Former City Councilor Mark King appeals to U.D.P. for Lake I

Mark King, the former Belize City Councilor who got into trouble with his own party, may be in the U.D.P.’s bad books once again. King was out of the spotlight and could not participate in the last Belize City Council elections because he was sanctioned for talking boldly about the problems of mismanagement and corruption in the council.  King applied to run in the U.D.P.’s Lake Independence Convention, but before he could work out a strategy to become the standard bearer, his application was rejected outright even though his documents were in order.  King went to appeal that decision today which he calls uninformed and biased.  King, never afraid of stepping into hot water, boldly spoke about the injustice as he stood in front of the U.D.P.’s headquarters at the foot of the BelChina Bridge.

Mark King, Wants to run in U.D.P. Lake Independence Convention

“They didn’t give me a reason in my letter stating why they don’t accept my candidacy.”

Jose Sanchez

“But you do believe it was because you spoke out against what you felt were injustices while you were a member of the city council?”

Mark King

“Of course, but at the same time, I am saying that that sanction is over, that sanction is to miss one term of elections which is the municipal elections and the general elections that have passed. So I have served my time from that sanction and I am suppose to be accepted back to run in conventions again.”

Jose Sanchez

“But let me ask, you’re speaking out again against a similar injustice. Are you not afraid that just this mere interview could affect anything that you may try to do to move this forward?”

Mark King

“Well that is democracy in high speed. Simply because the party wants me to sit back and don’t run doesn’t mean that I cannot or should not represent the people via the media. If I spoke out something that was transparent and I believe that they are impeding on my rights; my rights as a person to run for election, my rights under the party’s constitution to treat all candidates—the United Democratic Party under their constitution must treat all candidates with fairness and their rights and justice under the constitution of Belize and under the party’s constitution. So at the end of the day, no, if they want to take action on me for interviewing about my appeal, then this is a situation that they brought on themselves. They should have done their homework in the first place because the committee that decided my fate was the nominations committee when the committee that decided my fate back then was the actual central executive. So the nominations committee should have gone to central executive and said look, this man has served his time, we have banned him from two elections already—a city council elections and a general elections and now that time is gone. You can’t punish me over and over for the same thing. So I’m saying all I want is my fair chance to contest conventions in U.D.P. And the thing is I have not been expelled from the party, I have not been suspended from the party and I am an active in the party member.”

Jose Sanchez

jose sanchez

“Would you be willing to consider running independent, or it has to be in red?”

Mark King

“Let me tell you something about diehard U.D.P.s—I’m gonna say diehard because I’ve been on the god damned frontline for the U.D.P.—fi Dean Barrow, fi Juliet Thimbrel, fi Patrick Faber and the whole set ah dehn up deh. So let me tell you about diehard U.D.P.s, we no jump out ah wi party just like that, we noh run independent just like that, we work out wi problems when we have problems ina wi party. And that is the democracy that the United Democratic Party portrays. So now they are allowing me to put in my appeal and I am saying to them look, I am asking you to reverse the decision, because it is a non-informed decision based on the fact that they did not go back to the central executive to find out that my sanctioned has been lift.”

Jose Sanchez

“You’ve been quiet ever since your original suspension. Is it safe to say now that this is the beginning of the return of Mark King?”

mark king

Mark King

“I have always been present in the background; you don’t have to help people just by being in front of the camera. I have helped so many people in Belize and they know themselves.”

Jose Sanchez

“But this is your time now?”

Mark King

“But this is my time and this is my time to say that you are stopping the democratic process, you are stopping me from running for an open convention.  So is the United Democratic Party telling me now that you are going to control the democratic process under the party principles?  You’re contrary to your own self. You are running contrary to your own protocols of your party. This is similar to what you can say the P.U.P. was trying to do and self-inflict pain upon a candidate before the race even begins. No man, give me my fair chance, come to the convention and knock me out with all your ministers like you do for the rest of conventions. But don’t tell me I don’t have the audacity to run. No man, that is unfair—it is undemocratic and is beyond my constitutional rights.”

King went on to say that he is not at war with his party and that he has a tape recording of former Party Chairman Douglas Singh and Phillipa Bailey in a meeting after the central executive met during that time when he was still a councilor. According to King, they told him in that meeting that he would have been sanctioned only for one term. He said those tape recordings would only be released if necessary.