Orson Picart Officially Enters the Political Fray
On Sunday, the United Democratic Party announced that it had held a virtual convention to determine its city council slate for Old Capital. Very few details about the process were revealed except that there were four mayoral and twenty-four councilor hopefuls. Media personality, Orson Picart was selected as the mayoral candidate for Belize City in the upcoming municipal elections. Picart, along with a newly named slate of U.D.P. councilor candidates, enters the race at a time when the party is not popular with the people. This morning, the aspiring politician granted his first interview to media colleagues at Mule Park here in Belize City.
Orson Picart
Orson Picart, U.D.P. Mayoral Candidate
“My entrance into politics has been in the making for the past twenty something years. Ever since I graduated sixth form from S.J.C., I wanted to enter the political arena but I knew that at the time the odds weren’t with me and so I would kinda have to work my way up in terms of learning more about politics, the inner dynamics of political parties and additionally, ultimately which one of the two major political parties I would want to run under. And so, of recent I had a conversation with my wife and my immediate family and my advisors and we decided that since the United Democratic Party seems to be in a restructuring, kind of in a rebuilding mode, having just lost the general elections in November that this would be the opportune time to put my candidacy out there and offer the people of Belize City and by extension a new fresh face to politics in Belize who aspires for greatness.”
Isani Cayetano
“You’re coming in at a time when the United Democratic Party is seemingly despised by the electorate. How do you plan to turn things around in terms of the image of the party through your candidacy?”
Orson Picart
“With just that, offering new faces to the municipal slate. Some that may be familiar as well and also what we bring and particularly me as an individual is that I come with no baggage and the people of Belize City have watched me grow and progress over the years. People from Belize City know me and so I want them to know that apart from my political alignment, the vocation is bigger, the calling is bigger and it’s all about service to the people.”
The councilor candidates are Kera Bowman, Andrew Bradley, Alisha Craig, Doctor Alain Gonzalez, Leon Guild, Allan Kelly, Kenneth “Kenny G” Morgan, Anazette Olivera, Meagan Tasher and Shane Williams. Of note is that Doctor Gonzalez has served before as a councilor under former Mayor Darrell Bradley. Shane Williams is also a media colleague who writes for the Guardian Newspaper. On the other hand, Morgan is a well-known local entertainer who has worked at City Hall previously under former Mayor Zenaida Moya.
