“We had better candidates”, says Fonseca
Tonight, although many Belizeans are still recovering from election fatigue, the People’s United Party is preparing get down to the business of governing. The new Cabinet heads to Belmopan first thing Friday morning to be officially sworn in by the Governor General at Belize House. This afternoon, we sat down with party secretary and new Freetown area rep Francis Fonseca, for an inside take on Wednesday’s results.
Janelle Chanona
“Given the resounding victory claimed by the P.U.P. government yesterday, looking back over the campaign what do you think sealed it for your party? Was it the economic strategy, the plans in education, the media campaign or a combination of everything?”
Francis Fonseca, Secretary General, P.U.P.
“We really had a better team, a better team of candidates. And we had a better plan. I really believe that and I think at the end of the day the people of Belize recognized that. I think we really tried our best to articulate a message of hope and opportunity, a vision of taking the country forward, a message of continuity. And I think people really believed in Belize that the country-for the most part-was on the right track, that this was not the time for a new beginning to start over, and I think that message really resonated with the Belizean people.”
“I think they really wanted to hear some discussion about what will you do for me in education, what will you do for me in terms of housing, specific goals, specific objectives, and that is what we tried to do; and I think it worked out well.”
Janelle Chanona
“One of the things that looks like it didn’t work well at all was the southside strategy. What do you think went wrong there?”
Francis Fonseca
“Any political party and any government will have to try to find some formula to ensure that people who have less get more. And I think that has been a challenge we faced over these five years, and I think that has to be at the centrepiece of our agenda over this five years.”
“It’s an ongoing challenge, but certainly the party will have to look at that very closely on the southside of Belize City, because we won, as you rightly said, overwhelmingly in 1998 on the southside and this time we lost four of our seats. So certainly it’s an area of concern for us. And we will do everything we can to recapture the hearts and minds and the spirit of the people on the Southside of Belize City.”
Janelle Chanona
“Of the twenty-two P.U.P. candidates that are now area representatives, only one is a woman. What’s the party’s response going to be to that, making sure that women do get the proper representation in government through other ways.”
Francis Fonseca
“We try to make sure that there was sort of an equity in terms of the leadership of the public service. The People’s United Party we believed has a good record in terms of promoting and advancing women in the public service, and also on our boards, in making up representation of the boards, the key boards of government. So that’s some obviously something very important to us, I know the Prime Minister believes very strongly in that, he said that to me on many occasions. And so I am sure that in this government, when we are putting together our boards and making the appointments that any new government makes, that will be a key factor in his consideration, making sure that women are adequately represented, not only in any sort of token form, but good women, solid strong women who will serve well.”
