… And says he’ll consult on his future

Following his statements Musa took questions, including one asking him to be more specific about his plans for the future. Ruling out any immediate resignation as leader, he said that he plans to consult closely with his party.

Said Musa, P.U.P. Leader
“Well, I’ve already indicated to various members of the party that particularly my close confidants that this was my last election. Now in terms of working out the transition and the leadership, really, I will have to consult in more detail with the party, with the executives in the party and indeed the members and supporters of the party in working that out.”

“Defeat is no stranger to us, we’ve suffered defeat before on at least two occasions at the national level and the party rebounded. I think in this case, to answer the first party of your question, we will clearly have to do a very serious self-examination in the People’s United Party because basically this party is the real only majority party of Belize. I fervently believe that. What has happened yes, people have left the party, our people have lost trust in the party, we have to regain their confidence and to regain their confidence, we clearly have to get back to the core values of the People’s United Party, where we started; our basic core values, those to me are fundamentally sound but they need to be reignited. Clearly they have been things that have happened, which compounded by the media, have created a different image of the Peoples’ United Party. We have to restore that good image of the People’s United Party.”

Stewart Krohn
“There have been a number of candidates who are now joining you in the Opposition who have for the past number of years have said that they in fact have stood fast with the core values of the party and it is you who have strayed from those values. Your attitude towards, let me single out Mark and Cordel, has tended to be well it’s my way or the highway, might there be a change in attitude in the wake of this defeat?”

Said Musa
“Our party has to continue to be an all embracing party. We’ve always taken this approach of being “Welcome to the Party” and that’s sending a message that it has to be inclusive. In terms of my relationship with two gentlemen you mentioned, even with all the difficulties we went through, we have maintained very cordial and civil relationships. They obviously at times felt that things should have been done a certain way, which I did not agree with. And I did not agree but I believe in consensus building. I don’t believe that Said Musa or any one person or two persons in the party can dictate the policies of the People’s United Party or indeed any Government. I believe once a decision—and I’ve said it to you before—is made in cabinet, it’s a collective decision and we all have to go with that so it’s nothing personal. I have to make that point clear again and I certainly disagreed with you when you suggested that is was a … there was some sort of arrogance on my part. It was really standing up for the principal of governance in terms of respecting consensus, collective decision making of the party.”

It must be noted that of the six P.U.P. members of the House, three—Musa, Fonseca and Marin—are Musa loyalists, while the remainder—Briceño, Hyde and Espat—were removed by Musa from Cabinet over significant policy disagreements.