An Update on Patrick Faber’s Campaign for U.D.P. Leadership

Turning to politics….While Minister of Education Patrick Faber applauds the B.N.T.U.’s campaign to educate its membership on the Belize/Guatemala dispute; he has been busy heading a campaign of his own.  Since a date for a special convention to elect a new deputy leader of the United Democratic Party was announced, Faber has been across the country meeting with delegates who will be casting their votes come May twenty-ninth.  According to the Collet Area Representative, he is well received by members of the party as he continues his door-to-door visits.

Patrick Faber, Candidate for Deputy Leader

“I’ve been going delegation by delegation.  I’ve made it a point that in fact these, this election is going to be about the base which I have said are the stakeholders, the guardians of democracy, if you will, of the party and so I’ve been meeting with entire delegations but I’ve also been going into the homes of our delegates and I think that is what is making the difference.  I have no doubt in my mind that on May twenty-ninth it is the base of the party represented by the delegates of the constituencies that will be the marked difference in terms of the winning and I believe that these delegates are on my side.  From all that I have seen and from all the contact that I’ve made, I have no doubt in my mind that they will come forward on May twenty-ninth and make that statement boldly and that in fact we will be able to secure the number of votes that are needed.  I think it is about, I say three hundred because that’s an easier target but it is quite, actually a little less than the three hundred mark and we believe that that is in sight for us.  In fact we are confident of even more than that three hundred mark at this point in our campaign.”

Patrick Faber

Isani Cayetano

“Your campaign has you canvassing the breadth of the country in all thirty-one constituencies.  What has the reception from the wider community been like with regards to your door-to-door [efforts], as a manner of speaking?”

Patrick Faber

“Well, you are right, while I campaign to the delegates I do visit the communities, in fact we maintain a very active social media campaign as well.  And if you saw this morning, I did an interview on Love FM which is the national media because the issues at stake here while it is an internal party convention that person who wins will also become the new Deputy Prime Minister of Belize and as you are all aware this is a kind of early showdown in terms of determining the leadership of the party and possibly of the government if Mr. Barrow demits office in 2020 as he has stated he will do.  And so it is the concern of more than just the UDP faithful and the delegates, it has to be a concern and a campaign that is run to the wider Belizean population and that response too, Isani, has been very good for me.  I think that people do have some concerns, they raise these concerns to me as I go along.  I try to of course say to them that these are things that we are working on and that we continue to work on as a government, as a country.  But in terms of my own way of doing things it might be a bit different from, you know, the way that Prime Minister Barrow does things now and that’s okay, you know, every leader will take on his own form, will take on his own shaping.  At the moment I support our prime minister one hundred percent.  I am looking to be a capable and able deputy in his cabinet.  I will work with him one hundred percent and in fact I look forward to expanding on his legacy as Belize’s greatest prime minister once he demits office.”