Said Musa
Said Wilbert Musa is a Belizean lawyer and politician. He was the Prime Minister of Belize from 28 August 1998 to 8 February 2008. Said Wilbert Musa was born in 1944 in San Ignacio in the Cayo District of what was British Honduras, he was the fourth of eight children by Aurora Musa, née Gibbs, Hamid Musa of Palestinian descent. Hamid Musa was involved in politics, running for the British Honduras Legislative Assembly as a National Party candidate in the 1957 general elections; as a boy, Musa attended Saint Andrew's Primary School in San Ignacio. He attended high school at St. Michael's College in Belize City and St. John's College Sixth Form. While living in Belize City, Said Musa aided his parents by selling tamales and other Belizean delicacies. After completing secondary school he studied law at the University of Manchester in England, receiving an Honours Degree in Law in 1966, qualified as a barrister at Gray's Inn, he returned to Belize the following year, serving as crown counsel and going into private practice.
Said Musa has contributed to law in Belize by representing thousands of underprivileged and poor individuals who come into contact with the law. Musa first came to notoriety in the late 1960s when he co-founded the Ad Hoc Committee for the Truth About Vietnam with Assad Shoman to protest the Vietnam War in British Honduras. On 1 January 1969 the group protested a showing of the American film The Green Berets in Belize City, which it characterized as pro-war propaganda. Musa joined the People's United Party under George Cadle Price in 1970, he soon was elected became a leader of the party's socialist wing in 1974. He ran for the Belize House of Representatives for the first time in 1974 in the eastern Belize City-based Fort George constituency, but was narrowly defeated by United Democratic Party and Opposition Leader Dean Lindo by 46 votes. Musa was appointed to the Belize Senate for the ensuing term, until 1979. Musa was successful in the next general election, held in 1979, winning the Fort George seat and defeating Lindo by a margin of 71 votes.
Musa served as Attorney General and Minister for Economic Development in the 1979–1984 Price-led government. Musa served on the committee that wrote the 1981 Constitution of Belize. Musa defended Belize's large national debt incurred in the 1980s, by saying Keynesian economics was being used: "The economy was in a deep recession, the country was broke therefore it had to get the private sector moving again; the country started a major expansionary program... to pay for the program we took on a lot of debt."In the 1984 election, Musa was defeated for re-election by Lindo, losing by a margin of 57 votes this time. He regained the Fort George seat in the 1989 election, he has won the Fort George constituency in every election since. Under Price, Musa was Minister of Foreign Affairs and Education from 1989 to 1993; as of July 2016 Musa has contested 10 consecutive general elections in Fort George and has continuously served as his party's standard bearer in the same constituency for over 40 years, longer than anyone else in Belizean history..
He trails only Price and Philip Goldson in total time served in the Belize House. Musa is the only current Area Representative to serve in the Belize House before the country's full independence from Great Britain in September 1981. Musa was elected and took over leadership of the PUP upon Price's retirement from party leadership in 1996, defeating Price's longtime lieutenant Florencio Marin in the leadership election in 1996. Musa led the PUP to landslide election victories in 1998 and 2003. Musa led Belize to significant growth over his near-decade long term in office, but his popularity declined during his last years in office due in part to increasing public perception of corruption among his Cabinet and within his party, he was accused of abandoning his previous socialist stances in favour of neoliberal policies as prime minister. Outside of Belize Musa chaired several regional organisations, including CARICOM and the Central American Integration System. Musa again led the PUP in the election held on 7 February 2008, but the PUP suffered a severe defeat at the hands of the UDP, led by Dean Barrow winning only six out of 31 seats.
