If Da Noh Soh!

Christmas at the Barrows…

Damn but this was a dismal Christmas. Some say it’s the worst Christmas they’ve ever seen, with poor Belizeans struggling to put food on the table. All we can do is hope for better this year though all predictions are that things will get worse. This columnist may have been on a much needed break over the holidays, but I still managed to keep his ears on the ground to get the latest shush around town. In honour of the yuletide season, though, I’ll start with some shush from out of town, Miami to be exact. First Lady second wife Kim ‘mi bally’ Simplis apparently has adjusted to the lap of luxury in royal style. Inadvertent eavesdroppers have reported that the cover girl was heard bragging to friends that she did all her Christmas shopping in Miami, and spent a little over US$100,000 for presents to keep the season oh so jolly. Ouch! That’s a slap in the face of us ‘common’ people who had to make do with the basics or less cause Kim’s hubby is an incompetent moron…but anyway, such is life. Methinks that the first lady second wife wouldn’t be bragging quite so smugly if she knew how much the first wife second lady spent on her Christmas shopping…If Da Noh Soh!

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Highly paid PR Consultant…

Who seh KHMH bruk? Apparently indications that the nation’s largest referral hospital is operating on a tight budget are all completely false. I guess the scarcity of basic medicines and lack of medical equipment, not to mention the dilapidated state of the equipment which is available, must be a figment of the imagination as well. See, word has reached this columnist that the recently hired PR Consultant, UDP supporter Brenda Stuart, is receiving a hefty $1,000 a week plus telephone allowance. It’s bad enough that the embattled KHMH is paying out so hefty a sum on a PR consultant when Belizeans cannot access the quality of care they deserve, but the thing is that Stuart actually has her degree in social work and not anything related to public relations. That’s what she was doing at the Human Development office before she was brought to the KHMH to take up her lofty post as PR Consultant. But the UDP doesn’t care – they just extended the timeframe of her PR consultancy…If Da Noh Soh!

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Living in a good country…

Did I imagine it, or did a grenade just explode in an intended attack just a couple days ago? Didn’t a 14 year old boy die just a couple weeks ago after a grenade was thrown in a crowded yard? Aren’t there like 17 more grenades unaccounted for which are being bandied about in an escalating gang war in our streets? Are we going through the worst period of violence in our nation, or am I just imagining that? That damned Perdomo is a sick, sick man; or maybe he’s just soaked up too much of the beverage and it’s skewed his perspective. Word just in today is that Perdomo, in all his ‘wisdom,’ has decided to cut the BDF’s budget by $6million dollars. Yup, that’s right – $6million dollars. Guess he believes his own useless rhetoric that crime is down, so we can afford to cut money in national security. Not only that, but aren’t we having a problem right now with incursions across our border? $6million dollars cut from the budget means fewer resources which translates to fewer patrols and fewer ‘just about everything else,’ at a time when we need to pay serious, serious attention to our national security and stability which are threatened on a daily basis…If Da Noh Soh!

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The Flippin’ Perks…

The flippin’ Minister done flipped his lid and is way into the red zone on the ‘mada-fishin’ meter. Remember that this columnist broke the news that Melvin’s daughter getting a lucrative diplomatic posting in the UK, with salary and perks totaling nearly $300,000 a year? Well, that was plenty bad, but Melvin apparently wasn’t satisfied. Word just in is that longtime diplomat and honourary consul in Houston Hugh McCain is going to be given his walking papers any moment now. Guess who’s going to take his place. Let me give you a clue – Melvin’s other daughter, that’s who. What do you think about that? McCain has years and years of diplomatic experience in Houston with successive governments, but Melvin doesn’t give a damn. He wants his daughter happy and if that means another lucrative diplomatic posting abroad, then that’s it. McCain is supposed to get sacked by the end of this month, when the ‘replacement’ takes over…If Da Noh Soh!

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PM Pissed at Mike…

Word coming out of the Office of the Prime Minister is that Dean Oliver is royally pissed at the CEO in the Ministry of Tourism Mike Singh. I guess the Prime Minister was the last to find out that Mike and his brother Doug (Chairman of the UDP) bought dredging equipment sometime ago in anticipation of a big bonanza. Well that day is here and we understand that the dredge is being used for some major works in San Pedro as part of a tourism project which only Mike and Doug seem privy to. So Mike and Doug are raking in the big bucks and laughing all the way to the bank. Hell, the PM shouldn’t be surprised – both Mike and Doug are well known for these types of shady financial wheeling and dealing…If Da Noh Soh!

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PM has bigger worries…

But on the long list of Dean Oliver’s woes and worries, Mike Singh is probably coming in last. See, right now the Prime Minister has to figure out how much longer he can dodge the US State Department, the IMF and other multi-lateral agencies which have written official letters to GOB asking when in hell they will pay for hijacking BTL. It’s an important and significant question not only because the entire world is looking on as the Barrow administration acts arbitrarily and dictatorially and then cools its heels without making good on its responsibility to compensate. Perhaps even more important is the fact that when Barrow does pay up (and pay up he will), be it $300M or $600M, that figure will be added to the national debt, changing the whole picture of the nation’s economy and outlook. So far, Barrow has played ostrich, sticking his head in the sand and ignoring the queries from the agencies, but word is they are becoming impatient with the antics of the bald-headed Mugabe-wannabe…If Da Noh Soh!

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Ceiba Realty…

And speaking about worries, the PM will have a big, bulging basket full of worries when the documents I just took a look at start leaking out. We’ve been giving the intellectually challenged Gapi Vega a sort of free pass for a while now while we got things in order, but what we’ve got is getting too hot to keep under wraps for much longer. See, Gapi might have a problem getting coherent thoughts from his brain to his mouth, but he sure as hell doesn’t have a problem getting his hand from the cookie jar to his pocket. Does the company Ceiba Realty sound familiar, Margarito? We’re sure it does. Word is that anybody interested in purchasing that choice portion of government land need only pay a visit to Ceiba Realty and it’s a done deal – with the judicious payment of the appropriate fees, of course. And of course, we’re not amazed at the bank accounts in which those fees end up, cause we know all about Gapi’s scurvy ways. There’s be days of interesting reading ahead…take that to the bank…If Da Noh Soh!

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Brokeback capital…

This one is just too funny for words, and I sure as hell don’t want the image in my head for any length of time. Word just in is that two very well known ministers of government were taking a few drinks, or more than a few, in the capital city not so long ago. I’m not sure what happened during the discussion or when the spark turned into a flame, but our source tells us that those two ministers, overcome by the need for some ‘private discussions’ checked into a hotel which will remain unnamed. That’s it – the image is killing me. You’ll get no more on this from this column. Pssst…if you want a clue check out this week’s cartoon…If Da Noh Soh!

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