V.I.P. candidates says it’s his party’s turn to win

And while most of focus has been on the P.U.P. and the U.D.P. as we reported yesterday, there are some independents and less known political groups that are also contesting the March poll. In Belmopan, the Vision Inspired by the People is promoting itself as the alternative to the P.U.P. and the U.D.P. Their candidates include: Kamil Espat, Paul Morgan, Elvira Brown, Bobby Lopez, Berta Saravia and Lloyd Tingling. VIP Mayoral Candidate Hubert Enriquez stopped by our studios this morning to explain why 2009 will be a winner for his party in Belmopan.

Hubert Enriquez, V.I.P. Mayoral Candidate
“What we have done is really to put in our manifesto, proposals which put people at the center of governance system. The V.I.P. is also aware of the other issues, for example quality of life issues. For instance looking at road infrastructure; looking at our physical infrastructure, roads, playgrounds, the parks and so forth, they need to be improved. Looking at our social infrastructure, where we’re talking about looking at things like crime, looking at the educational system. Train our young people, looking at land and housing for instance for young people in Belmopan, that’s an issue. There is land but young people can’t get land. Land that are available is unaffordable. Looking also at the question of our economic situation where, for instance, there is a problem with jobs particularly for young people.”

Jose Sanchez
“Is your party as well financed as the two main political parties?”

Hubert Enriquez
“No.”

Jose Sanchez
“Now, you have all of these ideas about land, housing, job creation. If you believe that the P.U.P. and U.D.P. have been unable to achieve these goals then why is the V.I.P. able to do this?”

Hubert Enriquez
“Well you need to understand first of all V.I.P., the name itself, means Vision Inspired by the people. That itself is a distinguishable mark of the V.I.P. as opposed to other parties because it speaks of the vision and it speak to the issue of the people so that the vision is driven by the people. And that’s where the V.I.P. is different from the other parties. The parties, the people that they represent are special interest people while we are generally grass roots people. To answer your question, we are focusing on the vision. We are convinced that the problems we have in Belize is not necessarily because of the lack of resources, but the lack of vision. And if you apply those visions to everyday problems, those problems are going to be resolved.”

Jose Sanchez
“Since the year 2000 your party has been running for municipal elections. You have not been successful. What keeps you going?”

Hubert Enriquez
“Well, what keeps us going is our commitment to reform. We are convinced even more so now that what we were saying, even back then, is now coming to fruition. We had said other times that the political parties are not serious about reform, we have seen this happen under the previous administration, we are seeing it happen right now. And even now, as we speak, the people are becoming more aware and we will see that in fact in the results of this election that is coming up, it is going to be a different situation completely.”

Jose Sanchez
“If you take a look at the total amount of votes for the 2006 municipal elections, the U.D.P. had gotten eleven thousand and thirty-six the P.U.P. eight thousand seventy-two and the V.I.P. came up with a total figure of four thousand six hundred and thirty-three that’s with all the candidates. That’s a little less than half. So how do you see your entire set of people getting these thousands of votes necessary? How do you see them getting those votes?”

Hubert Enriquez
“Well you need to understand, if you look at the previous election, you are around the—in other words, we grew over the three year period. We grew tremendously over the three year period. And so it is our expectation that we’re gonna to continue to grow much more so now. We now have the opportunity of examining for ourselves, the performance of a different administration. I could tell you that people are completely disappointed with what they are seeing right now. We believe that is going to be reflected in the numbers that are going to be indicated on election day. In fact, people will be drawn to the V.I.P. because they will see that both political parties are the same.”

Channel Five is teaming up with Love FM on March fourth to provide country wide coverage of the elections.