Will it be the P.U.P. Gospel according to Mark?
Mark Espat
The sudden resignation of John Briceño as leader of the P.U.P. sent shockwaves through the party and was all the buzz going into the long weekend. Insiders and political observers are still reeling from the resignation that is changing the entire dynamics of the opposition party. Briceño surprised even his closest advisors when he broke the news at a Friday morning meeting of his National Executive at which the matter of the party’s finances was the single item on the agenda. Former prime minister and party leader, Said Musa and his son, Chairman Henry Usher, absented themselves from that meeting presumably in retaliation for Briceño’s now famous exhortation that the P.U.P. millionaires should bring back the money from their offshore accounts. Little did they know that Briceño would be resigning at that meeting. Had they known, it is doubtful that they would have missed the meeting, where Mark Espat eased into transitional leadership.
The National Executive took the decision that Espat should act as Interim Party Leader until a convention is held within a month’s time. Espat was in touch with standard bearers over the weekend and we are told that most pledged support, including the western caucus and the southern which went so far as to put their endorsement in writing. And let us say that the players in the south have not been the most affable toward Espat in the past. The meeting of the National Executive with Espat as interim leader is scheduled for October thirteenth for operational matters. It will put in motion the rules of engagement for the convention to elect a new party leader which has to take place by November sixth as the deadline for the leadership transition. Nominations are to be submitted by October twenty-first. The Executive meeting will also assess the organs of the party, including the treasury. Espat today got a brief about the state of play; the biggest challenge remains over financing with municipal elections just five months away. But will he make a bid for leader? That has not been exactly spelt out but it is known that an uncontested bid is his preferred way or support from at least seventy percent support of the thirty-six member executive. Following the executive meeting on Thursday, Espat, we are told, will be making his first statement.
And ….WHO IS PULLING MARK ESPAT’S STRINGS??????????????????
Inquiring minds WANT 2 KNOW.
PUP BEWARE OF ESPAT. BELIZEANS, HE IS THE AUTHOR OF THE SUPER-BOND. THE PUP SHOULD AVOID HIM AS HIV. HE HAS NO LOYALTY BUT TO HIMSELF.
I for one will wait and listen to marks responses and to find out more about his views on everything but if he does not embrace the hanging penalty for murder then he also will be seen by me as being as weak as this useless pm we have now.
The PUP is going from bad to worse. Briceno had no money cause the his enemies aka the Musa team made sure to starve him from money. So now the new puppet is Espat. Espat who has a very grey past and has made decisions that only benefit himself and not the public who put him in office. @ Earl, Earl i think the musa camp is pulling Espat’s strings. Musa not being at that meeting was all part of the plan. To all those elected PUP leaders, the people are no longer afraid to speak so if you have skeletons in your closet, they will come to light.
why dont you see and listen to what the guy has to say intead of making foolish assumptions. i too dont know what his views are on a lot of issues, but for heaven sake liten first. that is the biggest problem with belizeans they dont listen. ragga seh so
Mark is not loyal to the party. He was asleep when the grassroot people were bring back the party. Surprise that the southern caucus support him. he will following instruction from the zinc fence tabloid.
I wouldnt call u stupid lucas; i’ll just say that u r misinformed/uneducated…mark was anti-establishment longtime!even channel 5 dont like him (this is an opinion so plz dont delete it)….he is the best man to lead the greatest political party in history!!!!
well said hugo, well said.. we need economists to dig belize out of this mess we are digging deeper in to. not lawyers! johnny and mark offered this so any way you take it, there is a better option now for belize. long live pup and belize.
Bad to worst? You got to be kidding if you put him next to the Barrow administration he i s a saint. I am not saying PUP are better , but Breceno wasn’t aggressive enough as a party leader to begin with. Barrow tactics will change now though he is not messing with your average politician and for the first time I bet you actually sweating bullets for re-election.
However we need new blood people to step up to run instead of recycling these guys over and over.
The PUP is dead and has been dead since February 2008. They should have done the decent thing and bury the PUP with George Price. When are these people going to let go? Mark Espat’s best bet is to form a new political party and spend the next ten years canvassing for national support. Like Briceno, he will waste the next 4+ years administering CPR to the dead PUP. He has already lost 3+ years under Briceño. In four years time, he will be at 7+ wasted years which would have put him less than 3 years away from leading a new national party. Corruption killed the PUP in February 2008 – There are a few who are not willing to let go and let the PUP RIP.
Mark has no loyalty!!! Francis needs to be the new leader of the PUP!!
To the idot about loyal to the party; we want people who will be loyal to the people.WE all know that both parties have done the people wrong. Mark and Cordel as i can recall are the only ones who have disagreed with thier part and made it public. We need people to represent the people and not the party.
Well put bb, Mark is the only politician who has stuck all the way with what is of national interest. He puts the people first, then the party. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, Mark should get a standing ovation for that from everybody. Lucas is clearly wanting to confuse the people. When Mark dealt with the Super Bond it was because Musa had asked him to do so. Now, Musa doesn’t like Mark; but he hurriedly went to ask for Mark to handle the debt payments for Belize. Nothing else could have been done, given the state of affairs. Mark would not let Belize fall into economic default. And the then PM knew that Belize’s creditors would only be willing to sit with Mark for renegotiations. Why did Musa not send Ralph? Because the creditors did not want to sit with any of the pack who were ransacking Belize. They only trusted Mark’s word and seriousness. Because of Mark’s successful renegotiation of our debts is that we are not all the way down into the $#!%hole. (The UDP are carrying us there, but that is another story). So, regardless of Mark’s personality, whether he is a people-person or not, is not of much concern to me. I like the way Mark gets things well done, without all the noise. He is a precise, serious, hard-working, no-nonsense fellow who puts his country first… and delivers.
We are tired of Lawyers running our country Jonny was not aggressive enough MARK IS THE MAN
Mark would be d best thim apart from Mr Price to ever happen to our country. What we need to do is get rid of deán sorrow.
Belize is in need of a worthy opposition. So the leader to take over the reigns of the PUP should be aggressive, honest, self-confident and assertive, in short a peaceful revolutionist. The people need a party with a leader ready to save Belize before we lose our right to freedom. Above all a leader who is honest and willing to stop the rampant corruption in all gov’t departments including Lands dept., the police and BDF. Bze needs a leader who will live to his commitment he professes before elected as PM. Barrow and the UDP have failed the Belizean people: not a wisp of corruption will be tolerated (Barrow, 2008). With all the millions sucked by the politicians (Prime mininisters & his ministers) Belize, if this money is used for the development of BZE our country should be a good country to live. Maybe free of violence. wake up Belizeans. PUP choose a worthy leader to continue the legacy of George C. Price.
Personally, I think Mark E and Cordell H are the most honest leaders in the PUP, maybe the only ones who could conceivably be accused of honesty. Imperfect? Yes. Better than the rest of the PUP lot? Definatly!
I am not saddened by the resignation of Briceno. What I wanted him to do is to allow contest for area reps rather than endorsing old cows to the plate. that way we would have purge them out of the system and bring back the party to unity with all fresh blood. that’s what the Belizean people were crying for a long while. If could go back to drawing board, the party will definitely have a chance. take my word.
Poli-tricks as usual!!!!!!!!!!!!