Belize parliament a SOAP OPERA instead of tending to business and development.

WEEKLY HOUSE PARLIAMENT SITTING WAS USELESS FROM A NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT VIEWPOINT Oct. 21, 2011.

Well last Friday´s HOUSE sitting of the parliament was a completion for the Prime Minister in amending through a BILL that was passed, to legalize constitutionally, the EXPROPRIATION OF BTL, the telecommunications company. Which the courts rejected as to legality was my understanding, and he had to resort to FORCE and the POINT OF A GUN. While the new BILL and Amendment, covers the PRIME MINISTER´S illegal acts and satisfies him, the rest of us nationwide in the rural parts, are wondering when this UDP government are going to tend to the business of building our economy and nation?
I was looking for the reading of the approval of the by-laws for the Placentia town council, sitting in limbo by lazy politicians, which by-laws are reported to have been gathering dust on the limbo shelves, since 2003. Heaven only knows how many other local governments are waiting for the political cabinet and bureaucracy teams to do their jobs, for which they collect salaries. At any rate, nothing happened once again in the Friday, weekly sitting of Parliament.

Said Musa and Francis Fonseca did their jobs in OPPOSITION well and spoke out against the expropriation amendment, called Nationalization by the Prime Minister. I suppose there are legal reasons, this amateur does not understand, and consequences between labeling something Nationalization versus EXPROPRIATION? I was disappointed that neither Opposition member asked the Prime Minister; WHAT PROGRESS IS BEING MADE ON PASSING THE TOWN COUNCIL OF PLACENTIA BYLAWS? Or even asking how many other such communities are stagnating the same way, due to lack of work by our politicians and bureaucracy. Shameful thing this!

That said; there are two weeks left and two more Friday parliament meetings when the matter can be raised, at the end of which if nothing is done. We will deduct a monthly 5 points from their approval rating report card, for failure to earn their salaries.

INTERNET AND ELECTRICITY TOP THE PRIORITY LISTS TODAY, NOV. 2011 FOR BELIZE

In my view, the two top priorities are ELECTRICTY and INTERNET service for Belize. BOTH ARE SUBSTANDARD NATIONWIDE.

Priorities for infra-structure shift and change. Right now at the beginning of November, 2011, I would list ELECTRICITY and INTERNET service as the two most important DEVELOPMENT priorities for our government and nation.

Internet is probably the most important from an economic development viewpoint. Internet should be 12 megabyts for $25 usa per month, like in Iceland. The percentage of homes with internet being 14% the Prime Minister announced recently, was an outstanding condemnation shortfall, for years of trying to get internet for development of Belize. 14% is ridiculous. So are the current pricing structure, bandwidth and speed.
There are always excuses and in this case, the excuse is we were captive as a nation to privatized utility monopolies by foreign private sector owners. Now the government owns majority ownership, the situation is changed. It is probable, though not necessarily going to happen, but is also possible with majority ownership by the government of both electricity and internet capability, that dividends from profits can in LARGE PART, be reinvested as rapidly as possible, to bringing up both electricity supply and national grid capability as soon as possible.

From an economic export development viewpoint, I can think of no two more important priorities. There are others of course, but these are Number 1 and 2. Strangely enough, while internet should be No. 1 priority, it is actually electricity that has taken that position.

The reason of course is; without RELIABLE ELECTRICITY, internet is not possible. The astounding recent news that everything to do with BEL national grid service SOUTH of the Hummingbird GAP of the Maya Mountains is substandard and in half the cases non-existance, leaves us bewildered with disbelief. Our media have not been keeping abreast with things, or are so accustomed to accepting substandard services as normal, they have failed to do their job as media reporting watchdogs. The recent reports from Placentia and Banana country, that they suffer from electricity brownouts, surging voltages, amperage spikes burning out appliances and tools for business, brings back memories of 20 years ago in Cayo. The amateur opinion is that BEL, now it is a government controlled utility, need to plow profits back into infra-structure at an accelerated pace. Our population growth is going to increase the pressure on requirements such as jobs and economic and GDP growth. Transformers and more breakers in the national grid system has been suggested. In the case of the Toledo district, all those 30 or so communities without electricity up, need to be brought up to modern standards, need to get it, as fast as possible. These utilities create development. Without it you stay stuck in a time warp. Within 6 years, even if BEL were to bring up to standard of modern needs immediately, the demands of the future, will make such work, insufficient again, and you will have to tackle the problems all over again. Watched it happen on Caye Caulker and San Pedro and it does not take an academic degree to figure out the practicalities from historical experience.
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CONTRIBUTION FROM INNOVATE BELIZE

Ray,
Just saw your post "INTERNET AND ELECTRICITY TOP THE PRIORITY LISTS TODAY" and that
the percentage of homes with internet access is only 14%.

