And turning now to today's Senate meeting. It was convened primarily to bring back the Non Profit Organizations bill that the government was forced to pull back at the last sitting when the civil society representatives jumped up in disapproval.
The Bill is part of government's international obligation to meet recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force to address a perceived risk of terrorism financing in Belize via NPO's.
The NGO and NPO community said government did not consult - and the churches expressed some of the strongest opposition.
So, government was forced to wheel and come again - after rigorous consultation. The bill was brought back to the Senate today where the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance detailed the extensive amendments to the bill - and the civil society senators nodded their slightly grudging approval:
And while Senator Courtenay stressed that the sky was not falling, Senator Elena Smith said that even small fund school raisers such as "rags day" can stand to be affected by the new legislation:
