Jones Says It’s All About People, Agriculture & Tourism

Lloyd Jones

So how does Jones propose to uplift the constituency? He told News Five that the answer lies in his PAT program to foster economic development and tourism in the villages. Jones says the division has been neglected for eight years and he promises to fight to bring prosperity to the area. Jones predicts that there is going to be a new area rep for Belize Rural North on November fourth.

Major Lloyd Jones, P.U.P. Candidate, Belize Rural North

“We have put together a plan in our own divisional manifesto that speaks to what we call our PAT program – People, Agriculture and Tourism. We think that those are the three key areas that if we make the right investments will help every single person in Belize Rural North to do better, irrespective of their political orientation. I think what has happened in Belize Rural North is really the abdication of duties on the part of the current representative, the inability to command the respect of his colleagues in cabinet so that Belize Rural North can get its fair share of the national resources. Major Jones is not going to be a lightweight in a Francis Fonseca cabinet. You understand? If your representative is a lightweight in cabinet then this will be the result where you are not getting your fair share of the national resources. Currently Belize City commands that kind of respect and they are getting too much of the national resources. Fair is fair; that all I am going to be asking my prime minister for my brother. We have put in place an extremely good machinery. We are refining that now as we get closer to the election. I am confident that we have put all the constituent parts in place and it is now just a matter for us to execute on November fourth. The honorable Edmund Castro has never had an opponent like Major Jones. In 2008, he was swept into office by what we all now refer to as the red tide. In 2012, we saw a narrowing of that gap from more than a thousand votes to a little over five hundred [vote]. And I think when you couple that with the fact that they’ve had two terms and have done nothing to improve the lives of the people in Belize Rural North, and then you pile on top of that his own personal failings as a representative, I think the people of Belize Rural North are ready for a change. We can sense that as we walk the ground. People are looking for fresh leadership; people are becoming hopeless, frustrated and I think November fourth, we are going to see a change.”