_{Michael Finnegan, former Mesopotamia area representative}

BELIZE CITY, Mon. May 26, 2025

Leading into the March 12 general elections, Michael Finnegan, like former UDP leader Dean Barrow, had not gone public with his position on the continuing dysfunction of the United Democratic Party (UDP), which is one of Belize’s two mass political parties, and is turning 52 this year, September. However, on Friday, May 23, all that changed when he appeared on the XTV Wake Up Belize Morning Vibes Show. The retired veteran politician, and seven-time Mesopotamia area representative, who paved the way for his nephew, Moses “Shyne” Barrow, to succeed him as area rep in that constituency in 2020, has said “game over” for Shyne as leader after Shyne’s one run in the House of Representatives on the Opposition bench and a stint as UDP leader during which the party has been deeply fractured.

_{Shyne Barrow}

Shortly after his failure at re-election at the polls this year, Shyne Barrow pointed to other politicians having lost their division who returned to win thereafter. He categorically stated that his loss merely meant he had to revisit his constituents to rebuild his relationship with them. He affirmed that losing one time could not be the end of the world, and the very next day, after losing eight out of every ten votes in his constituency, to Lee Mark Chang of the Tracy Panton faction of the UDP and to a PUP candidate, he was back working in the division. He only resigned late on March 17 after UDP Chairman at the time, Michael Peyrefitte said it would be the honorable thing to do, given the election result. However, Barrow took back his resignation a few weeks later, citing that the then 1st Deputy Leader (Hugo Patt) did not hold on to the interim leadership as he should have. Instead, Hon. Hugo Patt threw his support behind Hon. Tracy Panton, who had led the reform advocacy faction, Alliance for Democracy (AFD). Barrow insisted, however, that the AFD supporters were not UDPs, and therefore ignored the results of their October 20, 2024 national “unity convention” to recall him. The court has since vindicated that rejection of the convention results by Barrow, declaring that the “unity convention” was unconstitutional and its decisions not binding on the UDP.

Finnegan had assisted in the formation of the UDP back in September of 1973, and later became a political powerhouse; but will his nephew now heed his call to step aside? We note that Barrow already declined to acknowledge the number of UDP stalwarts—including former UDP Minister Erwin Contreras; Audrey Wallace, his father’s former CEO; and staunch Dean Barrow supporter, Anthony “Boots” Martinez—who were among the participants at the AFD unity convention, expressing the urgent need for a new direction in the party.

In fact, Shyne Barrow credits Finnegan for Chang’s win, saying that as ‘don’ and ‘king’ of the division, it is he who chooses who wins. Barrow has therefore acknowledged that the one to beat in Mesopotamia is his own uncle, and he has indicated that he will take on that challenge. Already, Finnegan is being discredited by longtime UDP member and Shyne supporter, Delroy Cuthkelvin, who described him as an “old guard” UDP who lacks the moral authority to speak in the manner he did on the WUB show. In fact, Cuthkelvin has stated that Finnegan speaks out of self-interest and a “ministerial oath of loyalty” to former colleagues, in the face of Shyne Barrow moving the party in a new direction away from corrupt actors.

During the show, host Nuri Muhammad revealed that he had been inviting Finnegan for some time to appear as a guest, and he finally accepted. Alluding first to previous internal differences in the UDP of decades ago, Finnegan noted that despite those differences they never became a public spectacle because, they were properly managed and no one went on the radio to “run down your own people.” He would later say that if one will be in public life, “you cannot hate your colleagues; your personal ambition cannot supersede the organization’s ambition. You can’t be so quarrelsome.” That was the segue to speak about what is currently happening in the party, with him stating, “I neva witness this yet!” His assessment is that the deterioration within the UDP at this time is the result of people getting personal and being spiteful and bad-minded, when politics requires that those with responsibility within the party be humble and respect the voters and colleagues.

Speaking about leadership in general, Finnegan said “leaders come and leaders go.” He added that a win at the polls brings glory, but a loss calls for change; and he recalled that a few days after the UDP’s loss in 1998, then leader Manuel Esquivel tendered his resignation. In 2003, he said, Dean Barrow called his meeting and said it was time for new leadership; but that when everyone else looked around, they saw no one they believed could lead, and so they unanimously asked the senior Barrow to give it another try. The present case is the same, said Finnegan, who declared that upon looking around, “only Tracy mih see weh could lead this party, because Darrell Bradley is not around.” As to Shyne Barrow, Finnegan stated that he “has a lot of talent; a lot of ability – lot of ability. He speaks well. He manages certain things properly; but when you have been given a chance, and you don’t make use of your chance, then you have to open the door for new ideas and new people to come in, and you have to work with them.”

Finnegan offered an assessment that Barrow has a personality flaw, and averred that the time has come for a new direction, because what is happening is destroying the party, and will “make people hate the party.” He added, though, that Barrow could still be useful to the organization in other roles. Finnegan also shared that, while he does not speak for Dean Barrow, knowing him, his “thinking of what is happening in the party is along my line …” Finnegan even went so far as to state that a small clique has taken over the party and is holding it hostage. Finnegan noted that, after being given five years to lead the party, Shyne’s end result is not pretty, and someone else needs to be given an opportunity to lead.