Delroy Cuthkelvin to get post at Arts Council

In its 1998 manifesto the People’s United Party promised to create 15 thousand jobs during its five-year term of office. We don’t pretend to know about the other 14,999, but one man few people ever expected to see back on the government payroll has surfaced in a big way. Word is that Delroy Cuthkelvin, the journeyman media spin-doctor, will soon begin work at the Belize Arts Council as head of its new audiovisual unit. Cuthkelvin, who had previously worked at Channel 5 and a number of Radio Stations, gained prominence during the last UDP administration as the man who raised-some would say lowered-the art of taxpayer financed political propaganda to a new level. The prospective hiring of Cuthkelvin, who was responsible for articulating his party’s most virulent personal attacks on PUP leader Said Musa, has left many observers scratching their heads. Some PUP supporter’s claim that it is proof of the professionalism and transparency of the new government’s hiring process. Others more cynically claim just the opposite: that Delroy’s employment is deliberately calculated to keep him fat, happy and above all quiet for the next five years. When contacted by News Five for confirmation, officials in both the Arts Council and Ministry of Culture deferred to a higher authority.