Musa himself was re-elected in the Fort George constituency. UDP leader Dean Barrow succeeded Musa and was sworn in as 4th prime minister of Belize by Governor-General of Belize, Colville Young on 8 February 2008. On the day of the 2008 election, Musa stated. After the PUP's defeat, he congratulated Barrow, he considered the opposition's focus on allegations of corruption and negativity from the media to be primary factors in the defeat. On 13 February 2008, Musa announced that he was stepping down as party leader so that the PUP could "renew itself from the top." The PUP held a convention on 30 March 2008 to select his successor, Johnny Briceño was elected as PUP leader against Francis Fonseca. A leadership election was held in October 2011 again. Briceño was replaced by Francis Fonseca in October 2011. Five months the Fonseca-led PUP suffered a narrow defeat to the UDP, winning 14 of 31 seats in the Belize House of Representatives. Musa was comfortably re-elected in his Fort George constituency and remains the senior member and shadow Senior Minister of the PUP caucus and in the Shadow Cabinet, formed first in 2012 and again in 2015.
The current Shadow Cabinet of Francis Fonseca will be dissolved before the Next Belizean general election, scheduled for 13 February 2020. In 2015 the 71-year-old Musa
Belize City
Belize City is the largest city in Belize and was once the capital of the former British Honduras. According to the 2010 census, Belize City has a population of 57,169 people in 16,162 households, it is at the mouth of the Haulover Creek, a tributary of the Belize River. The Belize River empties into the Caribbean Sea five miles from Belize City on the Philip Goldson Highway on the coast of the Caribbean; the city is the country's principal port and its financial and industrial hub. Cruise ships drop anchor outside the port and are tendered by local citizens; the city was entirely destroyed in 1961 when Hurricane Hattie swept ashore on October 31. It was the capital of British Honduras until the government was moved to the new capital of Belmopan in 1970. Belize City was founded as "Belize Town" in 1638 by English lumber harvesters, it had been a small Maya city called Holzuz. Belize Town was ideal for the English as a central post because it was on the sea and a natural outlet for local rivers and creeks down which the British shipped logwood and mahogany.
Belize Town became the home of the thousands of African slaves brought in by the English to toil in the forest industry. It was the coordination site for the 1798 Battle of St. George's Caye, won by the British against would-be invaders, the home of the local courts and government officials up to the 1970s. For this reason, historians say that "the capital was the colony", because the center of British control was here; this sentiment remains true today. Though people like Antonio Soberanis, George Price and Evan X Hyde all lobbied to take their movements outside, other ethnic groups such as the Garifuna and Mestizos sprang up elsewhere in the country, people looked to Belize Town for guidance. Belize City has been directly struck by two hurricanes since 1900, the 1931 hurricane and 1961's Hurricane Hattie, at various times areas of the city have burnt down, the most recent being the 1999 Albert Street fire that burnt out Mikado's, a 2004 fire that destroyed the Paslow Building; the city was hit hard by Hurricane Richard in 2010 and by the 2016 Hurricane Earl.
Fires on Northside and Southside have burnt out great stretches of housing, but the fire department was able to quench most of these. The city is susceptible to flooding in the rainy season. Belize City spreads out Mile 6 on the Western Highway and Mile 5 on the Northern Highway, at the Haulover Bridge; the city proper is divided into two areas: Northside, bounded by Haulover Creek and ending in the east at the Fort George area, Southside, extending to the outskirts of the city and the port area including downtown. Politically, it is divided into ten constituencies. Freetown, the westernmost constituency on Northside, is home to the Belama, Coral Grove, Buttonwood Bay and Vista Del Mar suburbs. Within the city proper it extends up to around the former Belize Technical College area. Caribbean Shores includes Kings' Park, a small suburb north and west of Freetown Road, West Landivar, home to two of the University of Belize's three city campuses, residential University Heights. Pickstock inhabits the banks of the Haulover Creek extending to Barrack Road.
St. John's Cathedral stands on the southern end of Albert Street. St. John's is the oldest Anglican Church in Central America, one of the oldest buildings in Belize; the orange bricks came to Belize aboard British ships as ballast. Construction began in 1812, the church was completed in 1820. St. John's is the only Anglican cathedral in the world outside England where the crowning of kings took place. Fort George is the most colonial area in the city and contains Memorial Park, the Baron Bliss Grave and Baron Bliss Lighthouse and the Museum of Belize. On the Southside, Lake Independence and Port Loyola are home to some of the city's poorest residents. "London bridges", rickety wooden pallets linking dwellings, low-strung poles are not uncommon here. On the east side of Central American Boulevard are Mesopotamia, Queen's Square and Albert, which are better. Albert contains the downtown streets of Albert and Regent Streets; the divisions of the city are linked by four bridges: the Swing Bridge, at Market Square and North Front Street.
