P.U.P. unveils manifesto for March municipal elections
With only twenty-two more days to nationwide municipal elections, this morning the People’s United Party officially launched its manifesto in ceremonies across the country. And as we found out on Queen’s Street this morning, the P.U.P. is going all out to secure dominance in the country’s two cities and seven towns.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
As part of a simultaneous launch in municipalities countrywide, this morning, the People?s United Party presented ?There for You – The Forward Agenda.? In Belize City, Independence Hall was filled with party supporters as the P.U.P. slate presented its new three-year plan for the old capital.
Not surprisingly, the manifesto is filled with promises of lower taxes, good governance, job creation, and better traffic management.
Incumbent city councillor Marshall Nunez is the mayoral candidate for the P.U.P. slate.
Marshall Nunez, P.U.P. Mayoral Candidate
?All of us can realize that Belize is in fact a very fast developing city and what we are pledging is to continue the development and expanding the services that is already being provided.?
Janelle Chanona
?Where are up going to get the money for these projects: city infrastructure, parking in the city, street maintenance, where are you going to get the money?
Marshall Nunez
?The resources are available, the revenues of the city, once it is collected, is enough to do the services and that?s why we want to live in a citizen-friendly city. We want people to know that their contributing to the city, the end result of that is development of the city, better maintenance of the infrastructures and so forth. We are in the process of completing, revising of the tax base, and we have quite a number of properties added to the tax roll which represents almost two million dollars in revenue to Belize City. So the resources are available for us to do these projects, we just have to do it in a comprehensive and cooperative way with the residents of the city.?
But Prime Minister and leader of the P.U.P., Said Musa, admits winning at the polls on March first will not be easy.
Prime Minister Said Musa, Leader, People?s United Party
?Litmus test, barometric test, yes, it will be partly that. But the important thing is we want a P.U.P. City Council in Belize City and Belmopan and a P.U.P. Town Council in our municipalities so that we can continue to work in unity and cooperation.?
Janelle Chanona
?Do you think it?s an extra challenge for the P.U.P. in that it?s coming in as the incumbent party in the two cities and most of the towns??
Prime Minister Said Musa
?I think that that is a fairly correct statement. People used to think that incumbency was an advantage. Truth of the matter is that in recent times, politics has shown that incumbency presents a disadvantage in many respects, so that requires us to work even harder.?
But Musa does claim to have a winning strategy.
Prime Minister Said Musa
?The people want attention. Every person has a mind, a world of his or her own and that person wants a little more attention from our politicians. And not just from the party leaders or the Prime Minister, but from every level, our representatives, mayors, councillors … people want to be attended to. That to me is the issue that is raised. They would come to me and say, you know I am a P.U.P., but please what about this? And I recognise that and I have to candidly accept that we have to stay in touch with our people.?
According to candidate Carolyn Trench-Sandiford, one way the P.U.P. slate is going to stay in touch with the people is to address the deplorable conditions on the outskirts of the city.
Carolyn Trench-Sandiford, City Council Candidate
?One of the things we have not done over many years, and this has nothing to do with either a U.D.P. city council or a P.U.P. city council. What has happened, if you look at our history and how we have developed, we did not really choose Belize City, Belize City was chosen for us. What we have not done has been doing forward planning. Forward planning involves at our population growth and looking at the needs of our population. Because that has not happened, you have people moving into the peripheral areas of the city because they cannot find land for housing and for other basic services. … We now have to go and correct the situation or redress a situation. And I think this is where the southside improvement programme is coming in, because we are looking at creating the physical infrastructure, whether it?s water, streets, electricity, into these extension areas.?
Other candidates on the P.U.P. team include Anthony Mahler, Jacqueline Welch, Shanine Campbell, Albert Vaughn, Eloisa Trujeque, Yasmin Shoman, Oscar Rosado, Keith Acosta, and Sharet Yearwood. The United Democratic Party’s City Council slate is led by Zenaida Moya.