I think that a VERY cheap way to solve this the problem is for the gov to use some of the
light poles as WiMAX stations this way 1 mile or so radius around that pole would be
wifi enabled and would prob cost about $1000 a pole a year. From a technical point i can't see why
Belize cannot become one of the few countries that is 100% wifi enabled.

If Belize city and Belmopan become wifi cities then it would be easy to provide voip cellphone service etc.....

USA ARMY donates construction training programs to Belize.

*** Prime Minister Dean Barrow on left and USA Ambassador Vinai Thummalapally on right.
**USA Ambassador Vinai Thummalapally to Belize in 2011.

US ARMY combines training programs and aid to Belize. Last year, in 2010. Belize was recipient of $350,000 USA worth of construction aid. This coming year, for 2012. The USA Army training sections are going to construct a variety of projects to help the tiny country of Belize. The amount involved is calculated at $500,000 USA. The first one of several small projects will be a FAMILY CARE building for the Dorothy Menzies Child CARE CENTER in the port town of Belize City. Other projects will be a library and an office for the Las Flores School in the Western Cayo District. Also listed as construction training projects are bathrooms for the Hattieville Government School and the Belize Rural school. The Julian Cho School in Toledo will also get a recreation facility and auditorium. This latter school is a remote jungle location.
I´m not sure what happened to C.A.R.E in the USA and also A.I.D. ? But 50 or more years ago, I used to get assistance through these organizations from the USA. CARE worked on a supposedly individual donor basis and a donor bought and sent us a small portable generator, which was the first electricity EVER in the village of Caye Caulker, on the island by the Great Barrier Reef. Agency for International Development, I vividly remember issued each primary school in the country of Belize, with a GOLDEN BOOK CHILDRENS ENCYLOPEDIA set. Marvelous gifts at the time. AID sent me steadily a stream of books, on how to smoke fish, to gutting deer and other basic knowledge type things. I filled two suitcases with the information. Nowadays you can get this from the internet, but back then it was a miraculous fountain of knowledge from the USA, AID program. I very much in my old age, look back with fondness to this government USA Embassy intervention at that time. I would like to see all the schools once again, get a new set of GOLDEN CHILDRENS BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA SET. They were popular and very informative and educational at a time, when Belize had little or no books. Books are still scarce as the cost of a book, is equivalent locally to the ordinary persons WEEKS SALARY and thus unaffordable. I still solicit and collect for donation, from foreign volunteers, to our local library, used books, which are simply beyond the ability of the government, or individuals to buy. I´m selfish, as I get to read them first, so there is self interest at work here. ( grin ) Back 50 or more years ago, A pair of tennis shoes cost me $1.50 USA at Bata Shoe Store in the port town. It used to take me a 3 day trip there and back by sailboat. Money was scarce and we lived subsistance, by fishing and eventually I started a small tourist business. Even so, I had to SAVE and think carefully BEFORE I could afford the price of a post office STAMP, to put on an envelope, to send a request to some USA government institution like CARE, or AID, though they had offices locally, which made it easier in some cases. That STAMP was a big expense to me at the time. A difficult decision in money management and family budgeting. The ones I remember also with fondness was NOAA, and the Pascagoula FISHERIES Research Station in Mississippi, who answered me and sent me appropriate marine and sea creature pamplets. There was nothing available, or like it in the National Library Service of the port town in those days. I taught a lot of that sea marine creature stuff to the Standard primary school 5 and 6 classes in the island village back then. Much to the chagrin of the bureacrats. However, today, Caye Caulker my home village is still the richest village in Latin America.
Nowadays now, our friend the USA is bankrupt, it seems like all FOREIGN AID is funneled through justifying logistics and practical construction training, through military excercises? Shame that! They do what they can though, and it IS APPRECIATED. I remember the director of AID, he married a Belizean girl, who retired on Ambergris Caye and eventually died there. The CARE DIRECTOR married a Belizean gal also and was posted to AFRICA someplace and never heard any more about them. They were extremely NICE people and did their best in those jobs.
This new USA Ambassador, Vinai Thummalapally comes across in the news and by his actions as very nice man, in the same theme and character of those olden AID and CARE Directors I knew 50 or more years ago from the USA. One day, I´d like to meet him. I think I would like him very much.

