U.D.P. boots first female mayor to the curb
zenaida moya flowers
There is a major political development to report tonight. News Five has been reliably informed by an impeccable source that Mayor Zenaida Moya Flowers has been expelled from the United Democratic Party following a decision by the three member Ethics and Integrity Committee. The Mayor’s troubles with PM Dean Barrow are well known and were exacerbated when she was criminally charged last year. For all intents and purposes, there is little practical significance and legal minds say she cannot be stripped of her office as mayor but she cannot expect to enjoy party support. Moya Flowers has thirty days to appeal, but it is not known what her next move will be and the question everyone is asking is if she is an independent mayor. News Five’s Marion Ali reports.
Marion Ali, Reporting
It made the news like hot cake off a baking sheet on October first, 2009 when Belize City Mayor, Zenaida Moya Flowers was arrested and charged with twenty-two counts of Uttering a False document and Failure to comply with City Council Regulations. But in similar fashion, the words she uttered to the media that same day after exiting the courtroom would eventually haunt the mayor.
Zenaida Moya Flowers, Belize City Mayor (October 1, 2009)
“Everybody knows that I do not have a cozy relationship with the Prime Minister, with the leader of the party. They know that fully well. This is not something new man. This is something that we all know from the convention. Zenaida is not somebody that is a puppet. We all that know I am not a puppet. Everybody know dat Zenaida dah noh wah puppet. And from the convention day they wanted to ensure that I was not the mayoral candidate for that party. But the people had their say and the people had their way and I have been elected and I will ensure that I continue serving the people of Belize City. I feel it that somebody doesn’t have balls when they are going to come after me when I’m on my bed delivering a child.”
Well, two days later on October third the United Democratic Party voted at a National Party Council meeting to expel her for the comments she made about her fallout with Prime Minister Dean Barrow. Mayor Moya Flowers did not take it lying down and challenged the constitutionality of that meeting and asked the court to grant her an injunction to prevent the expulsion. In December of 2009 the court awarded the Mayor two of three injunctions against her party. Justice Minnet Hafiz ruled that the United Democratic Party could no longer exclude Moya Flowers from attending its National Party Council meetings. But the ruling, in the words of the U.D.P.’s legal advisor, Michael Young, “You may score a goal, but lose the game.” Well it appears that the party has won the game because News Five has received reliable information that Moya Flowers has been served with a letter notifying of her expulsion as a member of the U.D.P. This decision came from the party’s Ethics and Integrity Committee which met two weeks ago and decided to remove her from the UDP. This means that Moya Flowers is no longer serving under the U.D.P., but remains as the elected mayor of Belize City. What she chooses to do now is yet to be seen. Marion Ali for news five.
Mayor Moya was at her office City Hall when we called at four-thirty this evening but we were informed that she was not taking any calls pertaining to her expulsion.
Zenaida is not somebody that is a puppet. We all that know I am not a puppet. Everybody know dat Zenaida dah noh wah puppet.
Ok, we get it Moya, now put-it-on-vibrate.
Like I said before, Belize needs great leaders to lead Belize into a great future.
Since I have been hearing about this Moya person, she has been in total denial; despite common knowledge she won’t ever admit she was wrong about anything.
There is only one person that could lose in this joke of a battle and that is Moya herself, any smart person would know this. Perhaps in another lifetime, if given a second chance she will prepare a speech before approaching the public making everyone aware of her contempt towards the leader of the party.
What will she do now?
Probably, set up an illegal wiretapping program,
Or does it really matter anymore…
All right, way to go UDP! Ms. Z has been kicked out and thrown by the wayside. Kudos to the UDP for a job well done and long overdue.
Now, let’s cross our fingers and make sure the PUP does not make the mistake of accepting Ms. Z into their fold.
Ms. Z is a wannabe politician with a mean and greedy streak. What good has she done for Belize City? Absolutely nothing. What good has she done for Ms. Z bank account…………. now we are talking.
