The above two words are, of course, an oxymoron. Democracy is the system where the will of the people prevails. Such a will should not be guided: it is to be expressed. Most Belizeans automatically give their support to the concept of democracy. In fact, this is so all over the world. Democracy is considered the ideal. There have been totalitarian, communist states which have actually referred to themselves as “democratic,” just as there are oligarchic, capitalist states which say they are “democratic.” Everybody wants to be “democratic.”
The People’s United Party has not been democratic for a long, long time. Whenever the party holds national conventions, these are really bread-and-circus exercises where the rank and file of the PUP are presented with personnel and resolutions which have been chosen and drafted, respectively, at Independence Hall on Queen Street in Belize City by a group of PUP insiders. There is no convention floor as such at PUP conventions where controversial matters can be debated and decided. This is considered too dangerous by the rulers of the party, because it may end up suggesting to opponents and the rest of Belize that the PUP is not completely united.
In 1983, there was a famous PUP national convention held where Said Musa challenged the incumbent, Louis Sylvestre, for chairmanship of the PUP, and lost. In 1996, there was a leadership convention where Said Musa defeated Florencio Marin, Sr., for PUP leadership. And then, in 2008 there was a leadership convention where John Briceño defeated Francis Fonseca for PUP leadership. Other than these three occasions over the last fifty years, we cannot recall an occasion when the PUP general assembly, so to speak, was allowed to debate and decide any issue of consequence.
Understand, democracy can be a messy proposition, fractious and complicated. Democracy is not a religion. In politics, there are few specific rules, only general guidelines. The objective of electoral politics is to win elections, which involves obtaining the majority of votes cast on scheduled, specified election days. How a political party goes about obtaining that majority is not a matter of morality and ethics. Politics is war. It is a less violent form of war, but war nonetheless.
We think we understand how the PUP became a party of guided democracy. After September 1956, when a sensationally popular leader, Hon. George Cadle Price, took over the PUP following a putsch at Riverside Hall, there was really no need for functional democracy in the PUP. George Price became like a god, and PUP members and supporters adored him. Mr. Price led the PUP for forty years after taking over in 1956, and did not lose a national election until 1984. In other words, whatever he was doing worked perfectly well politically until 1984. And Mr. Price was, we submit, guiding the PUP’s internal democracy.
After 1984, guided democracy did not work so well for the PUP. The previously invincible party began to lose critical elections, and in 1996, Mr. Price himself may have fallen victim to the system he created. He was forced to step down as PUP Leader when party insiders told him that the PUP’s two most important financiers, Michael Ashcroft and Barry Bowen, would no longer support the PUP if he remained Leader. So it was that the legendary Mr. Price became PUP Leader Emeritus. This was not a decision of the PUP masses. This was not a democratic decision.
Today, as the PUP prepares for a national convention on Sunday, October 17, in Dangriga, the party’s guided democracy is being disturbed by an alliance involving four of the PUP’s six elected area representatives – Albert’s Mark Espat, Freetown’s Francis Fonseca, Lake Independence’s Cordel Hyde, and Corozal Southeast’s Florencio Marin, Jr. At one point a few weeks ago, this alliance included the former PUP Leader, Said Musa, who represents the Fort George constituency in the House of Representatives. But Mr. Musa cut a deal with Mr. Briceño in order to have Musa loyalists be appointed to certain key posts in the 31-member PUP national executive. The most important of these key posts are those of the chairman and the secretary-general.
There are those who believe that Mr. Musa is positioning himself to overthrow Mr. Briceño from inside the national executive at a time of his own choosing. There are those who believe that Mr. Musa regrets his decision to resign the PUP leadership in the immediate aftermath of the UDP’s landslide general election victory in February of 2008.
In March of 2008, John Briceño defeated Francis Fonseca, who was believed to be the leadership candidate chosen by Musa and Ralph Fonseca and who had been endorsed by Leader Emeritus Price, because there was essentially a popular revolt inside the leadership convention. PUP constituency chairmen could not control their delegates. Had the constituency chairmen been able to guide the PUP’s democracy in March of 2008, Francis Fonseca would be the PUP Leader today.
On October 17, the delegate total will be four times larger than in 2008, so that the potential for convention floor democracy is even greater than in March of 2008. The thing is that, in the absence of a dominant and iconic leadership presence, such as Mr. Price represented for forty years, the PUP absolutely needs to find a direction which will be supported by a majority of Belizean voters. The PUP national convention is not being held in a vacuum. The party is not an island. So that, what the rank and file of the PUP think is more important now than at any time since 1956. On October 17, the PUP will be better served by more democracy and less guidance. We shall see.