BELIZE ZOO JAGUAR NOW SERVING US ZOO´S AS A STUD.

*** Pat the Cat, a Belize ZOO legal green card immigrant to the USA.


Pat the Cat, from the tiny BELIZE ZOO has successfully survived his trip to the USA and is now located in a US ZOO.

His job is to diversify the gene pool among ZOO JAGUARS in captivity in the USA.
This Jaguar who was captured in a trap in the wilds of Belize, was a problem Jaguar as he killed ranch cattle.

BELIZEANS BLACKLIST USA ON TWO COUNTS

BELIZEANS BLACKLIST USA, ON TWO COUNTS

1) Most importantly for bringing the plague of drug activity and addiction of many Belizeans to drugs that effect the quality of life. Belize between the South American drug growing countries and the USA, the major DEMAND based drug based culture, has caused local crime rates in Belize to spiral, due to the spillover effect of this USA illicit drug transportation importing activity. The USA needs to do more to get their illegal drug activity under control. The effects on Belize are very BAD. Compensation should be in the $1 billion a year range for the innocent, collateral damage to the small nation caused by USA illegal drug importation and consumption activities.

2) Item two for BLACKLISTING the USA: is the practice of deporting former Belizeans from the USA, who have been attending the CRIMINAL COLLEGES in the STATE and FEDERAL PRISON SYSTEMS IN THE USA. Particularly the importation into Belize the GANG EXPERIENCES and KNOWLEDGE of gang systems like the CRIPS & THE BLOODS. This has caused a distorted effect and destroyed the peace and quiet of sections of the small nation, with violence, robberies and murders, using criminal methods learned in the USA jail system. The USA should house ( cage them ) these violent individuals of Belizean immigrant status in the USA, or put them to death. But do not send them back to Belize. We do not want them! The lessons and culture they have learned is destroying our peaceful society.

CAMPAIGN FINANCING CONTROLS AND SYSTEMS IN BELIZE A SUBJECT OF INTENSIFED DEBATE.

*** PUP leader, Johnny Briceno resigns.
*** Mark Espat rejects PUP leadership, due to debts of the party.


PUP OPPOSITION PARTY IN BELIZE GOES THROUGH TURBALENT TIMES

Johnny Briceno has resigned as OPPOSITION party leader of the PUP. His replacement MARK ESPAT has also declined to take the position. The political party have $5 million in debts and Mark Espat PUP politician wants $8 million more to run the next two election campaigns for municipal elections coming up and also for NATIONAL ELECTIONS. Without which he declines to participate, other than as an AREA REPRESENTATIVE in his SAFE CONSTITUENCY.
In the meantime, Johnny Briceno hinted in a passionate speech that the previous PUP administration, leadership cabal, when in office had plundered and looted the PUP coffers and assets, sending the money to offshore SECRET personal bank accounts, leaving not only the country bankrupt, but also the PUP political party. ( Estimates range as high as $600 million USA. ) Much speculation and allegations being made in all the media, regarding the turn of events. As Johnny Briceno should know about those things, being a long term PUP insider. His public comments confirm the worst fears and suspicions of the voters of Belize.
In the meantime, MARK ESPAT is calling for CAMPAIGN REFORM LAWS. Which have been discussed on the Belize Culture debating listserve many times and just recently. It is envisaged that political campaigning should be ONLY done at the constituent level by those running for office and like Miami Dade County in Florida, that aspirants for political office be controlled strictly as to campaign financing laws and expenses.

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Previous article on the BLOG here.