Don’t worry about it Sin. It’s for the best, you were the Marilyn Monster in that house. You are too educated, brilliant and strong to be branded with those bunch of idiots!
She needs to be expelled because just seems shady to me.
I think Z is a strong woman and the guys are threatened by her. Nevertheless, she has the people’s support. She was elected by the people, for the people and of the people
all these corrupted politicians need to go…
she need counseling!! or maybe somebody have to exorcise the demon within her, you know sometimes I wonder if city hall is not demon possessed, everytime some new leader get elected, they usually sound honest before entering this building, once inside thing change, you start to hear all kind of wierd stories coming out of that place, it happen to both UDP an PUP, fi true listen to weh I tell you, once you follow up on dem stories you realize something wrong with that place.
check it out, VIP sound like if they really care for the people of this country, give them a break to go into that building and BOOM they change, it happen to MAyor Fonseca, mayoress Moya, and it will happen to every body weh get in there to run things, fi true listen to weh i di tell you!!! Satan di control dat place.
A house divided within itself will not stand, this is so true. Not condoning with the Mayor’s arrogance and derogatory remarks about the Prime Minister, it is quite obvious why they cannot get along, they have similar personality. Remember the “Musa Jack-Ass situation?”, Our Belizean people have yet to hear our Leader apologize for such immature and unprofessional remark. It is a shame that these are the people that are governing our country, because again, at the end of the day while they are playing Pity Pat and Strip Mi Naked, the rest of Belize continue to suffer in shame & scandal, moreso poverty. Like the good old saying goes, “All Good Things Must Come To An End”. Mrs. Mayor, maybe you noh hafto feel no way fi run City Council by youself, bicause fi we Mayor da Dangriga di do ih best with one Lawn Mower, one Weed Eater, one Dump Truck wid little or maybe no support from wi own Party. Join we “The Forgotten South” Mrs. Mayor, and mek wi all know later how ih feel ok?. I wa never judge you, maybe da wa political “Lover’s Quarrel” and you probably di pay fi you past political sins as was accused, mi noh know, mi granny use to tell mi, “You jump eena wa Pig Sty, one day you might fall eena mud. My fellow Belizeans, if this is what it takes to give us back our country and the respect we once enjoyed, then mote it be.
Zenaida got nobody to blame but ih own self. You really believed you had soo much balls as to try to call out and embarass your Leader and Prime Minister on national radio and television? You SCHTUPPID or what…….?
zenaida moya was elected to serve the city of belize in the best of her ability and with transparentcy”and accountability,which she has failed the belizean people and this should have been done a long time ago,sheover paid herself monies from the council without the approval of the council,-she was ordered to return it bakand she never did so the question is what has moya zenaida done for belize city? NOTHING ,she has been collecting monies from the cruise taxto better the city and where is the money going or which bank account is it in?the city hasn’t change at all after many years of the moya clan,only her huge mansion has been built.moya is a problem.
The UDP should have expelled this corrupted individual from their party a long time ago!! She keeps saying the people elected her and want her but reality is she got the lowest votes this last election and since then her popularity has gone down to zero but still she refuses to see this! Expulsion is one thing, what about all those missing monies and over paying of salary to herself?? Will she not be held accountable? Why is she even thinking of appealing, her political career is over, finished, caput…do us and herself a favor and realize this is the end of the road!
tell me which of our politicians are not corrupt and which is acting in the best interest of our country and not in their own best interest and i will definitely vote in the next elections.
Political parties are private entities and we must understand that. Party leaders and party executive(s) (national Executives) makes decision that best interest of the party and its financiers’. In the case of mayor Moya they can expell her from the UDP but CANNOT remove her from the office of mayor according to the constitution of Belize. While all the fighting is going on both sides of the political spectrum I hope that this does not affect the good and services of the council to the people of Belize City who rely on the council for garbage collection and other needed services. Local Municipalities and central government must work hand in hand to offer essential services.
