Sulph, the activist, says he won’t back down from King, the defeated former UDP Lake I area rep
BELIZE CITY, Mon. Feb. 12, 2018– After falling beneath the radar following his November 2015 resounding defeat at the polls at the hands of the PUP’s Hon. Cordel Hyde, former UDP Lake Independence area representative, Mark King, has emerged again in the public spotlight.
The bombastic King is threatening to sue Lake Independence constituent and activist Moses Sulph over comments made on social media, Facebook.
On January 18, Sulph had taken to social media to accuse King’s company, Brints Security, of exploiting one of its employees by not paying her Social Security contributions.
King’s lawyer, Estevan Perrera, wrote Sulph claiming that his comments were untrue and constitutes libel. They are demanding that Sulph apologize to King publicly on Facebook. He is to express in writing that he will never again make those claims against Brints Security.
Sulph is also being asked to pay King’s legal fees of $3,000, and to pay King $10,000 for the injuries to his “reputation and the embarrassment.” Sulph has been given until February 19 to satisfy the requests of King and his legal representatives, or they will bring a civil suit against him, they said.
On Friday, Sulph posted on Facebook, “Mr. Mark King, I will not be adhering to any of the demands sent in a letter by your lawyer.”
He added, “Tell your lawyer to provide me with the worker’s signed pay slips, and hours worked.”
In an exclusive interview with Amandala, Sulph claimed that his post was based on information shared with him by employees of King’s company. He told our newspaper that he has already received legal advice.
“I have communicated with legal minds, and was informed that with the video and audio evidence and persons willing to sign affidavits, I have nothing to worry about,” he said.
“I would like to call on the Labor Department, as the department responsible, to make sure employers are not taking advantage of their workers; to do an investigation into what workers at some of these security firms are going through,” he continued.
Sulph believes that this is just another UDP attempt to silence him.
“They are always grabbing at breeze, hoping the voices that make public their oppressive behavior must be silent. The UDP and their affiliates have tried and will continue to do everything in their power to silence me and any other person who will not submit to their sustained corruption and oppression of the poor,” he said.
Sulph said that he is not the problem. He said the problem arises because of those who take advantage of others.
“The problem is not the people who are speaking out against the injustice; the problem is those who take advantage of hard working Belizeans because they know that jobs are hard to find, and many of these workers need the job even though the salary keeps them in poverty,” he explained.
King’s attorney, Estevan Perera, today told Amandala that they would proceed with the suit against Sulph if he does not satisfy the demands made in the letter.
When asked if this was just another attempt to silence Sulph, as he claimed, Perera explained that in Belize, every person has a right to say what they want, to a certain extent. There must be some restrictions, however. You cannot say what is untrue about someone, Perera explained.
Perera maintained that the comments made on social media by Sulph were untrue.