Numerous smaller bridges link individual streets. The three main canals running in Belize City, are Haulover Creek, Burdon Canal and Collet Canal. All of them run through Southside; the city is served by Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport, in Ladyville, northwest of Belize City, by Belize City Municipal Airport, within the city itself. Belize City features a tropical monsoon climate, with warm and humid conditions throughout the course of the year; the city has a lengthy wet season that runs from May through January and a short dry season covering the remaining three months. However, as is the characteristic of several cities with tropical monsoon climates, Belize City sees some precipitation during its dry season. March is Belize City's driest month with only 48 mm of precipitation observed, a somewhat unusual month for a city with this climate type; the driest month for a city with a tropical monsoon climate is the month after the winter solstice, which in Belize City would be January.
Average monthly temperatures remain constant throughout the course of the year, ranging from 23 °C to 28 °C. B
Belize
Belize is a country located on the eastern coast of Central America. Belize is bordered on the northwest by Mexico, on the east by the Caribbean Sea, on the south and west by Guatemala, it has an area of 22,970 square kilometres and a population of 387,879. Its mainland is 68 mi wide, it has the lowest population density in Central America. The country's population growth rate of 1.87% per year is the second highest in the region and one of the highest in the Western Hemisphere. The Mayan civilization spread into the area of Belize between 1500 B. C. and 300 A. D. and flourished until about 1200. European exploration campaigns began in 1502 when Christopher Columbus sailed along the Gulf of Honduras. European settlement was begun by English settlers in 1638; this period was marked by Spain and Britain both laying claim to the land until Britain defeated the Spanish in the Battle of St. George's Caye, it became a British colony in 1840, known as British Honduras, a Crown colony in 1862. Independence was achieved from the United Kingdom on 21 September 1981.
Belize has a diverse society, composed of many cultures and languages that reflect its rich history. English is the official language of Belize. Over half the population is multilingual, with Spanish being the second most common spoken language, it is known for its extensive barrier reef coral reefs and punta music. Belize's abundance of terrestrial and marine species and its diversity of ecosystems give it a key place in the globally significant Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, it is considered a Central American and Caribbean nation with strong ties to both the American and Caribbean regions. It is a member of the Caribbean Community, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the Central American Integration System, the only country to hold full membership in all three regional organisations. Belize is a Commonwealth realm, with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state; the earliest known record of the name "Belize" appears in the journal of the Dominican priest Fray José Delgado, dating to 1677.
Delgado recorded the names of three major rivers that he crossed while travelling north along the Caribbean coast: Rio Soyte, Rio Xibum and Rio Balis. The names of these waterways, which correspond to the Sittee River, Sibun River and Belize River, were provided to Delgado by his translator, it is that Delgado's "Balis" was the Mayan word belix, meaning "muddy-watered". Some have suggested that the name derives from a Spanish pronunciation of the name of the Scottish buccaneer Peter Wallace, who established a settlement at the mouth of the Belize River in 1638. There is no proof that Wallace settled in this area and some scholars have characterized this claim as a myth. Writers and historians have suggested several other possible etymologies, including postulated French and African origins; the Maya civilization emerged at least three millennia ago in the lowland area of the Yucatán Peninsula and the highlands to the south, in the area of present-day southeastern Mexico, Belize and western Honduras.
