Political Newcomer Lloyd Jones on the Campaign Trail

Next stop was Belize Rural North where Major Lloyd Jones is reporting for duty. Jones is a well-known retired major from B.D.F who is taking on U.D.P. area representative Edmund “Clear the Land” Castro. The incumbent, Castro is a two-time area rep who has reeled from scandal to scandal. With his integrity intact, Jones is running for office for the first time and has been on the campaign trail in the sprawling division since his convention.  Today, News Five caught up with Jones in Sand Hill where he was meeting with residents and taking a poll of their concerns. He says that land, health, education and joblessness are some of the main issues plaguing Belize Rural North.

Lloyd Jones

Major Lloyd Jones, P.U.P. Candidate, Belize Rural North

“The concerns in Belize Rural North and pretty much universal across Belize. The average Belizean wants access to land; land is an extremely difficult job for us. Either people don’t have land or they have land that has been passed down to them from one generation to the other and they’ve had a difficult time in that hotbed of corruption in the Lands Department to get proper documentation for their land. This of course is going for the ordinary Belizeans because the not so ordinary Belizeans like Gapi Vega and his crowd have no problem getting proper documentation. Another problem that we are having is the lack of economic activity within the division. Total lack of creativity in the part of the current representative has led to economic stagnation within Belize Rural North. As a consequence our young people particularly have to leave the division to go to Belize City; we have people in San Pedro and Placencia looking for employment. We have got to change that. And as always, access to education. I met a young lady in Maskall about two weeks ago. She graduated as the valedictorian for her class last year from King’s College and she is sitting at home because her parents cannot afford to send her to sixth form. I don’t see how anybody could tell me that we are living in a good country when this is happening to our children. We also find that our elderly population has been forgotten and I think healthcare is especially important to them. How do we ensure that we bring healthcare to those people rather than have the leave to go to look for access to healthcare, particularly for basic healthcare?”