Patrick Faber is Sworn in as Leader of the Opposition

On Thursday, the new Prime Minister was sworn in and the cabinet members are expected to take the oath on Monday.  But this afternoon, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Patrick Faber was sworn as Leader of the Opposition.  He took the oath of office before three other United Democratic Party area representatives as it was administered by Governor General, Sir Colville Young.  The ceremony took place at Belmopan House in the presence of a handful of family and friends.  Noticeably absent, however, was Denise “Sista B” Barrow, the sibling of past Prime Minister Dean Barrow.  Following the ceremony Faber spoke with the media about the long road to rebuilding the U.D.P.

Patrick Faber

Patrick Faber, Leader of the Opposition

“I am, of course, feeling that I would have preferred a different outcome, as I said in my post; however, you know, God has a different plan for me and I take very seriously every opportunity to serve this country that is afforded to me.  And so, while the Leader of the Opposition’s position is not one that I was jumping up for joy to fill, it is a very important position, it’s a very important role that needs to be filled at this time and so, as I said this morning, this role for me, I will take it very seriously and I will do justice to the people who have entrusted me with this position now.”

Reporter

“Now just moving a bit into the election results.  An overwhelming margin in favor of the People’s United Party, have you been able to do at least some mental assessment and can you say what those results indicated in terms of the people’s confidence in your administration?”

Patrick Faber

“Well, you know, it is what it is.  We saw where people spoke and spoke very clearly in terms of the voice through the ballot and we respect that very much, we saw my presentation on the night of the election results to indicate that people can expect from us in the U.D.P. a full understanding of those results and that in fact we were ready to stand and support the government or the People’s United Party government.  We believe that the role of the opposition is also one that is important and so we will embrace this role now, given to us by the people and work diligently to get back the confidence of the people over the next couple of years that we are in this position, hoping that when next we are given the opportunity the people will return that confidence to the United Democratic Party.”

Reporter

“We know that a few of your candidates are going into retirement after taking a  loss.  How does your administration now regroup, reform, or reshape itself moving forward?”

Patrick Faber

“Well, it’s going to be a difficult road to do that.  We are not yet at that point where we’ve made such an assessment to determine who is going to stay and who is going to go, but I think it is clear from the people speaking again through the ballot on Wednesday that we need to do very, very serious introspection as a party.  We need to reflect on what we’ve done that may have worked and what we’ve done that certainly did not work and we need to rebuild and we need to refocus so that we are razor sharp.”