Prime Minister speaks about the UDP’s separation from Moya

zenaida moya

Belize City Mayor, Zenaida Moya Flowers is offering no comments on her expulsion from her party. That decision was taken last Friday by the U.D.P. Ethics Committee for her explosive outburst after she was arraigned on criminal charges last October. This morning, however, Prime Minister Dean Barrow said the party acted because he was aggrieved by her remarks.

Marion Ali, Reporting

The decision by the U.D.P. National Executive to expel Belize City Mayor Zenaida Moya Flowers is the latest political bombshell in the U.D.P.  And Prime Minister Dean Barrow is not the least bit restrained about the mayor’s expulsion.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“The party could only act on the basis of what she said about me, which was more than an insult. I was accused of having perverted the course of justice.  That, as I understand it, formed the basis of the proceedings.”

Jules Vasquez, 7 News

“Is it for you a desirable outcome as leader that Zenaida Moya no longer be a part of the U.D.P. with what certain members of the party feel to be her known transgressions?”

Primes Minister Dean Barrow

“I believe that for some time now the paths have diverged.  I believe that for some time the mayor has been going in a different direction from the party and I had not seen anything that suggested a reconciliation was possible.”

And while Barrow was anything but circumspect about the expulsion, one of Moya’s defense attorneys in her criminal case, Michael Peyrefitte, spoke from a more objective point of view.

Michael Peyrefitte, Attorney for the Mayor

“There is a procedure that I’m aware of within the party’s constitution that allows the party to summon any member and give a member an opportunity to be heard and then the Ethics Committee can make a recommendation that that person be expelled. I know there is that as I think any organisation can do.  Any organisation can decide whether or not it wants an existing member of that organisation to still be a part of that organisation.”

But this is not the last of Moya and the U.D.P. yet.

Primes Minister Dean Barrow

“Presumably if there can be evidence produced of a genuine earnest desire to begin to act in a way that’s consistent with the principles of the party, to begin to subject herself to party discipline, to begin to adhere to party principles, it may not be too late.”

Moya Flowers will have a chance to appeal the decision within thirty days but as Peyrefitte explains, her re-entry into the party will have to be a two way street.

Michael Peyrefitte

“I can’t just say well Channel Five has to hire me because I want to work for them.  Channel Five has to be willing to hire me and decide whether or not they want me on their team.  So similarly it has to be an agreement on both sides.  If the United Democratic Party has made a decision concerning one of its members, then that’s between the member and the party.”

So where does this leave Moya Flowers in terms of her mayoral office?  Well, she is has been expelled from the U.D.P. so that makes her an independent mayor, another historic event in her colourful political career.  But the expulsion also has no bearing on her criminal case which is still before the court.

Michael Peyrefitte

“There was a decision by a political party, by a club as to whether or not it wants to remove one of its members, which is quite different from the state, the Director of Public Prosecutions bringing a charge against the mayor of Belize City.  It has no significance with regard to the criminal case.  It neither strengthens it nor weakens it in any way.  It has no bearing whatsoever on the criminal charges being brought against the mayor.”

Barrow says that the expulsion also does not affect the Mayor’s day-to-day duties or central government’s assistance to the Council.

Primes Minister Dean Barrow

“The government’s obligations to the City Council by way of subvention but also by way of a willingness and perhaps a duty to intervene in circumstances where the finances of the council are desperate.  That duty, that obligation will remain.”

While the mayor’s political days ahead look bleak, if her present term in municipal government is her last, then perhaps the only comforting words to Moya from Barrow was that the ten U.D.P. councillors will not be coached or forced to treat her as an adversary. Marion Ali for News Five.

Attorney for the U.D.P., Michael Young, told News Five today that the party’s National Executive can change the decision but not after the thirty days expire, which means that if she doesn’t appeal, Moya Flowers will not be a card bearing member of the U.D.P.