Businessman and independent mayoral candidate for Belize City, Stephen Okeke, came to the media in November, declaring that he was out of the political race because of violent threats that he said he had been receiving to force him to back down.
He did—but on Tuesday, December 6, Okeke declared that he was back in the race.
Today, Okeke told us that someone still wants to force him out of the race, but this time, Okeke said, they have gone after his workers, threatening to kill them and their entire families, if they don’t stop working at his enterprise, Joy Juices.
What sense does this make? Okeke said his political opponents have told him that they would destroy his sources of making a living, so he would not be able to run his political campaign.
Okeke said, however, that he is “moving full steam ahead, whether I have a business or not.”
Someone had been calling his workers over the weekend, telling them not go to work; otherwise, they and their families would be killed, he told us.
He told us that three of his five juice shops are today closed, and six workers have opted not to return to work. This morning, some came to turn in their keys, he added.
“I can understand, because I have gotten similar threats…,” said Okeke. “You can see the dread in their eyes; you can see the terror and you can’t force them to work.”
We have not been able to speak with the worker who Okeke said filed a report with police this morning. Amandala was, however, able to reach another worker via phone, but she was very irate when we explained the purpose of our call. When we asked her to tell us what transpired over the weekend, she said she would not make a comment. The woman, who had held a managerial position, told us she is “not dealing with that” – that’s it for her, because she has already stopped working for Okeke.
Police Press Officer Fitzroy Yearwood told our newspaper, when we asked him about the police complaint filed by Okeke’s worker, that: “I’ve checked with Patrol Branch and CIB [Crimes Investigation Branch], and no such report has been made to them.”
When we spoke with Okeke this morning, though, he said that he took the worker personally to file the complaint, but police told them that because the calls came from a restricted number, the investigation could not go forward. (Officer Eck at the Queen Street Police Station took the report, said Okeke.)
Okeke said that he was threatened before so intensely that he decided he would step aside, but Belizeans encouraged him to go back—and that is why he is again in the race.
In October, Okeke declared that he is running as mayoral candidate in Belize City.
Last week, mayoral candidate Paco Smith introduced his partial slate, putting the Vision Inspired by the People (VIP) in the race for the first time in the City. When we checked today to see if there have been threats to his camp, Smith told us that there has been none, although he has been informed of media reports of threats to Okeke’s workers.
Philip “Fada” Henry, who is running as councilor candidate with Okeke, told Amandala that over the past two weeks, Okeke’s workers have been telling him about people coming around making threats.
In this age of high crime, when it comes to things like this, we have to take it seriously, said Henry, lamenting that the threats have even been targeted at “innocent single mothers.”
“Threatening the workers is not fair,” said Okeke, who expressed dismay that his workers, who include single mothers, are being denied their source of living.