Aikman will take on Musa in Fort George

For a while it had turned into a guessing game. Rescued from the political graveyard by a stroke of the legislative pen, Derek Aikman was back in the business of politics. But where would he run? Early word was that the U.D.P. hierarchy wanted him to keep Said Musa on his toes in Fort George, while Derek allegedly preferred the more neighborly confines of Albert. Freetown, his old stomping ground, was viewed as a compromise choice. If the conventional wisdom is to be believed then it appears that the party bosses won out: they announced last night at a public meeting in Belize City that Aikman would indeed get the nomination for Fort George. Michael Godoy, the previous U.D.P. standard bearer, who was easily defeated by Musa in 1993, will now step aside and presumably help his high powered successor. What are Derek’s chances? The early money is on Musa, although Aikman, the man who once beat George Price, is betting that lightning will strike twice. The Said Musa of 1998, however, is not the George Price of 1984. His machinery is well oiled, his record strong and his roots go deep in the division. The only question mark appears to be re-registration. Since that exercise began the constituency has counted only around on thousand registered voters. One suspects that between now and Election Day they will be the most heavily courted in Belize.