Speculations are rife this evening that the House will be dissolved next week and general election day 2008 will be upon us in early February. The ruling People’s United Party has been in high gear for weeks, trotting out full-page glossy pictures of all its candidates in the party newspaper, The Belize Times, just as it did for City and Town Council elections 2003. Along with other initiatives, the governing party has contracted Channel 5 to air its Positive Vibes morning talk show, 5 days a week, and on Wednesday nights for its “Believe in Belize” feature, a show designed to sing its own virtues and put down its traditional and main rival – the UDP.
Thursday morning the PUP Cabinet met in Belmopan. The office of the Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Robert Leslie, was mum this evening, saying that we should wait for a public release on Friday to find out what the Honorable men discussed in their private sitting.
All our efforts today to contact Honorable Jose Coye, to get some perspective about the Auditor General’s Report from that key member of Cabinet were unsuccessful, even though the Cabinet meeting was over by mid-day. We were informed that he is in full battle gear, going house to house to defend his turf in his Caribbean Shores constituency.
For the primary Opposition party in Belize, the United Democratic Party, all their horses have been in place since months ago. Like the ruling party, the UDP have yet to present a manifesto to the people, but they have produced a number of policy papers on issues such as crime, education, and political reform. The party has been lying low of late, but party leaders have said they are one hundred percent ready…just waiting for the sound of the horn.
The state of readiness of the other parties is hard to gauge. The VIP recently created some energy with the launch of the candidacies of Hubert Enriquez (Cayo South), Patrick Rogers (Collet in Belize City), and Erwin X (Port Loyola in Belize City). The NBA is set to launch the candidacy of Richard Smith in Cayo South on Saturday. PNP leader, Wil Maheia (Toledo East), has been working very hard for months. The WTP’s Hipolito Bautista surfaced recently, endorsing the government’s decision to put the question of the elected senate on the 2008 ballot. The National Reform Party (NRP) has announced that they have candidates in every division, but ever since its leader, Cornelius Dueck, got in a traffic accident, all has been quiet in that corner.
A reliable source has told us that the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Said Musa, will take the long walk over to the Governor General’s House in Orchid Gardens, Belmopan, on Monday or Tuesday next week. Within thirty days of his visit, Belizeans will be lining up at the polls to choose the 31 who will lead us for the next half decade.
Another reliable source says the Prime Minister is set to call the hostilities, but he most likely will balk over the weekend…and stall for time. The reason? US$10 million at a fantastic 2% interest rate has just arrived in the country, from Venezuela, reportedly for Housing and Community Development, and he will need more time to spend it. But if the smoke from the candles that burned today in Cabinet went heavenward…