Will Said Musa be expelled from the P.U.P.?
Across the political fence, we have reported that all roads lead to Cahal Pech, Cayo this coming Saturday, where a fiery and perhaps historic meeting of the National Executive of the P.U.P. is being convened. Fiery because there is plenty anger in the ranks and historic because the P.U.P. finds itself at a juncture where the surgical removal of the former leader is under contemplation. According to reports from the opposition party, the agenda for the meeting has been dramatically changed, and the Executive will deal frontal with Wednesday’s outright demand by the former Party Leader and Prime Minister, Said Musa, to the current leader, John Briceño, to pay up a remaining balance for the party assets of some six hundred thousand dollars or face repossession. In dispute are the party’s newspaper, radio station and headquarters.
On Thursday, the Northern caucus set the tone of what can be expected on Saturday. The party wants the assets back and this does not involve any buyout. While the message was clear, there are others in the executive who are clamoring for a more aggressive stand against what is seen as an obvious attack on Briceno’s leadership. To make that point, a guest editorial in today’s BELIZE TIMES, one of the assets on claim, says that the fight is now global… that the posture of this new leadership can no longer be conciliatory or defensive; and that the executive will have to be bold, robust and decisive.
It is still not known if Musa, who was very recently returned to the executive in the name of unity, will turn up on Saturday but one thing is sure; that the word expulsion is reverberating among the inner circle of the Briceño camp. But between tonight and tomorrow, all the ducks are lining up.
We say that because late this afternoon, a rather lengthy document entitled THE FACTS, apparently coming from the Musa camp and circulated by the former secretary general and son of the former party leader, Henry Charles Usher. It gives details of their account of the history of the acquisition of the assets that were initially held by the Price family to the transfer to Musa and the former campaign manager, Ralph Fonseca, and then on last year’s agreement reached between Musa and Briceño. The document says that this agreement for one hundred thousand dollars for Positive Vibes and five hundred thousand for Independence Hall, was not honored. Interestingly, Briceño had enlisted the assistance of Musa and Fonseca to ward off a threat by deputy leader Mark Espat. It ends saying that the dispute is unnecessary and that Wednesday’s letter to Briceño was not intended for public consumption and neither was it leaked to the media by Musa or Fonseca.
But most intriguing is a latest article written by a former minister, Godfrey Smith, who has generally been viewed as a supporter of Musa. Smith writes in Flashpoint today about the latest intra-fighting in the PUP. He trashes Musa’s recently released book “With Malice Toward None” and refers to Musa in the following way (quote) “He already carries the heavy burden for turning Mr. Price’s monolithic and unmatched political machine into twisted and barely functioning parts during his tenure”. (Unquote) It’s all the more sensational because Smith and Briceño are not even on talking terms.
