P.U.P. Getting Ready for CitCo; Tells U.D.P.’s Butt Out

John Briceño

Following his press conference, Opposition Leader John Briceño was questioned on several other burning national issues. The United Democratic Party this past Sunday held a contested convention for the post of Mayor and councilor for the Belize City Council that resulted in Dion Leslie being elected over Philip Willoughby and seven of the incumbent councilors, including Willoughby, returned to the slate. The People’s United Party is taking its time to name its slate, and Briceño brushed off taunts by Leslie on Sunday that it cannot gauge its popularity in the Old Capital since it has not held an open convention in some time. The U.D.P., says Briceño, is better off addressing its own issues.

John Briceño, P.U.P. Leader

“We are taking our time, because we want to ensure that we get the best possible team to represent the party. I think this City needs a new Council of a mayor and councilors that are going to act more transparently and can be acting more in the interest of the people of Belize City. We have seen over two hundred million dollars from Central Government being spent in Belize City and we see no accountability of what has taken place. We see where many of these streets are breaking apart; they have been washing away; we see many areas that these streets that were built without consideration to drainage, where people never used to flood, now they are flooding, and there are countless cases where we see acts of corruption under this U.D.P. City Council. We are not going to let the U.D.P. dictate to us. As always we follow the Constitution and the Constitution says that we have open conventions and if we have more candidates for the positions we have we will have open conventions; we’ve had that both in Dangriga and Punta Gorda. So I think the U.D.P. need to look after their own internal affairs, of which they are as a party right now imploding.”

P.U.P. Deputy Leader Cordel Hyde is said to be in charge of the process and Briceño boasted that the party has no shortage of candidates and finance to mount challenges across the country. Presently the opposition party is only in power in Orange Walk Town.