Three compete for Cayo Northeast seat
It’s an electoral division that includes some of the nation’s most productive farms as well as our precious oil. And guess what? There’s no incumbent. News Five’s Ann-Marie Williams, as always on the campaign trail, reports from Cayo Northeast.
Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting
“This is Cayo Northeast; one of two new divisions added to the existing twenty-nine bringing the total number to thirty-one; thanks to the redistricting process. This constituency is made up of seven villages, the Spanish Lookout community and the Moraton area of San Ignacio.”
The division is home to some four thousand, five hundred voters and three new candidates, the U.D.P.’s Elvin Penner, the P.U.P.s Orlando Habet and the N.R.P.s Cornelius Dueck are all trying their best to reach out to residents before the general elections. Habet, former Mayor of the twin towns of San Ignacio and Santa Elena is perhaps the best known.
Orlando Habet, P.U.P. Candidate, Cayo Northeast
“Things that we do have to be well planned and have to be having town planning, for example, in the towns we have to do the same thing for the villages. In my town, San Ignacio, and the area which I represent, for Moraton we have need for infrastructure for sporting facilities for the youth. We do not have a youth centre, we do not have a house of culture, we do not have a cultural center and these are things that are necessary for our area. In the villages what we do is that we’ve been walking around speaking to people during our campaign and I am not the person that’s gonna be dictating to them about what I’m going to do for them. We have meetings, we put the issues on the table, the constituents, the villagers will tells what they want, what they need because they are the ones who live in t he villages and I will assist them. So what we have basically done is to put this information on a blackboard and then we have asked them to prioritise them. As soon as we prioritise them we let them know that if—when we win we will start and we will commence doing the projects for which they have identified and have also keyed in as the priority areas for development.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“Development is really people centered so what are some of the plans you have to maybe build capacity among the people?”
Orlando Habet
“I am very favourable towards education.”
Belizean born Penner of Mennonite ancestry is a successful businessman who wants to continue to do good by his villagers if given the chance.
Elvin Penner, U.D.P. Candidate, Cayo Northeast
“I have always been very, very active when it comes to sports, youth and community activities. Anytime a school needs a coach for a basketball team or something I’ve always tried to been there. I’ve always helped a lot in people—a lot of people who have been ill in the past, haven’t been able to survive. I’ve been trying to help as much as we can although sometimes it’s a pity that we can’t do more than we’ve been doing. So I think over the past two years I have really proven to the people of especially Cayo Northeast that I have been there for them every step of the way and it’s gonna continue to be that way.”
But Penner recognizes that voters are also concerned about the basics. He says he’ll do something about the high cost of living, especially putting food on the table.
Elvin Penner
“Everybody is crying that the cost of living has gone up so high the little pay that they make doesn’t even give enough for the food much less when someone gets sick or someone needs to pay a education or a school fee. They just can’t survive right now. So I think to bring down the cost of living would be the very, very first thing we need to do. Of course, it’s not gonna be easy.”
However, a surefire way to survive after the elections, Penner contends, is by creating jobs in a town that has seen its share of economic ups and downs.
Elvin Penner
“A lot of people don’t have a job and some have very low paying jobs. So another thing would be to create jobs which would come by means of encouraging industries or encouraging tourism resorts to come. We all know that Cayo is a beautiful place we have a lot of river space, a lot of places where resorts can still be built. If we can create jobs, very well paying jobs for people that will also help them to survive.”
Third Party candidate Dueck says Belize needs a cement factory and an ethanol plant to curb what he calls hopelessness that too often grips the community.
Ann-Marie Williams
“As I go on the campaign trail and meet particularly the young candidates, I hear of their ideas and the values they hold fast. They have a lot of noble ideas and it just strike me that when I look around and a lot of the older politicians they too had the same noble ideas … why do you all lose your way?”
Orlando Habet
“I believe that my party knows me well, I have made my commitment to them. Yes, but they know that I have my own ideas, I have my own opinions and when we win they will know that I will be representing my constituency and my constituency comes first. Of course, I think about it as national politics and there is always a possibility that you can get a higher position than just being an area representative. If I become a minister when I am elected if my party wins—if and when we win I believe that I have enough experience to be able to hold my side.”
Penner by his own admission says it’s hard for him to lose his way. He credits honesty, commitment and a hardworking committee to keep him in check.
Elvin Penner
“If you look at the background of myself and my family we have had a business and it has succeeded well and I think it ll has to do with honesty. I believe that if you are honest, you go out there and you work for what you have, you will get a blessing. And I believe that is the very first thing. I’m hard working. There’s times especially with my family right now, of course there are days that I don’t spend enough time with them but thank God they are understanding. But the dedication is one. If I get into something it’s heart and soul and I am not going to stop at anything to get where I want to go and that goes not only for winning the election but it goes to get what the people want after we win the election.”
“We’ve seen a lot of people who have all their life supported the P.U.P. come and they’re actually working with us. So they real give a lot of energy seeing that we have people from all walks of life coming to work with us and their all out there. If they have to go until ten o’clock at night they are ready to do so because they are hungry for a change.”
Dueck contends the hunger for change was so overwhelming that he was forced to satisfy the political appetite of the masses by forming the National Reform Party, one of the third parties that the two mass parties have pretty much discounted.
Cornelius Dueck, Leader, N.R.P.
“One thing I know that they are acting out of fear at times and we are here to offer the people a choice. I believe that we will—there’s many of us that will be able to make it because the whole nation is crying for a change and we will be there behind it.”
Elvin Penner
“No third party will have a chance at this point in time. In fact it’s probably not even right to say third party, they are new movements. At this point in time anybody who knows the history of politics in Belize knows that it doesn’t take two years to create a party. It takes ten, fifteen, twenty years. So I’m not gonna run down any third party, I won’t call them a spoiler because it’s a new movement and they have to prove to the people that they are serious. If they can’t put up thirty-one candidates this first election means that they’re still not quite ready and I don’t think any third party or any new party will put up thirty-one candidates.”
And it’s not until Nomination Day that the electorate will know exactly how many candidates will contest the elections.
Ann-Marie Williams for News Five.
That day is not far off as Monday will see the candidates step up and sign on the dotted line.
