As we go to press today, Belize City is abuzz with red-shirted campaigners pounding the pavement and trekking house to house, trying to convince registered Belize City voters to come out to the Belize City Center on Sunday, October 5 – when the big question will be decided: will the popular incumbent mayor, Zenaida Moya – under a tsunami of charges of wild spending, nepotism and corruption, from opponents right in her own party – survive the storm to contest the 2009 municipals? Or will her challenger, Anthony Michael, become the UDP’s new mayoral candidate in the City?
The past two months have seen a ferocious political campaign inside the United Democratic Party (UDP) as 34 hopefuls compete for 10 councilor slots on the ruling party’s slate. But undoubtedly, the most intriguing part of the race is the contest between Moya and Michael, and the dissent that has seen most of the existing councilors publicly side with Michael instead of Moya.
We note that all existing City Council members are staying in Sunday’s race, except for one notable man – Mark King, sacked by the UDP leadership after he publicly came out against Moya, charging her with mismanaging the council’s money and spending huge sums of the City’s money when she did not need to. King was said to have violated an agreement among elected Belize City officials to not make public attacks against political opponents during the campaign.
Since Michael declared his candidacy in July, Moya has publicly come under sustained fire. But the City’s first woman mayor has sternly defended herself against the allegations, while at the same time calling out fellow councilors as “lazy.”
What is also noteworthy about Sunday’s convention is that a record 34 candidates are in the race. At the end of the convention, though, there can only be one mayoral candidate for the UDP and 10 councilors.
In speaking with Amandala about the race to Sunday’s election, UDP leader Dean Barrow said there is a degree of acrimony that always attends these contests, but the unusual tensions and controversies leading up to this year’s Belize City municipals may be “…because we are in government and the feeling seems to be, we are a shoo-in to retain control of City Council.”
“The stakes are that much higher,” said Barrow.
He said that this is the biggest number of contenders that has ever entered a convention race, to his recollection.
Here is where the contest began: On July 31, Anthony Michael, deputy mayor of Belize City, appeared on Channel 7 News, backed by 9 councilors – except for former mayor Wayne Usher. The news station had said that they, along with WAVE talk show host – Joe Bradley, would form Michael’s slate of 11.
In August, just three weeks after this explosive dissention, Councilor Mark King, a supporter of Michael, came out singularly against Moya, charging her with mismanaging hundreds of thousands of funds at the Council. Moya denied the allegations.
Since then, no city councilor has come out publicly against the Mayor, but incidentally, a series of documents, including details of transactions from inside the Council, have continued to find their way into the television media – obviously leaked from either central government or local government sources.
There was also the waste control crisis – where again, the City went for days without garbage being picked up, following reports that the contractor was not being paid. This time, the trouble was between Moya and her city administrator, Englebert Perera.
Just after the Independence celebrations, former UDP leader, Manuel Esquivel, whose daughter, Laura, topped the polls in the 2006 Belize City Council elections, came out with a sensational TV advert, endorsing Moya’s opponent – Anthony Michael. (Laura Esquivel is on Michael’s slate.)
Also in on the race among the 34 hopefuls is the popularly known Kenny Morgan, one time Pickstock Division standard bearer for the UDP, who was the Council’s PR man.
Up until 2006, the People’s United Party, at the time the party in power, controlled the City Council. However, the UDP made a major national sweep in the March 2006 municipal elections, with the now Opposition, PUP, garnering only 3 seats of 67 countrywide.
That defeat led to the PUP’s most recent trouncing, the general elections defeat, in February of this year, in which only 6 PUP’s claimed victory across the 31 constituencies contested.
Barrow says that clearly, the fact that the UDP is in Government now has attracted more runners for Sunday’s race.
“People obviously feel that the chance of winning – of the party keeping its hold on the City Council and the other municipal bodies – is very good. I hope they want to run because they can contribute to the wellbeing of the municipalities,” the party leader commented.
As to the controversies swirling over Mayor Moya’s head, Barrow said that, “The mayor has been getting the better of that media campaign,” as she was “able to turn the questions into commercials for herself.”
Barrow said that he will vote in Sunday’s convention, but that vote will remain confidential.
“Whoever wins, I have to work with. Whoever loses, I also have to work with. If I am campaigning for, or against anyone, that weakens my position,” he said, in explaining why he won’t publicly endorse either Moya or Michael.
“In so far as this whole last issue of salary of the mayor is concerned, I know that she had asked for an audit. That is taking place,” he added, informing that the Ministry of Local Government was due to visit the Belize City Council today to talk with the Council about its preliminary findings, before a final report is prepared.
“Depending on what that report is, I will have to consider if anything is to be done and what is to be done,” he told Amandala.
UDP municipal conventions have so far been held for Corozal and Belmopan. Hostilities were also evident leading up to the Belmopan convention of August 17 – in which Khalid Belisle, endorsed by Belmopan City’s area rep, Hon. John Saldivar, went up against the incumbent mayor, Simeon Lopez. Lopez prevailed.
The next convention may be for Orange Walk Town. According to Barrow, members of the UDP secretariat travel to Orange Walk for a meeting tonight, and a date for that municipality’s convention will likely be fixed at tonight’s meeting.
Polls for the Belize City UDP municipal convention will open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, and any registered voter in the City can cast their votes – but for a ballot to count, a voter must only vote for one mayoral candidate and not more than 10 candidates from the 34 listed for councilors.