U.D.P. kicks off campaign with “21 pledges”

The party’s manifesto isn’t ready yet, but Opposition Leader Dean Barrow took the offensive this morning following yesterday’s election announcement by the Prime Minister. While his twenty-one pledges broke little new ground in the art of political promise making, beneath the electoral boilerplate were some clear signs of where the U.D.P. may be heading. News Five’s Janelle Chanona reports.

Janelle Chanona, Reporting
As part of their official campaign launch, this morning the thirty-one candidates of the United Democratic Party were formally introduced to a roomful of supporters.

Doug Singh, Chairman, U.D.P.
“We are organized, we’ve put our propaganda machinery together–our promoting machinery together should I say, and we are prepared to go face to face with the People’s United Party.”

The U.D.P.’s bilingual manifesto is scheduled for release next week, but today Opposition Leader Dean Barrow previewed the document by listing the party’s twenty-one “pledges” for 2008-2013.

Dean Barrow, Leader, U.D.P.
“One, ease the cost of living by lowering electricity rates and telephone rates.”

The U.D.P. is also promising to reduce the price of fuel, increase the number of zero rated G.S.T. items, create five thousand jobs in the tourism industry, borrow from the World Bank for a multi-million dollar infrastructure project, as well as create a healthier investment and economic development climate.

Dean Barrow
“We will continue this U.D.P. policy of income tax reduction by eliminating in our term income tax for all those that are making less than six hundred and fifty dollars per week, currently it’s around three hundred and odd, four hundred and odd.”

Other promises include a three hundred dollar subsidy to needy high-schoolers, a national primary school feeding programme, a D.N.A. testing facility for the police, the reinvigoration of the C.Y.D.P. for at-risk youth, a skills training initiative for single mothers, and the construction of five thousand houses. But amidst the usual campaign promises came one very important diplomatic announcement.

Dean Barrow
“This perhaps gives me an opportunity to signal that our government intends to maintain diplomatic relations with the Republic of China on Taiwan. Taiwan as you know provided one hundred million dollars for housing to the current government. None of us is able to see where that money went, but we know that they can and will do no less for the new government. And in fact, as part of the support group that will welcome the change and the return to transparency, we are positive that in fact, they will help us to endow this housing programme to the tune of what will no doubt exceed the hundred million dollars that the People’s United Party was able to secure.”

The U.D.P. is also planning to create a new development finance institution, refurbish sugar roads, give duty free fuel to farmers, lower mortgage rates to homeowners, upgrade hospitals, name a National Heroes Day, and legislate for increased rights to workers.

Dean Barrow
“We want to offer shares in a national oil company to ordinary Belizeans so that the masses of the people can collect dividends and have a personal stake in the national petroleum wealth.”

And in case you were wondering where all the money would be found to finance the U.D.P.’s new era of prosperity…

Dean Barrow
“Aren’t we forgetting that there is a new found industry in Belize, oil? And I don’t want, I don’t want to quarrel with those that are currently exploiting the petroleum that’s been found in this country and so I will content myself with saying that we will make sure that we get our fair return, we will make sure the Belizean people get their fair return.”

Barrow is confident that other monies will come from abroad, especially Taiwan and international financial institutions.

Dean Barrow
“Pledge number twenty-one ladies and gentlemen, the final pledge. And this is of course what anchors our entire vision, this is at the heart of what we intend to do as the national government of this country: implement immediately the reform agenda in order to provide for recall mechanisms for elected officials, prosecution under an unjust enrichment law of officials who are living a lifestyle that their assets can’t afford; an empowered, not an elected Senate, an empowered Senate controlled by the social partners.”

Despite that pledge, Barrow maintained today his party will all but ignore the referendum on an elected Senate.

Dean Barrow
“We will have none of it. We are saying to our people, you either ignore the ballot, the referendum ballot on Election Day, or if you take the ballot and you vote, you vote no.”

But the U.D.P. does have its own formula for improving the role of the Senate.

Dean Barrow
“The current composition of the Senate is that you have three senators appointed by the social partners, three senators by the opposition, and six by the Government with the president of the Senate also appointed by the Government having a casting vote. So in effect, you have seven senators on the Government side and six between the Opposition and the social partners. We will reverse that formula, we are prepared to reverse that formula. What we would want to do is give four senate appointments to the social partners. The Opposition would remain with three and the Government would remain with six so that the Opposition together with the social partners would have seven and the Government would have six.”

Over the next thirty days, Barrow says he and the U.D.P. will aggressively canvass house to house.

Dean Barrow
“To campaign like the devil, particularly on the ground. Every candidate needs to be, as I have been yesterday with respect to Faber’s Road, every candidate needs to be going house to house. The party will take care, of course, of the public relations.”

But with the P.U.P. already spending the eighteen million in housing money fresh from Caracas, the U.D.P. isn’t happy.

Michael Finnegan, Area Rep., Mesopotamia
“Because Janelle, surely they will use it to try and to curry favour, to prostitute our people, to misuse–to use the nine million dollars for the elections to gain vote et cetera. I would want to believe that the U.D.P. need to have its legal minds put together to see how legal is it for a government, a lame duck government, a government four weeks before election, a government just as the announcement of an election is permitted to spend nine million U.S. dollars that were given to the people of Belize as a grant by the Venezuelan government.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Janelle Chanona.