I think it would serve a useful purpose to repeat some six paragraphs from my column which was published in the Tuesday, November 3, 2020 edition of Amandala. This would have been eight days before the general elections which removed the United Democratic Party (UDP) from government office and replaced them with the People’s United Party (PUP.)

At the time I wrote the article, I was not seeking to stir up old UBAD disagreements. I was trying to look into the future, and to prepare for it.

Belize, our beloved Jewel, is in a health and economic crisis of frightening proportions, crises which we essentially entered earlier this year, not to mention the fact that the population center/old capital had already been in a sociological (or crime/violence) crisis going on almost three decades.

A lot of responsibility has been placed on Cordel Hyde’s shoulders. He is now the Deputy Prime Minister of Belize. Respect. But, Belize’s political system is controlled by the Prime Minister. How the P.M. and his Deputy work together is always a matter of interest. Historically, it is thought that ideally they balance each other where the two major ethno/religious/geographical areas of Belize are concerned.

Here follow the six paragraphs from Tuesday, November 3, to which I referred in the beginning of this column.

I was thinking that Philip Goldson, no matter what, was impregnably iconic, that no one could overthrow him. I was very wrong. The establishment of the United Democratic Party (UDP) in 1973 split the UBAD executive down the middle, and the UBAD Party was formally dissolved in early November of 1974. (UBAD was an organization that was putting hundreds of youth to march in the streets as late as 1971 and 1972.)

46 years after UBAD’s demise, my son Cordel is the second ranking leader in the Opposition PUP, a party which informal polls have given a good chance to form the next Government of Belize in a couple weeks time. Cordel came out of Kremandala, it may be said, but he is now his own man for sure. He knows what he is doing. Politically speaking, Cordel does not belong to Kremandala: he belongs to the PUP and to the nation of Belize. But, needless to say, I support him unconditionally.

So then, if the PUP forms the next government, and there is any foul up somewhere down the road, how do the media systems of Kremandala handle that? How would we retain our core credibility? This is, ultimately, the question to which I have been moving to confront in these last two columns …

… Anyway, I am the one responsible for luring Cordel into PUP politics in 1993/94. Said Musa and Barry Bowen, after the PUP lost the June 1993 general election, tried to convince me to take over the PUP Lake Independence constituency, with their support. My answer to that was to recruit Cordel, then a very young man. I don’t believe that this was really what Said and Barry had in mind.

But now more than a quarter century has passed. Things are very different today. Cordel has matured. There is a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. He represents a very large constituency of basically marginalized Belizeans. There is a pandemic in place which is driving all of us crazy. A PUP government would face serious challenges.

For its part, Kremandala now features several of my siblings, in addition to four of my children, in key positions. I will conclude this look at my personal introduction into Belize’s electoral politics, with the abdication of one man responsibility on Partridge Street. Kremandala is now a family enterprise in strategic areas, and I am not in any kind of position to predict the future. If this sounds to you like a cop out on my part, and you wish to criticize me for this, I bow my head and accept that criticism.

Power to the people.