“We have chosen in this campaign not to seek to tell the Belizean people where to go. We have our preferences, but we have essentially deferred to the people. In 2012, the people of Belize will tell us where to go on Wednesday, March 7, and we will follow their instructions.”
– pg. 5 editorial in Amandala of Wednesday, March 7, 2012
As I write this, around 5 a.m. on Thursday morning, I have not the slightest idea how the national municipal elections played out. I went to bed around 11 p.m. believing that the People’s United Party (PUP) were about to return to office in Belmopan, and was jolted awake by the news sometime after midnight that the incumbent United Democratic Party (UDP) had managed to pull general election victory out of the jaws of defeat. So that, in the first instance, I have to begin by saying, almost without apology, that I know nothing about the nation’s city council and town council results. On this score, I have ended up becoming a disciple of Dean Lindo, who never, ever ran for municipal office because, and I would prefer for him to explain it to you himself, he thought it was distracting, and completely subordinate to national government.
When the polls closed at 6 p.m. on Wednesday evening, all my sources were saying that the UDP had done very well indeed in Belize City. It being the case that voting patterns in the five other districts of the nation usually reflect the trends in the media/population/financial center which is Belize City, then it appeared that the UDP had won a comfortable victory. Analysts had been pointing out throughout the day, however, that there was this notable discrepancy between the voter turnout in Belize City and the turnouts in the districts. Voters in the population center were not enthusiastic about voting, whereas the percentages in the districts were relatively high.
So then, what began to happen for us listeners and viewers going on maybe 8:30, 9 p.m. was the sense that the district seats were all going blue. Between 9 and 11 p.m., I began to second guess myself severely. There are influential people in the PUP hierarchy who seem to have developed a personal antipathy for me. Confronted late Wednesday night by the specter of a return to power by the so-called old guard of the PUP, I began to feel apprehensive, even intimidated.
I want to explain this to you. My approach when confronted by problems is always to start from the worst-case scenario. So between 9 and 11 Wednesday night, I saw some people returning to power who are dangerous because they are daring when they have the protection of governmental power. I agree with the reformists: our political system is seriously flawed. The government is too powerful; it is untouchable.
Why didn’t I support the UDP? That’s what I was asking myself late Wednesday night. This Thursday morning, now that the UDP are returned to office, I see where there are issues, primarily offshore drilling, rosewood, and our agricultural policies, which will have Kremandala in major conflict with the new government sooner rather than later. These issues have been in the back of my mind for some time.
You know that if you look at them in a certain light, the two major political parties are just glorified gangs. Touch one, touch all. They use their size and strength and firepower to get away with things individual citizens would not think of doing. Those of us older Belizeans could see that certain personalities in the UDP were returning to type: they were being arrogant, and even disrespectful. They were forgetting the spontaneous people’s movement which had first swept them to power in 2008. Only the UDP were “bright” now: the rest of us were dumb.
The UDP’s stubborn handling of the offshore drilling issue was an example of a political disaster. It is amazing to me that this did not boomerang on them in Belize City. But, the chances are that UDP incompetence here was offset, to an extent, by the PUP’s proximity to the unpopular UNIBAM initiative. The lawyers for UNIBAM were a recent PUP Cabinet Minister and a high ranking, high profile PUP executive official.
Until the general elections were actually called, I had thought that my son and my son-in-law would be the Opposition PUP candidates in Lake Independence and Albert, respectively. We could not have endorsed the UDP in such a reality. Once the new ruling faction made it so that Cordel and Mark felt they had to walk, I suppose I just felt that Kremandala had best stay out of the confusion.
If I had to do it over again, would I have supported the UDP? All I can say is that I would not want a repeat of my personal experience of trauma late Wednesday night. At the same time, based on all that was happening before election day and not being able to see into the future, I would no doubt have gone the way I did: let the people decide.
All power to the people.