Patrick Faber Breaks Radio Silence, Takes Aim at U.D.P. Executive

Collet Area Representative Patrick Faber broke his silence today, taking aim squarely at the leadership of the United Democratic Party. The salvo comes hard on the heels of an announcement on Thursday that he will no longer be running for the U.D.P. in that constituency, despite having won five consecutive terms since 2003. It is the latest in a tumultuous relationship between the former party leader and the troubled political organization. In a letter written to Faber by the Nominations Committee on October twenty-seventh, he was informed that his candidacy has essentially come to an end, notwithstanding the removal of a series of social media posts that were offensive to the party.  In his place is Ian Jones, whose application to become the next standard bearer for Collet has been accepted. This morning, while Party Leader Shyne Barrow and other members of the executive held a press conference at the U.D.P. headquarters here in Belize City, Faber and his supporters held an impromptu protest outside of the building.  It’s not likely that the embattled politician is going without a fight, despite a recent attempt to trigger a recall convention failing to meet the requisite threshold.

Patrick Faber

Patrick Faber, Collet Area Representative

“There are serious issues, serious infighting within the party.  I will tell you that categorically, I think that the various different posts that people make on social media, but also if you go and talk to people on the streets every day, they will tell you that this party, the United Democratic Party which we all love so dearly, in fact, is at one of the lowest points, if not the lowest points that this party has ever been.  It is the most divided that this party has ever been and so all of us who are right-minded must be very concerned. We saw multiple members of the central executive being kicked off the central executive with no remorse.  We saw people being kicked off the position of regional leaders after the National Party Council endorsed those people to be there.  We saw ridiculous decisions being made like asking people to now sign up to be members of the party when in fact people have been longstanding members of the this party.  In fact, those who were aspiring for candidacy were even told that if you don’t sign up for membership of the party, you can’t run.  Some of the delegates of our party who attended four national conventions, and for the benefit of those people who don’t know, the national convention is the supreme law of this party, the supreme body of this party and fi you tell somebody, you voted in February 2020, you voted again in July 2020, you voted in a recall in 2021, in July, and then the following year, in March twenty-seventh, you voted again, but now you’re not a member of the party, after you participated in four national conventions, has to be absolutely ridiculous.”