P.U.P.’s Belmopan Convention to Proceed Uninterrupted

Henry Charles Usher

The Belmopan convention proceeds this Sunday as planned with Weizman Patt, Michelle Rodriguez and Oscar Mira. So is this the end of the Arthur Saldivar/P.U.P. saga?  There is a default judgment pending with respect to his first claim in which Saldivar sued the party for two hundred and ninety thousand dollars in special damages.  In his ruling, Justice Courtenay Abel explained that the court has no place in internal party politics matter. Chairman of the P.U.P., Henry Charles Usher agreed.

Henry Charles Usher, Chairman, People’s United Party

“From the very beginning we believed that his claim was a porous one and it was unsubstantiated. We are glad that Justice Abel was able to give a decision so overwhelming in our favor and dismiss all nine or all fourteen claims in this matter. I think it was important that Justice Abel pointed out that this is really an internal political matter and the courts have no business in interfering in internal political matters. I must say that I have not been served with the claim neither was Ms. Leni-Jo Usher who is out of the country. Really the claim revolved around baseless and false accusations against her, statements made by her. It is unfortunate and really discouraging to see a member of party to make claims against a sitting member of the national Executive, a member of the ODS and the chairperson of the Vetting Committee but it seems that they would have stooped at anything to get their way so I am glad that the court was able to see through it and give us the judgment which we believe is the right one.”

Reporter

“Now it is a point of contention in terms of reference as it relates to the Vetting Committee; if the Vetting Committee actually has the power to reject or the National Party Council. Speak to that and as well does that mean that there needs to be a reform maybe in the constitution of the People’s United Party?”

Henry Charles Usher

“We have spoken about perhaps formalizing the procedures when it comes to the vetting of candidates and selection of candidates. But I can state for the record, one that the process that we used this year and we continue to use it because some conventions are still upcoming are ones that we use in the past. The National Executive creates a vetting committee made of members of the National Executive. That Vetting Committee vets all applications for all the constituencies for all applicants. They make recommendations to the National Executive and the National Executive decides whether they will accept or not. Every single application that went before the vetting committee, those which were accepted and those which were rejected, were then taken to the subsequent meeting of the National Executive and the decision was either ratified or not ratified. When it comes to the creation of the vetting committee, it is done by the National Executive. What counsel for the applicant was claiming in there was that it was a committee from the National Party Council is inaccurate. And it is what it is; it is a Vetting Committee. It does not make final decision on any person. That is done by the National Executive of the party.”