Briceño Says He and PM Are Friends Outside of Politics…So What?

We also took the opportunity to quiz Briceño about some of the challenges he will certainly be facing if he is indeed elected leader of the P.U.P. on January thirty-first. He spoke candidly about former Minister Ralph Fonseca and former Prime Minister Said Musa.

John Briceño, Candidate for P.U.P. Leader

“I consider both Said Musa and Ralph Fonseca my friends. I have nothing against them. Ralph Fonseca has been very clear. He says that he has retired from politics. Rt. Hon. Said Musa has also announced that this is his last term as the Representative of Fort George. I wish both gentlemen well. But this Party is more than that. It is the tens of thousands of supports from the Toledo District all the way to Corozal. They are the ones that we need to think about. They are the ones we need to work for. They are the ones we need to fight for. They are the ones we need to create opportunities for and that is what my leadership is going to be all about.”

John Briceño

Mike Rudon

“One of the things that at least one of the other candidates in the leadership race has been using against you is your relationship with the leader of the U.D.P., Dean Barrow. Do you see that as a detriment? Do you see that as a valid charge being brought against you?”

John Briceño

“It’s a ludicrous charge. As I say all the time, I hate no one. This country is too small. There are only three hundred and fifty thousand of us for us to hate one another. I am friends with anybody who wants to be my friend. And yes Dean Barrow and I, on a personal note we get along. We chat. I wouldn’t say we are bosom buddies, but we get along well. In the House you can see he loses no sleep over hitting me in the House. Likewise I lose no sleep if I have to hit him. That’s the work that we do. Like I tell everybody, not because we are opponents we have to hate one another. When it comes to politics we have to fight, but when it comes to a personal relationship that’s completely different. We’re too small of a country. We can’t be hating one another. We need to love one another. We need to be friends with everybody. And when politics time comes you go to your corner, I go to my corner, and when the election is done it’s over. There’s just too much politics at time. It’s tiring. We need to move away from that.”