And while Governor General - the queen's representative in Belize - has decided to step down, the queen's husband, Prince Phillip passed away this morning.
And, on this side of the world, another Caribbean country faces a natural disaster with the eruption of the La Soufrière volcano.
Before the start of today's House meeting, the Speaker of the House, Valerie Woods, spoke on both matters.
The PM has also ordered that flags be flown at half mast in respect for Prince Phillip.
St. Vincent's Volcano Up Close
And while the Speaker acknowledged the dilemma of St Vincent and the Grenadines from inside the House chambers, KREM News got a chance to speak with someone living in the chaos. One resident, Deryn Taylor, who lives only ten miles from the volcano, shared his experience with having to evacuate his home and the witnessing the ash and soot erupting from the volcano. He expressed to Orson Picart his concerns for his island home.
Ras Head Burnt Out
There was a fire on Amara Avenue last night. A spark that flew into a blaze, burning down the home of iconic Belizean cartoonist George "Ras Head" Griffith.
And while you might not know him on-sight you've certainly his political cartoons, seen weekly in the Guardian and the Belize Times for decades.
"Ras Head" was woken up during the blaze by the burning of his own flesh. He had to flee from the fire via the house's only staircase and sustained further burns along the way.
And this morning standing in the shadow of a now destroyed home, he tried to give an interview to our cameras but, confronted by the magnitude of his loss and the pain of his wounds, he was just too overwhelmed.
PM Briceno Squarely Takes On the Pensions Problem
Turning back now to the Budget presentation - you've already heard the part about wage cuts. But, the PM also took on the other elephant in the WAGES AND EMOLUMENTS room - and that's non contributory pensions for the public service. He finally bit the bullett that generations of politicians have dodged: he said those pensions have to become contributory:
Hon. John Briceno- Prime Minister
"Noncontributory pension payments in the budget have neared $100 million for a single year. That level of spending is simply untenable. When we left office in 2008, the annual cost of pensions was $38 million. Today that has virtually tripled. Government must move now to transform the public pension scheme to a contributory structure, either standing on its own with payments from both employer and beneficiary, or a merger of the public pension program and the Social Security System."
His Excellency Haisam
And, also in his budget speech, the Prime Minister stressed that the ease of doing business in Belize has to be improved. Currently we are ranked at an abysmal 135th in the world.
Well, in his speech the PM said, government has to "fast-track the approvals for strategic investments, accelerate real estate-related processes, relax constraints for small and medium size business to operate, and pursue private/public partnerships where these can provide capital and know-how." End quote.
What he didn't say is that his close associate and advisor Haisam Diab has been named the ambassador of business and investments and he's in charge of getting this fats track going. We asked about thay:
Hon. Elvia, The Fifth Woman In House
AND, in what seemed to be the only grace note in a contentious day in the house - Elvia Vega SAMOS was swoon in as representative for Corozal Bay - replacing her brother, David Dido Vega who died in December.
She became the 5th woman in the house when she was worn in - she spoke to her supporters outside:
Ministry Investigates Vaccine Death
The Minister of Health has confirmed to our newsroom that the ministry of health is investigating after a man passed away hours after taking the Oxford/AstraZeneca Vaccine. The 53-year-old fisherman reportedly received his first shot yesterday in Belize City, and four hours later, he was dead. Minister Chebat told us that they are awaiting a post mortem to confirm the cause of death and whether he had any underlying conditions.
Up until Wednesday, 23,958 persons had gotten the vaccine, with 1,891 getting it on that day.
