First, we start with the mayor. She may be a lame duck politician who was basically railroaded out of politics by her own PUP party - but Belmopan's Sheran Palacio sent the Ministry of Local Government a letter yesterday telling them that she's going to COP28 in Dubai from November 30-December 6th and she's appointing councillor Hope Amadi as Acting Mayor, while her brother, Dr. Ludwig Palacio, quote, "will act on behalf of the City Administrator."

Well, the Ministry of Local Government didn't take too well to her appointment. A scolding press release this evening says, quote, "the mayor has no power to appoint an acting mayor. Based on Section 10(2) of the Belmopan City Council Act, Councillor Sanie Cal is the duly elected Deputy Mayor of the Council."end quote. The release makes it clear that Cal will act during the mayor's "leave of absence". We should note Cal was elected as Deputy for a six month term in March of this year.

And just in case she didn't get the message loud and clear, the release then says, "Any purported appointment of any councillor outside of the provisions of the Belmopan City Council Act is null and void. Accordingly, the department has duly notified Mayor Sheran Palacio and acting City Administrator Dr. Ludwig Palacio.

And as one last little dig at its own mayor, the release says, quote, "The Department of Local Government anticipates that the administration and management of the Belmopan City Council shall be guided by the effective leadership and direction of Deputy Mayor Sanie Cal during this interim period." We did ask Mayor Palacio for a comment an hour ago and she said, "I find their press release to be most disrespectful." She had just arrived in Dubai and said she will be talking to us later.