At this newspaper, which is owned by the father of Cordel Hyde and father-in-law of Mark Espat, our position has been that we will campaign for Cordel and Mark once the general elections are called. As most Belizeans know, Cordel is the area representative for Lake Independence and Mark is the area representative for Albert. They both won People’s United Party conventions last year which declared them that party’s standard bearers for their respective divisions.
Within the ruling PUP, the power of Hon. Ralph Fonseca, the national campaign manager, has surged and been confirmed in the last few weeks. The reality is that Mr. Fonseca controls most of the PUP’s campaign funds, and our sources say that he has been withholding campaign funds from Cordel and Mark since May of this year. Moreover, with the removal of Cordel and Mark from Cabinet (for the second time in less than three years), many of their people have been terminated from government jobs and have been replaced by Fonseca loyalists.
The upshot of all this is that it is as if war has been declared on Cordel and Mark by Ralph Fonseca, with the tacit consent of the Prime Minister/ Party Leader, Rt. Hon. Said Musa.
While within the PUP’s leadership and national party council, there are some so-called party hawks who desire for Cordel Hyde and Mark Espat to be expelled from the party, it is also the case that there are supporters of Cordel Hyde and Mark Espat who feel in 2007, and felt in 2005, that they should not tolerate the abuse to which they have been and are being subjected.
Although they are relatively young men, both Cordel Hyde and Mark Espat have more than a decade of political experience under their belts. They have been successful in electoral politics. They know what they are doing, and so those of us who support them have to follow their instructions if our support is to be constructive.
Days after Cordel and Mark were removed from Cabinet in late May, the then Deputy Prime Minister/ Minister of Natural Resources, Hon. Johnny Briceño, was removed from Cabinet, “removed” in the sense that the Prime Minister created conditions which Mr. Briceño felt were intolerable, therefore forcing him to leave. Eamon Courtenay, who was Foreign Affairs Minister by virtue of an appointment to the Senate, has been a close friend of Johnny Briceño’s for more than 25 years. Mr. Courtenay believed that he was also being told to leave. The two men, following their departure from Cabinet, within days gave national television interviews in which they went to lengths to affirm their loyalty to the ruling party.
If only implicitly, then, there is a division within the PUP. There are the Ralph Fonseca loyalists, and then there are Hyde, Espat and Briceño, who maintain control of their PUP divisional committees, but who are not in Ralph’s good books, and have been and are being punished.
The UDP position is pragmatic, and it is understandable. That position is: They are all PUP, one kit and caboodle. The reality is different. Ralph Fonseca controls one version of the PUP. But there is another version of the PUP in Lake I, Albert and Orange Walk Central. In Lake I, Albert and Orange Walk Central, the standard bearers and their committees believe that they represent the original and authentic philosophy of the party.
Belize presently has more newspapers, radio stations and television stations than ever before. The multiplicity of voices giving their various opinions on the political issues is unprecedented. Many of these voices are on the payrolls of the political parties. In this essay, we have attempted to give you specifics as to this newspaper’s position. Editorially, we support Cordel and Mark. Our newspaper personnel, however, will have their freedom of opinion protected. Yes, this is somewhat of a tightrope act, but this is the way it has to be.
Praise the Lord, all this will be clarified and decided on election day. The people will speak. The quicker, the better.
All power to the people.