Monday, October 10, 2011
NEW BELIZE CAMPAIGN ELECTIONEERING LAWS !
Johnny Briceno QUITS and resigns from LEADER OF THE PUP IN BELIZE!
His reasons were for his health. Both his mental health and financial health one presumes? He was using up too much of his personal cash reserves. ( A week later ( Oct. 12 ) it was being reported on the rumor mill, that he is suffering some kind of twitch, or paralysis on one side of his face and went to Mexico for a diagnosis. )
The PUP got themselves into a passel of financial worry through their own foolishness and also because “we have no laws in Belize covering Election campaign financing”.
I remember the time in Miami Dade County I myself, ran for City Council. I budgeted $400 and didn´t even spend it. I was literally educated by the COUNTY GOVERNMENT that they controlled ELECTIONS in the many cities of DADE COUNTY. I think there are about 24 cities with a total population of 4 million or so.
What I learned from that experience, is how little, or zero laws we have in Belize in comparison, for election campaigning. All candidates had to OPEN a bank account for campaign funds, in a BANK that the overall Supervising Authority in County Government dictated. You put your campaign funds in that BANK ACCOUNT. You had to make statements of net worth, income, etc. You had to keep strict bookkeeping records of money spent, how spent, and any money received as donations. You had to list the donors. If you spent money for vehicles, you had to list it, if you spent money for signs, you had to record it, if you paid temporary staff to go door to door, you had to record it. If you put posters up on telephone poles ( illegal ) you had to record it. You were expected to go DOOR TO DOOR to meet the voters who would vote for you. That is the way the elections were run, not like in Belize.
In Belize that are only 4000 voters per voting constituency, unless the Belize City CREOLE crowd cheat again, this coming NATIONAL CAMPAIGN in Belize? There were strict penalties, fines, and even jail sentences if the DADE County Government Election people took you to court for violations of the ELECTION REGULATIONS for campaigning. You had to submit your accounts to the CAMPAIGN AUTHORITY. Woe be too you, if you spent more money on something and an opposing candidate complained to the Authority. You would find yourself with the police at your door and going to court.
In Belize, DEAN BARROW is our Prime Minister. Yet Dean Barrow ONLY is voted into office as an area elected representative, by his constituency of 4000 voters in Belize. I do not get to vote him as Prime Minister and most everybody else in Belize are so denied that right. Because his mafia gang of opportunists and criminals anticipating wealth to be gained from our SPOILS SYSTEM, swear allegiance to him as MAFIA CHIEFTAN of their gang, vying for power to control the treasury of the country and all government institutions for their own benefit. Our PRIME MINISTER DEAN BARROW gets by default, as GANG CHIEFTAN to be PRIME MINISTER. He does not get elected as PRIME MINISTER by the nation as a whole, by majority vote. Only 4000 voters get to pick our PRIME MINISTER IN BELIZE. If you don´t think that is wrong, you are weird in my opinion. The QUEENS REPRESENTATIVE then appoints the winning mafia gang CHIEF, the Don of Don´s, of opportunists and criminals to be PRIME MINISTER. We the people, do not get to do that. It all depends on the number of seats among the ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES, which gang gets to control the country. Their gang chief becomes PRIME MINISTER automatically and usually controls the treasury and debts and revenues of the nation. Dean Barrow got to be Prime Minister by default. We the voters, the majority of which, DID NOT VOTE FOR HIM. Think about that for a bit. Dean Barrow does not represent YOU and ME out WEST here. We did not get to vote for him in a popular national election.
Adopting DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA regulations for campaign elections, Johnny Briceno would not have to worry about doing anything else, but financing his door to door campaign meeting the 4000 voters, about 500 houses of his constituency. Under the PUP system we inherited, he has to raise money to hire RENT A CROWDS, to cheer public meetings for all those running on his GANG ticket. He has to pay for chartered buses, bands and all that stuff. When if you ran the election like DADE COUNTY does, each man or woman on his or her own, has to finance and visit, the 500 houses in his electoral division to convince them to vote for him. Now if you want to pay for TV ads, or newspaper ads, which is not at all necessary, then your personal outlay of money goes up dramatically. The SPOILS SYSTEM means you plan to embezzle, take bribes and other nefarious things to pay for an expensive campaign in your electoral division. You can´t beat talking to people and shaking their hands. For 500 houses, that is not that much work in an electoral division, nor is it overly expensive. The way elections should be run in Belize.
As I say, I did not spend my $400 either, in my campaign run under campaign laws and regulations by a supervising election authority. We could make laws in Belize about campaigning and campaign financing. WHY NOT? Isn´t that building a democracy?
Posted by A Professional BEACH BUM retires! at 9:20 AM

HAMMOCK MAKING IN BELIZE ALPS MAYA MOUNTAINS

DEBATE IN WESTERN BELIZE ABOUT COTTAGE INDUSTRY POVERTY LEVEL ENTREPRENEURIAL BUSINESS START UP, PROBLEMS AND HOW THE GOVERNMENT REACTS TO ENCOURAGE, OR NOT ENCOURAGE SAME.


