City Council G-7 denounce embattled Mayor Moya Flowers

Remember the G-Seven? That was the name given to seven ministers in the past PUP administration who broke ranks, resigned and were eventually reinstated. Well, it’s not exactly the same, but Belize City Mayor, Zenaida Moya Flowers, is facing a rebellion of her own. This time, seven Councillors have publicly criticized the Mayor for holding a meeting one month ago in which media ready Philip Willoughby was elected as her Deputy. The seven base their discontent on the fact that four of them were not present for that election when Willoughby won over his contender for the position, Leila Peyrefitte.  But while there were seven Councillors present who voted, four were absent. Former Deputy Mayor, Dion Leslie and Councillor Roger Espejo had just returned to Belize that same day, while Councillor Eric Chang was away on honeymoon and Councillor Laura Esquivel Frampton was away on maternity leave.  The CitCo’s G-seven called a news conference this morning at the Sport Council office to declare that they do not accept the election of Willoughby and are now calling on the Mayor to recall the election because it was, in their opinion, illegal.  Marion Ali reports.

Marion Ali, Reporting

Councillors Eric Chang, Leila Peyrefitte, Roger Espejo, Laura Esquivel Frampton, Dion Leslie, Andrew Faber and Kevin Singh say they view the February sixteenth, 2010 election as null and void.  And in a press release they issued today, they said they tried to declare their position at a caucus meeting on Tuesday afternoon but the Mayor walked out.

Voice of Roger Espejo, City Councillor

“The law is clear and that’s why the law has all the mechanics in it because the law knows that when people are in government people will have differences of opinion but that’s why you have resolutions, that’s why you have votes that are cast by majority of people who are present and voting.  You will never have eleven people working in the same direction all the time in terms of decision-making.”

Councillor Laura Esquivel Frampton says the seven Councillors are calling on Mayor Moya Flowers to convene a meeting for a new election for a deputy mayor, but if she refuses, they have options.

Voice of Laura Esquivel Frampton

“The law does allow for us to call meetings. If the mayor refuses to meet with us we just need to give her notice. She needs to reply to us in a certain amount of time. If she does not reply we have the right to call our own meeting and conduct the minutes. The City Administrator is instructed by law to take the minutes properly and to present those and follow through with the policies of the council. The City Administrator is not willing to do that, then we’ll have to look at those sanctions at that point.”

But the Councillors have more than just the election as their gripe.  They say the Mayor behaves as though she runs City Hall single-handedly.  And when they tried to bring up the most recent matter to her during Tuesday’s meeting, she refused to listen.

Voice of Roger Espejo, City Councillor

“We’re saying that you can’t just storm out of meetings because you don’t want. I mean how would you feel if you were trying have to a meeting with somebody and they just storm out of the meeting? How would that make you feel? You would feel disenfranchised. Us, we have been elected by the people to make decisions on behalf of the people and that is exactly what we intend to do. We are bound to the people for that. We’re bound by an election and we have three years to make those decisions for the people and that’s the stance that we take.”

Voice of Laura Esquivel Frampton

“All the conflicts that have come about have come about because of a non adherence to the law. It has come about because of the Council finding out about agreements being made, contracts being signed, recommendations being made for the liquor license board and the trade licensing board without the knowledge of the Council. It is—these have been systematic actions of the mayor and we are telling the public that you elected all eleven of us, not one person.”

The Councillors apologized to residents for not attending Tuesday night’s public forum at Grace Primary School, but they explained that they would not have felt it right considering the differences they have with the Mayor, who was at that event.  Marion Ali for News Five.