Last ditch effort made to salvage debate

Reports of its death may have been premature as the indefatigable duo of SPEAR’s Dylan Vernon and the Chamber’s Kevin Hererra are still pursuing their elusive dream of a prime ministerial debate. The latest position of the United Democratic Party, as stated this evening by Secretary General Kenworth Tillett, is that they are now ready to participate in a single man to man contest between party leaders Manuel Esquivel and Said Musa. Their only condition is that the Press Association be excluded from participation. That objection is believed to stem from the selection of the Belize Time’s Amalia Mai as one of the two press representatives by a small gathering of journalists last month. For its part the P.U.P., having earlier rejected the U.D.P. condition as offensive to press freedom, is now said to be studying the latest offer.