U.D.P. will launch manifesto July 12
The most popular sport in town these days, with the possible exception of CARICOM basketball, is trying to figure out the date of our next general elections. According to the constitution they must be held by October fifteenth, a date no later than three months following the dissolution of the National Assembly. While many pundits have confidently predicted a July election, time is rapidly running out for that option, as a minimum of four weeks notice must be given by the Prime Minister. August is another favorite, while history suggests that September may be appropriate. The plot has recently thickened, however, with several new ingredients added to the political pepperpot. In Friday’s House meeting Deputy P.M. Dean Barrow said that if he was the Prime Minister, he would wait until the bitter end, the better to demonstrate the success of the government’s policies. In a recent interview on the B.C.B. the Prime Minister himself told interviewer Colive Cabral that although the constitution requires only four weeks notice, he would be giving the electorate significantly longer than that time. And today the U.D.P. secretary general, Kenworth Tillett, told News Five that on July twelfth his party would gather en mass at Bird’s Isle where the manifesto would be unveiled and the party faithful prepared for the final battle. What better time or place to announce an election date? But while July twelfth now seems like a safe bet for an election announcement, will the ruling party dare to stretch their term as far as October, over five years and three months from the last election day? Tillett wasn’t about to give that one away but he did have something to say about the new manifesto.
Kenworth Tillett, Secretary General, U.D.P.
“We have had a plan; we have been working on that plan for five years and this manifesto is going to reflect what we see as a continuing of our work, that we have to do in terms of keeping Belize safe, economically strong in investing, building the infrastructure that is needed to get us over into the next century to see to it that we have everything in order. So the manifesto is just going to be addressing the problems of the day as the United Democratic Party sees them.
The elections are right upon us. The special conference serves as probably the final gathering of everybody before the final push and releasing the manifesto is just well. We have to get it out there at some point and this is as good an occasion as any to introduce Belize to the manifesto and the manifesto to Belizeans.
We have invested heavily in the infrastructure of this country. We have done research in terms of what people want, political reform and stuff like that. And all of that is going to be presented there.”
But while the Secretary General was looking forward, he was asked if it wasn’t necessary to first take a brief look back.
Q: “Does the U.D.P. think that the Belizean people has forgiven them for things like retrenchment, 1995, the whole fiasco with education, so called free education and land, free land?”
Kenworth Tillett
“I think people are beginning to understand that the U.D.P. made choices that may not have been politically expedient but they were solid choices in terms of this economy. That retrenchment was not politically wise in terms of the fall out but they see today that it had to be done, that the criminal thing to do was to do nothing.”
Q: “Kenworth, this is 1998 and the hysteria of 1993 is no longer there. Everything seems to be all right in Guatemala, there is no talk of Guatemala coming across the border, no talk of devaluation. What is the U.D.P. pegging its hopes for winning the elections on?”
Kenworth Tillett
“Well the hopes of the United Democratic Party rest with our record to start with, what we have done. I will repeat, we have not been perfect but we have been good in terms of the administration. We have made some tough choices. This has not been an easy road at all but we made those choices with the best interest of Belize at heart.
The next thing that we are going to say to the electorate in this election, we will ask you to look at the leadership because the basic thing under the system under which we are governed, the Westminster system is basically you are choosing a Prime Minister, a leader when you go to the polls.”
Q: “So in terms of strategy, the way to Belmopan you would say is to put Said Musa or in your case Manuel Esquivel against Said Musa so far as character is concerned?”
Kenworth Tillett
“We are saying that the leadership of the United Democratic Party stands head and shoulder above the opposition, that the character, the integrity, the honesty and the intelligence of the United Democratic Party leadership is reflected, has shown, it is there and that our record as leaders is much better than the P.U.P. and the person they project to be the leader. In other words, we are saying Manuel Esquivel stands head and shoulders above Said Musa in all of the categories and the issue of character is going to be one of the determining factors in this elections.”