Many aspects of this culture persist in the area despite nearly 500 years of European domination. Prior to about 2500 BC, some hunting and foraging bands settled in small farming villages. A profusion of languages and subcultures developed within the Maya core culture. Between about 2500 BC and 250 AD, the basic institutions of Maya civilization emerged; the peak of this civilization occurred during the classic period, which began about 250 AD. The Maya civilization spread across what is now Belize around 1500 BC, flourished there until about AD 900; the recorded history of the middle and southern regions is dominated by Caracol, an urban political centre that may have supported over 140,000 people. North of the Maya Mountains, the most important political centre was Lamanai. In the late Classic Era of Maya civilisation, as many as one million people may have lived in the area, now Belize; when Spanish explorers arrived in the 16th century, the area, now Belize included three distinct Maya territories: Chetumal province, which encompassed the area around Corozal Bay.
Spanish conquistadors explored the land and declared it a Spanish colony but chose not to settle and develop because of its lack of resources and the hostile Indian tribes of the Yucatán. English and Scottish settlers and pirates known as the Baymen entered the area from the 17th century, with Baymen first settling on the coast of what is now Belize in 1638, seeking a sheltered region from which they could attack Spanish ships; the settlers established a trade colony and port in what became the Belize District, during the 18th century, established a system using black slaves to cut logwood trees. This yielded a valuable fixing agent for clothing dyes, was one of the first ways to achieve a fast black before the advent of artificial dyes; the Spanish granted the British settlers the right to occupy the area and cut logwood in exchange for their help suppressing piracy. The British first appointed a superintendent over the Belize area in 1786. Before the British government had not recognized the settlement as a colony for fear of provoking a Spanish attack.
The delay in governm
United Democratic Party (Belize)
The United Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in Belize. It is the ruling party, having won 2012 and 2015 general elections. A centre-right conservative party, the UDP is led by Prime Minister of Belize Dean Barrow. In 1973 political opposition in Belize was weak and the ruling People's United Party had never lost a legislative election since its foundation; the main opposition parties, the National Independence Party and the People's Development Movement met together with a new Liberal Party to consider forming an alliance to fight the PUP. The resulting merger formed the United Democratic Party on 27 September 1973. Controversially, a significant portion of the United Black Association for Development voted to join the UDP upon foundation; the UDP's first electoral test was the 1974 general election in which it fielded candidates nationwide except in Corozal District, where it supported candidates from the Corozal United Front. It won six seats, was within 18 votes of winning three more.
Former People's Development Movement head. The party had success in municipal elections during the 1970s, but failed to defeat the PUP in the 1979 general elections, its representation in the House of Representatives dropped to five seats and party leader Lindo lost his seat to Said Musa and was replaced as leader by Theodore Aranda. Despite internal divisions, the party retained control of three towns in the December 1981 municipal elections In late 1982 Aranda was removed as party leader and replaced by Curl Thompson, who in turn was replaced by former Liberal Party leader Manuel Esquivel following a convention. In December 1983 the UDP won Belize City Council elections and the following year they were victorious in the general elections, winning 21 of the 28 seats. However, they lost power in the 1989 elections, winning 13 seats to the PUP's 15. For the 1993 elections the party formed an alliance with the National Alliance for Belizean Rights; the alliance won 16 of the 29 seats, with the UDP taking fifteen.
However, they were soundly defeated in the 1998 elections as the PUP won 26 of the 29 seats, after which Esquivel was replaced by Barrow as party leader. The PUP remained in power following the 2003 elections. After ten years in opposition, the UDP won the 2008 general elections. Dean Lindo Theodore Aranda Curl Thompson Manuel Esquivel Dean Barrow Official website The Guardian Party newspaper
Toledo District
Toledo District is the southernmost district in Belize, Punta Gorda is the District capital. It is the least developed region in the country, it features some of the most pristine rainforests, extensive cave networks, coastal lowland plains, offshore cays. Toledo is home to a wide range of cultures: Mopan and Kekchi Maya, the Garifuna, East Indians, Mennonites and descendants of US Confederate settlers; the District has many villages, including Monkey River Town and the Toledo Settlement. It has a number of Maya ruins, including Lubaantun, Nim Li Punit and Pusilha. According to the 2010 census, Toledo District had a population of 30,538 people; the economy of Toledo relies upon agriculture: crops grown include beans and corn, as well as rice, sold to the Big Falls Rice Mill. Cacao is grown organically and sold via the Toledo Cacao Growers Association to Green & Black's for their renowned Maya Gold chocolate, as well as to chocolatiers within Belize; the District's ancient and modern-day links with chocolate are celebrated annually in May at the Toledo Cacao Festival.