Elections have consequences and no matter who win others will want to oppose and distract from the work that’s needed and put political spin on events like this. In belize the political landscape is so muddy that people does know who to trust no more. No one with real integrity want to enter politics because is suck a dirty business. We must reform the system to be more transparent.
It happened on Both sides PUP and UDP – The only different is when the UDP Fights among themselves its more in the open. When the PUP Fight everything stay at Independence hall or 91 North Front Street. For example no one publicly in the PUP right now want to talk about the underground movement and backdoor meeting and conferences to remove Johnny as the PUP leader and put back Musa A man in who if he was somewhere other than Belize would have been killed for the things that happened under his watch.
Don’t get distracted people. Demand the jokers that we elect do what they want promise during the election season. Belize has a great potential and we must get political parties to start focusing on providing better services to the people who need it most especially in the rural areas of Belize.
Mayor Moya still has to serve the people of Belize City because that’s who elected her Not just the UDP. God First, Family Second, People third and Party last. This is her opportunity to see what she really have to offer. It’s a thru test of her character and her integrity. Let’s see how she will govern without the backing or endorsement of her peers in Belmopan.
well am so glad they expell her from the UDP party, this is the best thing they have done,, i just hope the next party dont take her,,,.the next one that should be expell is michael finnegon they are letting the UDP party look bad and i think the party will be best without them.
Bulba,, macal and Longsworth… you are all right… hope we could someday sit all of you to synthesize a paper on belizena politics…. hit the nail in the correct spot… despite the differences in opinion…. let me offer you one advice… read George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”.. very short novel… actually a satire…. it’s a true masterpiece of human nature… “power corrupts – absolute power corrupts absolutely” No matter how honest you are… if not kept in check… you will become corrupted, you will become what you fought against…. Zenaida and Barrow…. arrogance has gotten to them and they cannot be in the same boat!!! who is worse..??? up to public opinion!!!
Good riddance I say. Now she needs to be kicked out of City Hall. She is a disgrace to the UDP and to the city. That is one person who will never get me to vote for her again. Fortunately, I voted for her only once. We need to clean up City Hall from all those Indians that bought it out from Zenaida and who encourage and pay for corruption from our politicians and public officials. City councillors, do something and get rid of the corruption in your midst! Good move, UDP!
Maybe we should take a page out of California’s book. “Under California law, any elected official may be the target of a recall campaign”. I would suggest our law go further and include certain senior civil servants in Police, Ministries etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_gubernatorial_recall_election,_2003
It would appear even the British Public are starting to see the wisdom of being able to recall (Fire) untouchable elected officials.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/27/westminster-reform-party-mps
Maybe we need to start an action group similar to this:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/
How can we put a recall law on the books? Lets do it. Integrity, Fidelity, Belize.
I’ve known of Mayor Moya for quite a few years, watched her grow from a budding Unionist to a Politician and today am terribly disappointed that she would turn into such a disrespectful and arrogant person. What she never realized is that humility goes a long way. Perhaps she thought that being a woman meant she had to be ‘forceful’, however, one can show humility with lots of strength, as it is, taking the examples of Golda Mier (sp), Indira Ghandi or even the other women who served after them and let’s not forget Margaret Thatcher and Caribbeans own Virgina Charles, just to mention a few one never heard scandals of these women the way we have heard of Zenaida from the onset.
I trust that she thinks this through properly before she gets on the airwaves with that ‘smile’ to pass snide remarks about her leader and Prime Minister as it really solves nothing. At this point if she thinks she could be a good politician then she needs to get inside herself and start to subtract all those negative points. After a time even if it was ‘the people’ who put her there, then ‘the people’ will catch on, especially poor people, one thing I’ve observed as I go through life, never mess with poor people, they WILL sink you with the same ‘snide’ smile….. nuff said
Zenaida need some speech and critical thinking classes.
