PG and Dangriga mayoral candidates campaign
You would think that by now the campaign for the March fourth Municipal Elections would have picked up steam, but it has not, even though it is less than a month away. There is infighting in the camps of both political parties which may be the reason for the lackluster campaign. And while not much energy is coming from the political parties, there are many issues at stake. Every Tuesday and Thursday, starting last week, we have been featuring mayoral candidates on Channel Five’s Open Your Eyes morning show. So far, Punta Gorda, Dangriga, San Ignacio/Santa Elena have visited our studios to talk about their plans for their municipalities. Tonight we’ll feature two of those areas: PG and Dangriga. In the last town board and city council elections, Punta Gorda elected a P.U.P. mayor and U.D.P. councillors. This time around, however, Mayor Carlos “Obeah” Galvez, hopes that the entire council will go blue as the last three years have been a strain. Making a bid for his seat is one of his current councillors on the red ticket, Floyd Lino.
Moving up to the culture capital, current Mayor Frank Papa Mena will not be seeking re-election. The race therefore will be between former Mayor Simeon Noralez for the P.U.P. and current U.D.P. Deputy Mayor Aaron Gongora. But before the candidates sat on the couch, we travelled to the two towns to hear what the residents would like see change in their municipalities. Here’s what both sides had to say.
Peter Cho, PG Resident
“We need some job industry, we need that yah because a lot of people noh di mek money and that dah the main problem down yah.”
Archangel Mejia, PG Resident
“If they wah address something, mek them talk to me bout mi street because dis trip I noh even di vote. I noh di vote blue, I noh di vote red, I noh di vote fi nobody because yoh vote and yoh street, yoh drains, everything dah di same way.”
Floyd Lino, U.D.P. Mayoral Candidate
“One of the main focus is job creation and how we will go about creating jobs is through our collaborative effort with central government. We have innovative ideas and committees that we’re forming, NGOs and other organizations. Government cannot do everything for us and our prime responsibility as a town council is to ensure that we form that partnership and alliance with our people. And Punta Gorda has enough resources for development byway of tourism. William, you will see when you sent there last week, it is still under-developed where tourism is concerned. We have all the resources necessary, we have land, we have the air, and we have sea. Everything that goes along with tourism, there is the potential for that. After the highway is completed, that will speed up the developmental process itself. We also want to ensure that we give the streets some attention but you know that colas noh wah stick pan water right. So we have to fix the drains then fix the streets. People involvement is one of my main focus and priority. I think that is one of the things that Punta Gorda Town has been lacking for some time now. People of Punta Gorda, that is one of my pledges that I have, when elected as mayor, to involve you in the development of the town.”
Vana Norales, PG Resident
“PG dah wah small place and we need wah lot ah development. Di youths need fi get off di streets as much as dehn try do sports and thing. But dehn need fi ask something fi keep them occupied during di day.”
Leela Vernon
“In my lifetime I would like to see us have a museum in this district. This is a divers district and I would really want fi si dat. It is gonna be good, yoh wah enhance education, tourism; it’s healthy. PG is a diverse community and I would like to see them get up and do something because it is a long awaited project.”
Carlos Galvez, P.U.P. Mayoral Candidate
“Our manifesto highlights six major points looking at education, youth, elderly, youth, sports, crime. Those are the areas. We must be innovative, we must go beyond. The experience I bring to the table, tapping into these various organizations and seeking funding, will add to us getting revenues, sitting and working out with partners, establishing other relationships and seeking the necessary funds. I think this time around with the experience, I think definitely. Leaders are born to lead and that has been shown, the charismatic person I am. I will not boast on that but that speaks for itself. When the whole country has gone one direction, ninety percent of the seats were won by the United Democratic Party. My people in PG continue to place their trust and confidence in me. This time around, the reality is to ensure that we have majority of the seats in the council to continue to development.”
Dangriga Resident #1
“Dah di streets basically dah the problem down yah dah Stann Creek you know… dah di streets and dehn they done di start do that already, so I think it probably wah work out.”
Dangriga Resident #2
“Bring enforcement in the town fi people keep the place clean. Throw dirt, have somebody find them because it’s a habit they just eat and throw it on the street. It’s got to stop, we want a clean Dangriga.”
Simeon Noralez, PUP Mayoral Candidate, Dangriga
“My vision for Dangriga is to make it a beautiful place. It is not beautiful right now. It’s not beautiful right, not with the potholes and the drainage and the garbage problems that we have now. We have to first address that and even the parks so that the kids can have a nice place to go and play and soh. It’s easy to work with the people of Dangriga because they want to but then we are the ones that have to show ourselves that we want to work with them as leaders. So it would be easy to get something arranged and start a civic pride program.”
Dangriga Resident #3
“We need something with the youths so that they could have something recreational to do. We don’t have that here in Dangriga. All the bashment is good but we need something apart from that, a bit more educational.”
Dangriga Resident #4
“Transparency is important and critical. We need as a citizen of Dangriga, and as a tax paying individual, I need personally to see where my money is going and what it is being used for.”
Aaron Gongora, UDP Mayoral Candidate, Dangriga
“You have the public meetings where those interested in knowing the affairs of their money and their input into the development of their community can attend. We can use the local media, we can use the cable system or newspapers and those are the things we will tap into more to make sure information is thrown out as often as asked about and as often as we can provide them. About five to six years ago they had gone over the flow of traffic in Dangriga, changed around the movements. Now presently people are saying there’s one-way here, there’s one-way there. These came about six years ago. We are—at this time there is a police citizen’s coalition and we’ve looked at that and there are plans to upgrade, not necessarily to change or go back to where we were but to upgrade what is there so that everybody can benefit. The process of repairing the streets, placing stop signs, upgrading some of the far deteriorated streets, brining the standard of mobility to a better level.”
Tune in on Thursday morning at six-thirty when Benque’s mayoral hopefuls will get a chance to make their sales pitch to the electorate.