Farmers grow additional crops such as coffee, sweet potato, hot chili peppers, avocado and plantain for sale at the market in Punta Gorda, held each Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Fishermen practice small-scale fishing from their dug-out canoes, as well as diving for lobster and conch during open season; the Port Honduras Marine Reserve just north of Punta Gorda Town is a protected area, Toledo's waters are regarded as the permit capital of Belize. Many traditional fishermen have now trained as fly-fishing guides through the alternative livelihood projects offered by local conservation groups. Tourism is an important, new, industry for Toledo. Once regarded as an area only for the hardy and adventurous, the opening of new tourist accommodation and the development of tours, as well as a growing awareness of the district's high proportion of protected areas, excellent birding and the offshore cayes, have resulted in Toledo being recognized as an important ‘emerging destination’; the Toledo District is served by the newly paved Southern Highway, as well as several bush roads to the many rural villages in the District.
A regular bus service is provided by Punta Gorda-based James Bus Line, shuttling passengers between the other districts Punta Gorda Town is served by several daily commuter flights on Tropic Air and Maya Island Air and small, family run bus services that transport passengers to and from the rural villages. Each year, during the Commonwealth Day weekend, Toledo hosts the Chocolate Festival of Belize; the festival features chocolatiers from across the country as well as chocolate-related arts and crafts. According to the project coordinator for the Toledo Cacao Growers Association Thomas Tillett, the Association has a membership of about 1,100 cacao farmers. Several significant ancient Mayan sites are extant in ruined form in the Toledo District. Nim Li Punit is a Classic Period Mayan site with ballcourts and carved stelae. Lubaantun is a drystone constructed site with ruined pyramids and stone tombs. Cristina Coc, Maya community leader Juan Coy, politician Eden Martinez, politician The Forgotten District, a documentary film about ecotourism in Toledo Official website - with maps and area attractions Toledo District at belize.fm The Toledo Howler - quarterly newspaper published by the BTIA Toledo Chapter How to Cook a Tapir - a Belize memoir, documenting the author's year-long working honeymoon in the Toledo District Treehouse Perspectives - Living High on Little - the story of the Salisbury family's move and new life in Punta Gorda Governmental influence on ecotourism in Toledo - Influence or interference
Public works
Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects and constructed by the government, for recreational and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings, transport infrastructure, public spaces, public services, other long-term, physical assets and facilities. Though interchangeable with public infrastructure and public capital, public works does not carry an economic component, thereby being a broader term. Public works has been encouraged since antiquity. For example, the Roman emperor Nero encouraged the construction of various infrastructure projects during widespread deflation. Public works is a multi-dimensional concept in economics and politics, touching on multiple arenas including: recreation, economy and neighborhood, it represents any constructed object that augments a nation's physical infrastructure. Municipal infrastructure, urban infrastructure, rural development represent the same concept but imply either large cities or developing nations' concerns respectively.
The terms public infrastructure or critical infrastructure are at times used interchangeably. However, critical infrastructure includes public works as well as facilities like hospitals and telecommunications systems and views them from a national security viewpoint and the impact on the community that the loss of such facilities would entail. Furthermore, the term public works has been expanded to include digital public infrastructure projects; the first nationwide digital public works project is an effort to create an open source software platform for e-voting. Reflecting increased concern with sustainability, urban ecology and quality of life, efforts to move towards sustainable municipal infrastructure are common in developed nations in European Union and Canada. A public employment programme' or'public works programme' is the provision of employment by the creation of predominantly public goods at a prescribed wage for those unable to find alternative employment; this functions as a form of social safety net.
