You can't get less royal than I at least in terms of behavior, in terms of interaction, in terms of my grounding with the masses. The question of including my wife and my ex-wife makes me think of how absolutely honorable we were in not having try to do any such thing in terms of the past government and the past prime minister when his particular circumstances would have factually and legitimately lent themselves to that kind of attack but we are not like them thank God, I don't want to sound like a Pharisee but we are different, we don't sink that low."





Okeke Juices Up Market

By default most of us end up consuming soft drinks with our meals or as a refresher. But one businessman hopes to change that, or at least adjust Belizeans' drinking habits. He's set up a chain of juice stalls that feature a variety of fresh juices always ready and affordable. Now making juice is nothing new, but Seteven Okeke is mass producing and distributing them.

Today Seven News stopped by Joy fresh juices -headquarters on cemetery road, to find out the secret to his success.

Steven Okeke - Business Owner
"The secret is that we have a signature and we are not actually selling juices, we are selling a service, we are selling a special service and the service that meet a fair need."

Those were the words of Steven Okeke, when we asked him what was the secret behind his success of his freshly made juices.

Steven Okeke - Business Owner
"To start a business like this you have to understand it, don't jus come one day and study business. It's something we have research for over 5 years, trying to find out not just how to start a good business but small business that you can start in Belize even though people say that things are out of control and you can't o anything in Belize, small business you can start n Belize and make them succeed. Of course they have to be unique but also the product has to be affordable."

The different types of juices sold varies from - lime, orange, cantaloupe, strawberry banana and watermelon. 600 hundred cups of juices are the minimum made a day.

Steven Okeke - Business Owner
"We are living in a tropical region, we are surrounded by tropical rain forest and we have natural fruits, so many things natural and we are constrained consistently to drink carbonated drinks and you can see a broad array of Belizeans who is saying cant we get something else. Sometimes you have those who produce fresh juices but if you look closely also you find out the hygiene around those areas and things that you don't want to go around. So we thought why not do something that would be affordable but also appeal to those our corporate friends who are more concern about hygiene and quality than about price. They are ready to pay premium for something that is good, so we decided to produce something that is good, with good planning, execute it very well and make the price so affordable that both our corporate friends are proud to come and buy and our ordinary friends are proud to come and buy too."

For a business whose worth, according to Okeke is some 2 hundred thousand dollars, he plans to pass it on to some lucky Belizean.

Steven Okeke - Business Owner
"It's not because I am making money that I have to expand, it is because the service is needed, once a service is needed and I expand, eventually we will make money so we expanded to down town, we have it in Pound Yard, we have it on Freetown Road because the customers are saying that if it closer to here, we will buy more. We find money, we invest the money. Were we go from here is that the business is expanding very much and it's time for me to do what I usually do and to give another Belizean the opportunity, one lucky or a group of Belizeans the opportunity to acquire success, that is what I have done with the other business that I have done and that is what I called acquired enterprise."

So far Okeke has opened three other juice outlets in the city on Freetown Road, Bishop Street and near the Pound Yard bridge.