_{UDP chairman, Michael Peyrefitte}

by William Ysaguirre (Freelance Writer)

BELIZE CITY, Wed. June 25, 2025

The People’s United Party (PUP) administration under Prime Minister Hon. John Briceño is under fire from the labor unions: the Belize National Teachers Union, the Public Service Union, the National Trade Union Congress of Belize, and now the KHMH Workers Union, in a scenario somewhat reminiscent of 2005, when the Opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) exploited social unrest to help it topple the Said Musa government, by a 25-6 landslide victory in the 2008 General Elections.

Today, there seems to be no effective Opposition party to champion the unions’ clamor for wage increments overdue from 2020, as the UDP has been in shambles even before their second, consecutive 26-5 landslide loss to the PUP in the March 12 General Elections this year. The schism between Albert area representative, Hon. Tracy Panton’s Alliance For Democracy-UDP and the unpopular “official” UDP led by former Mesopotamia area representative Moses “Shyne” Barrow, inspired no confidence among voters and had no realistic chance of success at the polls. Thus, their catastrophic loss on March 12 was pre-ordained. Losing his Mesopotamia seat to Hon. Lee Mark Chang had embarrassed Shyne into resigning as UDP party leader in the days after the election; but he later rescinded it, and continued to pretend to the party leadership, even though his former ally, Corozal North area representative Hon. Hugo Patt, had acknowledged Panton as Opposition Leader in the House.

Shyne’s leadership charade became as transparent as the “Emperor’s new clothes” when his attempt to convene a National Party Committee meeting to set a date for a National Party Council to elect a new Leader, failed miserably on Saturday, June 14, with Panton’s supporters shouting their derision outside the party headquarters. Reuniting these two warring factions seemed a task too colossal for any ordinary man.

The “Colossus” whom both sides have invited to bridge the gap is former party chairman, attorney Michael Peyrefitte, who had also resigned his post on March 18, six days after their crushing defeat at the polls. According to Peyrefitte, it is his love of country and the UDP that made him allow himself to be persuaded, however reluctantly, to return.

“A viable UDP is in the best interest of Belize. Those two things override any issues, whether personal or petty, that anybody may have with each other. We don’t have to hold hands and sing kumbaya, but we have to understand the importance of the role of the Opposition. And we have to understand that we may have all been at fault in terms of where the UDP is now. But we have to move forward, and we have to check ourselves, all of us, and decide that if we want to move forward, this is how it’ll have to be.”

He reports that, “Both factions, if you could call it that, within the party, reached out to me and indicated to me that they would like for me to rescind my resignation, because they believe that at this point I could be of some assistance to have the party proceed in a way to have us heal, to have us have definitive leadership, and for us to move forward.”

Peyrefitte says he felt “obligated, as a service to the party, to come back and see if I can help with that process. So I agreed. I’ve presented to the parties involved that I have a certain vision, and a way that I think we can resolve the issues of the party going forward. We are in discussions with those, and we will see where it goes. I am fully prepared to take charge of the party … up until the point where we have a national convention, and the people of the party can vote on who they want to be their substantive leader, first deputy, second deputy, chairman and vice chairman, at the very least.”

He added that, “I have been assured that we will move forward with a level of transparency and maturity that we know we need to have for the betterment of the party. … If I believe that we’re not moving in that direction, as was promised to me by the leading personalities in the party, I have no hesitation in telling you that I will resign again. Because I feel like the majority of the people in our party that were sick of this …We’re sick of seeing what’s happening in our party.”

Peyrefitte did not say if his return also meant acknowledging Shyne Barrow as UDP leader, but Barrow managed to sound magnanimous in a statement on Tuesday, June 24, in which he welcomed Peyrefitte’s return to take the helm of the Party, and thanked him for withdrawing his resignation.