PWPs are activities which entail the payment of a wage by an Agent. One particular form of public works, that of offering a short-term period of employment, has come to dominate practice in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa. Applied in the short term, this is appropriate as a response to transient shocks and acute labour market crises. Investing in public works projects in order to stimulate the general economy has been a popular policy measure since the economic crisis of the 1930s. More recent examples are the 2008–2009 Chinese economic stimulus program, the 2008 European Union stimulus plan, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. While it is argued that capital investment in public works can be used to reduce unemployment, opponents of internal improvement programs argue that such projects should be undertaken by the private sector, not the public sector, because public works projects are characteristic of socialism. However, in the private sector, entrepreneurs bear their own losses and so private sector firms are unwilling to undertake projects that could result in losses or would not develop a revenue stream.
Governments will invest in public works because of the overall benefit to society when there is a lack of private sector benefit or the risk is too great for a private company to accept on its own. According to research conducted at the Aalborg University, 86% of public works projects end up with cost overruns; some unexpected findings of the research were that: Technically difficult projects were not more to exceed the budget than less difficult projects Projects in which more people were directly and indirectly affected by the project turned out to be more susceptible to cost overruns Project managers did not learn from similar projects attempted in the pastGenerally contracts awarded by public tenders will include a provision for unexpected expenses, that amount to 10% of the value of the contract. This money is only spent during the course of the project if the construction managers judge that it is necessary, the expenditure must be justified in writing. Contingencies fund an economic discussion.
Madaket Ditch, one of the first public works projects in AmericaIndividual programs: Egyptian Public Works New Deal, USA, 1930s Opera Publica Public Works Administration, part of the New Deal in 1930s The dictionary definition of public works at Wiktionary American Public Works Association - Professional society
Wilfred Elrington
Wilfred Peter "Sedi" Elrington is a Belizean politician, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belize since 2008. Wilfred Elrington read law at the University of the West Indies, he is the only Belizean who has served in the executive, the legislative and the judicial arms of government, having served as a part-time judge of the Supreme Court of Belize. Wilfred Elrington was the Attorney-General of Belize and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade from February 12, 2008 to 2010. A reshuffle of the Cabinet in 2010 left him with just Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. In 2012 he was again made the Attorney General of Belize, he remains the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 2009, he managed to turn Guatemala's long-time ally Israel into a partner of Belize; as foreign minister under Dean Barrow, Wilfred Elrington is noted for his conciliatory tone regarding the Belizean–Guatemalan territorial dispute, a stance which has become controversial in Belize in light of 2015 Guatemalan presidential candidate Jimmy Morales' comments on the issue, which are decidedly pro-Belize annexation.
Sandra Jovel became Guatemala's minister of foreign affairs in August 2017, gained Wilfred Elrington's esteem and respect. In July 2017, as shareholder of the company Progresso Heights Limited, Wilfred Elrington was taken to court to clarify many transfers of lands where proof of initial ownership cannot be demonstrated. In August 217, he was ordered by the court to provide all documentation related to this affair; that same month, he was part of a delegation representing the Caribbean countries to meet with representatives of the US president Donald Trump. In January 2018, Wilfred Elrington expressed his surprise when the USA announced it was temporarily stopping to issue temporary work visa programme for Belizeans, on the basis that the country is not doing enough to do more in preventing human trafficking. Wilfred Elrington ran as the UDP candidate for the Belize City-based Pickstock constituency in 1993 and 1998, but was defeated both times by former PUP Prime Minister George Cadle Price.
Price retired from the Belize House in 2003. That year Elrington ran for the Pickstock seat as an independent, but finished second to the PUP's Godfrey Smith. Returning to the UDP, Wilfred Elrington contested the Pickstock seat a fourth consecutive time in 2008 and prevailed, defeating Smith by a 56-42 margin, he was re-elected in 2012. Wilfred Elrington has four children, his brother, former UDP Area Representative Hubert Elrington served as the attorney general for Belize. List of foreign ministers in 2017 List of current foreign ministers
