Dangrigans protest against Aranda’s exclusion from Cabinet
While team sixteen were being sworn in at the Governor General’s office, not far away another group of politically motivated visitors were just… swearing. These protestors, however, were not rabid U.D.P.s; they were blue to the bone… and in no mood for compromise.
The mid-morning heat and humidity were not the only things on the upswing in Belmopan this morning as the emotions of a handful of disgruntled P.U.P.s spilled unto the steps of the administration building, their anger directed at one man: Said Musa.
Patrick Jones
“While the new Cabinet was at government house taking the oath of office, a handful of supporters from Dangriga were outside the office of the Prime Minister making noise. Their gripe is that Dr. Ted Aranda did not get a Cabinet posting.”
Elda Bermudez, Protest Leader
“Our main reason here today, we are here as Garifunas. Dr. Aranda was the only Garifuna candidate on the P.U.P. twenty-nine. He won that seat and we felt that if the government, the Cabinet, would be made up of people, we want one from every race, and to even it up, Dr. Aranda should be in because he’s the only Garifuna man there. And we need one to represent us in the Cabinet because it’s in the Cabinet that decisions are made.”
Musa says his decision to exclude Aranda from the Cabinet had nothing to do with ethnicity and that this morning’s protest just goes to prove that you can’t please everybody, all the time.
Said Musa, Prime Minister
“It is part of the democratic process and I came out this morning and spoke with the delegation that came from Dangriga. But you know this has to be expected. Everybody cannot be in Cabinet. We have pledged to keep a limited size cabinet and certainly no more than two-thirds from the ruling party and we have stuck to that pledge.”
Not necessarily the words that Bermudez and her placard-bearing group wanted to hear. They traveled all the way up the Hummingbird Highway this morning to register their displeasure with Musa’s decision, personally.
Elda Bermudez
“Our gripe is make a Cabinet full of every race in Belize. That’s what we are here for. Whether Mr. Aranda, he’s a Garifuna, Mr. Mes is an Indian. We have Spanish; we have Creole. Find a place for the Garifuna at the top level. And that’s what we’re here for.
I am a P.U.P. I work for the P.U.P. Whenever Mr. Musa or Mr. Courtenay is threatened to be arrested you can see Elda Bermudez heading her group here in Belmopan or Belize City. And this is the time for him to listen to us.”
But the protesting group might be putting the cart in front of the horse as Musa, the man in the hot seat early into his administration, says the fact that he did not get a ministerial post, does not mean that Dr. Aranda or any of the other elected representatives are forgotten.
Said Musa
“As stated in our manifesto we intend to upgrade the role of the representative. They will be given additional responsibility and we intend to put to work the Standing Committee System of the House, of the legislature and many of these people, elected officials, elected representatives, who were not appointed to Cabinet, will be serving in the powerful post of chairpersons of these standing committees of the House which will be given additional responsibility and authority.”
Elda Bermudez
“He would leave out somebody, leave out the newcomers because you can’t expect to get an amateur to build your house. Dr. Aranda was there for three years and a half. Elections was called early, he was developing Dangriga and the whole country with his health ministry. And that could be seen, and we don’t want to be left out because Mr. Musa knows that Dr. Aranda is competent and educated enough to hold any ministry that he would give him.”
While the group of Aranda supporters went back to Dangriga without the positive news they were hoping for, they can at least be satisfied that their round trip ticket to Belmopan got them the attention of the Prime Minister and a few minutes on prime time TV. Patrick Jones for News Five.
Rumors circulating Monday night said that it was the Corozal representatives, three of whom are not in Cabinet, who would be bringing a crowd to Belmopan. Such was not the case, however, as they — and the rest of us — prefer to give the new government a chance to get organized and make good on its many commitments to the nation.