Oh wow…I’m disgusted with this whole issue…what’s good for Ms. Z should be good for every single one of those money hungry mongrels…she is NOT the only one who is looking out for her best interest…actually she might be the one doing it on the smallest scale but of course those patriarchal …….. will find it easy to make themselves look good by booting her out to fool the public into thinking they are a “No nonsense party”…who are they fooling?…Da fool di talk da noh fool di listen to them!!!
…And as far as I am concerned…they could have put a scarecrow to run as they did in other posts/constituencies and the scarecrow would have won…people just voted for red…not the individuals!! As a person with individual rights…she has every reason to say whatever she is feeling or experiencing without having to walk on eggshells to please anybody..esp. NOT the prime minister…he’s a man just like anybody else.
Personally I think this whole thing is one big joke. At the end of the day the Mayor is still living high without a financial care because she have access to money and her family is living well, Mr. Barrow and his family is still living well. How are the Belizean people living??????? Wake up people not one of these Politicians give a damn about the Belizean people when will we start seeing that and stop fighting their battles for them like little puppets. Zenaida could care less!!!!!!!!
Both parties can do without a bunch of idiots, they all lack the ability to comprehend the difference between needs and wants. This is corruption at it’s highest level in the middle of the worst depression ever and to add fuel to the fire, they are a bunch of selfcenter, power hungry, wall street rats. Now lets put this in simle term, they all look the same, smell the same, walk the same and freaking think the same. Please remember the people’s interest was never their priority and will never be, now good night and stop the wishful thinking.
hmm…this is too interesting. Moya has her problems, yes, but expelling her doesn’t do much in my mind. Barrow and the whole crowd need to readjust. This is a political game. I do not trust Barrow and the UDP and neither do i trust the PUP. I am for change…this is simply a move to distract those of us who know the truth about the system we have. I am for a revolution in Belize. Too many people are angry at the decisions Barrrow and his UDP are making…Moya situation does not bother me one bit. The oil situation, the economic situation and the violence situation happenign across Belize are the things that matter most to me, not these silly little quarrel they are having within the UDP. Barrow is too arrogant, self righteous and thinks that the general public is fooled by all his fancy talk. I need fi know when S. Musa wah serve time. I need fi know who when someone will be held responsible for screwing us through social security and DFC. That’ll be the date i support Barrow or any party for that matter. It noh easy fi watch kids have noting fi eat, or see innocent boys go to the street because we have no programs to support them. Protecting our resouces and utilizing them well and properly educating our young people is what will save Belize- not this BS going on in the UDP with Moya- I personally no really care. If she is responsible for anything, that she did not handle well and something illegal was done, she too need to pay. All of THEM.
The entire situation between the lady mayor and PM can be described as ‘Kettle cursing the pot”
Remember the “MUSA JACKASS BLOWOUT IN THE HOUSE?” How low can we go?
Our elected leaders need to LEARN RESPECT for the jobs they were elected to do and respect for the Belizean people.
Statistics show people who were once poor and powerless usually need COUNSELLING to help them deal with their EGOS after they obtain money and power -without this is the result of the fighting between the mayor and pm..
Maybe the reason Belize is in such a bloody mess is because there is so much EGOS and fighting between our leaders, they are blinded to the problems facing our nation. America has the same problem and we can all see the decline of America.
I think it’s a shame the Ethics committee gone so far to expel Zenaida. I noh think Zenaida deserve that. After how she help bring UDP back from di dead after what 16 years outta City hall and 10 years outta central government. I noh think it fair. As a woman i feel they do her wrong and need to reverse their decision. Hopefully Barrow got it in him to correct the wrongs they keep doing towards Zenaida. Zenaida is our Mayor!!!!!!!
Noh mek nobody fool unnu. Zenaida dah wah strong woman weh we men like and i know lots of woman like her and always di bat for. I know how your own could jealous of you, so I know she will get lots of bashing because she gat balls to stand up fu what she belive eena. Nuff respect Zenaida and UDP betta put you back eena di party otherwise they will get …. next election.