Tribute to Winston Alexander Kent Smiling

June 2, 2023

Delivered by Hon. Henry Charles Usher

Continued from page 20 hat, grilling utensils and, yes, you could spot him from a distance, glass of Johnny Walker Black Label in hand. Every summer in Fort George, we would have July Fest and Winston would be right there supervising the grill.

He was always willing to help out, always willing to do what was needed to assist our Party supporters and people on a whole.

His many contributions, to country and party resulted in his twice being named Senator where on both occasions, he served with distinction.

He also held other important appointments including as a member of the Board of Directors of the Belize Airports Authority, member of the Lotteries Committee, Member of the Liquor Licensing Board and, yes, that most important of titles, Aide to George Price.

He loved Uncle George and would tell you that among the greatest moments of his life was travelling to Havana with Mr. Price and Luke to see Fidel Castro confer on Mr. Price one of Cuba’s Most prestigious awards the Jose Marti Medal of Honour.

He would get to see him given a second such award when he accompanied Mr. Price to Jamaica where he was awarded by the University of the West Indies.

Earlier I said Winston was a part of a special era in the history of our nation and the People’s United Party. For sure as a PUP he had a bird’s eye view of the change from the PUP of George Price to that of Said Musa.

I asked my Dad, who couldn’t be here today to share a few thoughts on his good friend. This is from him.

“Winston and I go way back to our high school days at St. Michael’s College. Mathematics was Winston’s forte. He always topped the class in math, even though I was at his heel. Later in life when I was drawn into politics by the Rt. Hon George Price, I noticed that Winston was like a sentinel to the inner sanctum of the Party Leader, who called Winston ‘nephew’. Winston loved George and was quite prepared to take a bullet for him during the height of the disturbances during the Heads of Agreement. Winston like every good member of the PUP had no doubt in his mind and heart that George Price would lead us to the promise land of Independence.”

Said ended off by saying that he is sorry he could not attend the funeral of Brother Wince, and offers his condolences to the family.

In this new political era Winston saw his Party go through those tough 13 years in opposition when John Briceño and Francis Fonseca had to lead our Party back to winning form.

He continued to serve as a member of our Party’s ODS, the Order of Distinguished Service, the highest Order of the PUP, whose role among other roles is to vet potential candidates. Winston was a member of the ODS until he was called into higher service last week.

Brother Wince lived a long and good life, one deserving of this high honour we pay to him at this his swan song.

The sum total of his work will not possibly be fully remembered in this one ceremony, but what we will move away from here with though is the appreciation for a man who was brave and who was bold and who went through this journey on his terms, to paraphrase Sinatra, Winston did it his way.

We will always smile when we think of him, whisky in hand, telling stories (he was a damn good story-teller – oftentimes I wondered what was true and what wasn’t. Wince, may you ride into the other life on your beloved Sir Jude. Do say hi to Uncle George, have a whisky with Lindy, a beer (Belikin, of course,) with Barry and Yasin, try not to argue with Edwin over a dice game, and give our love to Miss Jane, Madam Liz and the rest of our great leaders who I am sure will welcome you with open arms.

I end with a line from one of his favourite songs, a song he never failed to put on the big screen at his house whenever I visited, Spanish Eyes: Teardrops are falling from your Spanish Eyes…

Please, please don’t cry…

This is just adios and not goodbye.

Sir Winston, it is time for you to take your place of honour among those who have gone before. And know you will be remembered now and forever more.

Government Of Belize Second Road Safety Project

CONSULTANCY SERVICES FOR FOR BELIZEAN YOUTH FOR ROAD SAFETY (BYRS)

Resource Mobilisation

Request For Expressions Of Interest

The Government of Belize (GOB) has received financing from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) towards the cost of a Second Road Safety Project and intends to apply a portion of the proceeds of this financing to eligible payments under a contract for which this invitation is issued. Payments by CDB will be made only at the request of GOB and upon approval by CDB and will be subject in all respects to the terms and conditions of the Financing Agreement. The Financing Agreement prohibits withdrawal from the financing account for the purpose of any payment to persons or entities, or for any import of goods, if such payment or import, to the knowledge of CDB, is prohibited by a decision of the United Nations Security Council taken under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. No party other than GOB shall derive any rights from the Financing Agreement or have any claim to the proceeds of the Financing.

The Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment (MFEDI), the Executing Agency, now wishes to procure consultancy services for Belizean Youth for Road Safety (BYRS) Resource Mobilization.

The objective of the consultancy is to strengthen the sustainability of BYRS by developing and operationalizing a resource mobilization strategy. The Consultant must have at least a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management, Business Administration, or related field, with at least three (3) years’ experience in marketing, developing social media campaigns, writing business proposals, and strategic planning. The assignment is expected to be undertaken intermittently over a period of one year (12 months).

MFEDI now invites interested eligible individual consultants to submit Expressions of Interest (EOI) indicating qualifications and experience required to provide these consultancy services.

Consultants shall be eligible to participate if:

(a) in the case of a body corporate, it is legally incorporated or otherwise organized in an eligible country, has its principal place of business in an eligible country and is more than 50 per cent beneficially owned by citizen(s) and/ or bona fide resident(s) of eligible country(ies) or by a body(ies) corporate meeting these requirements;

(b) in the case of unincorporated firms, the persons are citizens or bona fide residents of an eligible country; and

(c) in all cases, the consultant has no arrangement and undertakes not to make any arrangements, whereby any substantial part of the net profits or other tangible benefits of the contract will accrue or be paid to a person not a citizen or bona fide resident of an eligible country.

Eligible countries are member countries of CDB. The Member Countries of the CDB can be found at the following web address: http://www.caribank.org/about-cdb/member-countries. The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to paragraph 1.9 of CDB’s Guidelines for the Selection and Engagement of Consultants (2011), setting forth CDB’s policy on conflict of interest.

In the assessment of submissions, consideration will be given to qualification and experience on similar assignments. All information must be submitted in English. Further information may be obtained from the first address below between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 pm (local time) Monday to Friday.

The Expression of Interest must be received electronically at the first address (Second Road Safety Project) and second email address (CDB) below no later than 3:00 p.m. (local time) on Thursday, June 29th, 2023. The subject of the email shall be “Expression of Interest – Consultancy Services for Belizean Youth for Road Safety (BYRS) Resource Mobilization.”

Following the assessment of submissions, the most technically capable and appropriately experienced applicant will be invited to negotiate a contract to provide the consultancy services. GOB reserves the right to accept or reject late applications or to cancel the present invitation partially or in its entirety. It will not be bound to assign any reason for not short-listing any applicant and will not defray any costs incurred by any applicant in the preparation and submission of Expressions of Interest. Envelopes should be addressed to:

Tel: (+1 246) 539 1600

Email: procurement@caribank.org

Tel: +501-822-3517

Email: procurementofficer.rsp@med.gov.bz projectmanager.rsp@med.gov.bz