BELIZE CITY, Sun. June 7, 2015–About 400 United Democratic Party (UDP) supporters, government officials and standard bearers from various constituencies braved the threat of rains this afternoon and came out to Lopez Mateos Park for the endorsement convention of Belize City Mayor Darrell Bradley, who was sworn in as the party’s Caribbean Shores, standard bearer.
The first speaker to take to the podium was the area representative for the Collet Division, Hon. Patrick Faber Minister of Education, who said he had to rush back from Corozal Town, where he had taken residents in his constituency on a “Collet Family Day”.
Faber said he took 22 buses loaded with constituents to Corozal Town, where, he said, they “had a wonderful family day, courtesy the Petrocaribe funds and our Prime Minister, the Hon. Dean Barrow.”
“There is no stopping that money,” Faber said.
Turning to the business at hand, the endorsement of Mayor Bradley, Faber said, “The people of Caribbean Shores can hold onto a leader as their stalwart, as their champion. As you know UDP will be in power many, many more years, the way the PUP dem di tumble.”
“This very important task is now in your hands, residents of Caribbean Shores,” Faber said.
Another speaker at the convention, Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar Vega, said, “I am here, because with talent like Darrell Bradley, this party will continue to grow.”
“We have proven once, twice and soon to be three times, that all Belizeans will have a better life,” Vega said.
Julie Ann Ellis-Bradley, the wife of Mayor Bradley, said that her husband always had other people in mind. “It is not about Darrell Bradley; it is about the people that he serves,” she said.
She said that in Barbados, when he was the president of the student government of the university he attended, he transformed the politics of the student government.
“Darrell continues to inspire other leaders to serve in the capacity that he has served. It came as no surprise to me when I visited Belize in 2007 and I sat with members of the Caribbean Shores Committee and listened to their dreams. Hon. Carlos Perdomo was in charge then,” she said.
“As a mother and a citizen of this country, I want many things. I want to see a better Belize. I’ll tell you why you should support my husband, because he is a man that works and that will never change,” Ellis-Bradley stated.
After the UDP chairman Alberto August had completed the swearing-in of Bradley as the standard bearer, Bradley took the microphone and addressed the convention.
Mayor Bradley said that members of the public always stop him on the street and express to him how pleased they are with the transformation he has brought about in Belize City.
Bradley said he came into the UDP 15 years ago, because of the integrity of Dean Barrow.
“It is not a story about Darrell Bradley; it is a story about the 5,700 residents of Caribbean Shores. They want a leader who they can trust. They want a leader who will walk hand in hand with them,” Bradley said.
“The Prime Minister spoke about PetroCaribe. The PUP had PetroCaribe. They could have done what we are doing now. But they did not have the heart, they did not have the integrity,” Bradley said.
“We are not campaigning on a promise. We are campaigning on a record. We are not asking you to imagine; we are asking you to see what has happened over the last 8 years,” Bradley emphasized.
UDP leader Dean Barrow, in his address to the crowd, said that every day he continues to be more impressed with Darrell Bradley.
“Everything that is outstanding Darrell has already done, and I think that is true; there are no more worlds to conquer in terms of infrastructure,” Barrow said.
“This is a man who is going to Belmopan, in the not too distant future, because we will not wait too long before the elections come,” Barrow said.
“This is a man who will soon be raised to higher heights,” Barrow declared.
Barrow said that Mayor Bradley’s commitment will continue after the day he wins the general election and goes to Belmopan to serve in the UDP government cabinet.
“The UDP, your party, our party, will be the first party in the history of this country to win three back-to-back elections,” Barrow said.