Why synthetic line? Because there are five factories in Guatemala City making synthetic type lines, in colors. ( Run by Koreans ) While there are no cotton line making factories. I really want nylon, but they don´t make nylon in Guatemala City either. Why Guatemala City, because it is the closest place with overnight shipping capabilities to Western Belize. I have and occasionally still do, get small amounts of stuff shipped to an agent in Melchor de Menchos. He receives and holds the stuff until I drive over and pick it up, and bring it through myself paying customs duties. For this I pay him a commission. What I want is to get my stuff delivered into Belize past the frontier - bypassing Melchor. Faster, more efficient and cheaper. I tried this already with latex paint. It failed.
I´m not sure if Glen missed the point, or I didn´t explain it enough? Hammock business is tight margins. It is also competitive. Since you plan to export the product, it becomes even more critical that you get the materials into Belize with minimum costs and problems at the Benque frontier. The government already does things like this. For instance duty free computers and there are other things. I´m not sure how such import lists work. I have an enquiry into Beltraide by email, and waiting on an answer. Right now hammocks made in Guatemala can be imported at $10 duties each. For export purposes and manufacturing in Belize as a cottage industry, that $10 is hopefully your margin for a profit. I´m to make a trip later this year to find out, the costs to do this, manufacturing in Belize, versus manufacturing by custom orders and exporting from either Guatemala, or Belize. It could be I can get them custom made for my market in the USA, done in Guatemala. Then it becomes a question of costs, for me to go and travel and pay hotels and meals to ship an order out of Guatemala, versus doing it out of Belize. Starting small scale, the margins become critical.
What should be the guiding role for customs and government, is the purpose. In this case the ability to boost the economy with jobs, even piece work jobs and cash flow, to raise poverty levels. There is an economic trickle effect. The import duty tax costs for materials to manufacture, for export, can make it impractical locally in Belize. The other solution is to simply do it in Guatemala and give them the jobs. You are always working against the margin costs.
We are working on it now. I have a meeting with this would be entrepreneur from Benque for Thursday and we will progress from there, or not. If it becomes more cost effective to do this in Guatemala, then it defeats the purpose or goal, of providing work for poverty level people here in Belize and transfers that economic impact to their society in Guatemala, rather than to Belize society. It is here the role of the Belize government becomes decisive.

From: Rendezvous
To: Lan Sluder
Cc: bz-culture@psg.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 1:19 AM
Subject: Re: Bz-Culture: hammock cottage industry out Western Belize - job making and material supply dilemmas.

I was going to write a piece exactly about what you expressed Lan.
The point is without a prouven committed entrepreneur mentor how can we reasonably expect the youth to succeed.?
Even,you are stuck in the supposed paperwork??
As an entrepreneur, when you identify a profitable idea/concept, that is but the start.
You're suggesting the leg work required isn't worth it.
Well then?

Best regards,Glenn Schwendinger
Rendezvous Restaurant & Winery
Conchpearls.net
Tel. 011-501-226-3426



----- Original Message -----
From: Lan Sluder
Cc: bz-culture@psg.com
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 8:19 AM
Subject: Re: Bz-Culture: hammock cottage industry out Western Belize - job making and material supply dilemmas.

Why synthetic? Why not natural materials like cotton? http://www.hammocks.com/cottonhammocks.cfm

On Tue, Oct 18, 2011 at 10:13 AM, Ray Auxillou wrote:

Got a young man in Benque has been contacting me several times about starting a hammock making cottage industry. Going to see if I can encourage him to be an entrepreneur. There are a number of business problems to solve. One is how to get synthetic string made in Guatemala City factories shipped across the border here by delivery trucks, and getting the material ( synthetic string ) in duty free. As the purpose is to make jobs for locals in a piece work cottage industry style. We are only talking 50 hammocks a month to start. So going through elaborate red tape government paperwork is out of the question. Too time consuming and labor expensive red tape is too much, for the size of the operation.

Anybody know how to resolve this dilemma? I presume you get your product material needed, on a customs list at the border, to let it come in duty free?