Briceño says he’s ready but hasn’t yet made up his mind

It is a game of cat and mouse that come Friday will more closely resemble a tangle between tiger and warrie. Friday of course, is the deadline by which candidates for the post of P.U.P. leader must formally declare their intentions. Right now the three men circling the ring are Francis Fonseca, Johnny Briceño and Mark Espat. Party chairman Fonseca is the candidate supported by outgoing leader Said Musa, outgoing campaign chief Ralph Fonseca and first deputy leader Godfrey Smith. Briceño and Espat, strongly supported by Cordel Hyde, are expected to unite behind one or the other to mount a challenge to the party’s old guard. None of the candidates have been eager to take their case to the press but today News Five’s Kendra Griffith found Briceño in Orange Walk where he spoke briefly about his plans for the future.

John Briceño, Area Rep., Orange Walk Central
“Certainly I am looking at my options. I have been speaking to different candidates or former candidates and meeting with different people across this country getting their feel as to what kinds of change they want to see. And so at this moment I am still weighing my options. I have until Friday I guess, that’s when they said that nominations have to go in by then. So certainly by Friday I’ll be able to make up my mind if whether I should take this huge step. It is going to be a momentous decision in my part that will include not only myself, but my family, my committee and all the support that I have across this country.

Kendra Griffith
“What do you say to the perception out there that there seems to be two factions inside the Peoples’ United Party: those backing Mr. Fonseca and the faction of yourself, Mr. Espat and Mr. Hyde?”

John Briceño
“Well, I think what happened, what’s happening right now is, I think we have probably two school of thought within the party right now. I suspect and I can’t speak for Mr. Fonseca but there’s this concern or this perception within the public that we still have not gotten this message of change from February seventh. The people of this country spoke out very loudly, they were very clear that they were not satisfied with the way we were governing, that there were serious concerns and feeling that we lost our way somewhere between these ten years that we were in government. The party leader has said that publicly, the party chairman has said that publicly and we need to do a lot of soul searching and to find where is it that we went astray. A lot was done over the past ten years but certainly people of this country did not feel enough was done or that we were losing what the P.U.P. was all about. People like mark and myself, we represent this change that we need to have in this party. We need to go back to the roots. We need to let our people, the party supporters will feel, not only we say in words, but they feel that they are the true owners of this party.

That question of who exactly owns the Peoples’ United Party will of course be decided on March thirtieth. In advance of that date the candidates will be presenting delegates with their respective versions of the political facts of life. In a letter to the Amandala published today, P.U.P. public relations chief Yasser Musa gave a hint of how the Fonseca camp will be attacking the insurgents. “The next leader” he wrote, “will be chosen because he has demonstrated to be one hundred percent loyal to the P.U.P.” today we raised the loyalty issue with the four term representative from Orange Walk Central.

John Briceño
“I believe there is no one in this party that could ever question the loyalty that I have to the People’s United Party. That decisions that I have made were always done with the intentions of … with good intentions. The decisions that I have made were because I love my party and that I would not go against my party. So there’s some tough decisions that we will do in government and I understand that but there are times that believe that it is best to take a step out and to refocus and to regain what you are all about, what is it that you were elected to do, that you are here to represent the people of this country. It’s not only the party, but also the people of this country. My loyalty is in question to the Peoples’ United Party. I was born in this party, I grew up in this party, I believe the principles of this party. I still believe that the Peoples’ United Party continues to be the greatest party in this country but we need to change and we need to do even more for the people of this country.”

Kendra Griffith
“Does this mean then that regardless of whoever wins the leadership; yourself, Mr. Fonseca, Mark Espat, this means that the party will come together unified and back that leader?”

John Briceño
“Well, the first thing we need to ensure is that we have … that the rules are very clear and that they are fair with everyone because for us to be able to truly unite the party we need to give everybody a fair opportunity so that at the end of the day we can allow the people to make that decision for us to be able to move ahead. I’m a P.U.P. and that will not change.”

Briceño, Espat and Hyde have formally written Chairman Fonseca requesting that the number of delegates be increased from one per hundred P.U.P. votes to one per twenty-five. They also asked that a list of delegate names be provided to candidates at least a week before the convention.