At a breakfast meeting attended by his Cabinet and members of the clergy at the Princess Hotel and Casino this morning, the Prime Minister of Belize, Rt. Hon. Said Musa, announced that he will advise the Governor-General, Sir Colville Young, to dissolve the National Assembly today, Monday, 7th January, 2008, and set Thursday, February 7th as Election Day 2008. The Prime Minister also announced that the question of an elected Senate will be put to the electorate on that same day, on a separate ballot.
The breakfast meeting, which lasted about 40-45 minutes, featured a traditional menu of scrambled eggs, sausages, fried jacks, fried beans, tea and coffee, papaya and watermelon, and orange juice. Representing the government were Hon. PM Said Musa, Hon. Francis Fonseca, Hon. Jose Coye, Hon. Lisa Shoman, Hon. Godfrey Smith, Hon. Rodwell Ferguson, Hon. Florencio Marin, Hon. Sylvia Flores, and Hon. Ralph Fonseca.
Clergymen representing mostly the varied Christian flocks, and a representative of the Muslims, took the ride over to the Princess to partake in the morning meal, and to offer prayers for the nation along with the Cabinet – for peace during the campaign period.
Most of the elected Ministers at the breakfast table this morning will be seeking another 5-year term in office. But for 2 of them, today is back to civilian life. Hon. Sylvia Flores, Dangriga, a member of the Cabinet since 2003 (Minister of Defence and National Emergency Management, and Minister of Human Affairs) announced her retirement from political life last year. We tried unsuccessfully all day to get the thoughts of the only elected Lady in the House (2003-2008) now that the end of that life for her is official.
And the Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Hon. Florencio Marin, the longest standing Area Representative in the House, has made way to allow his son, Florencio Marin, Jr., to contest his Corozal South-East seat.
Four other Ministers and area representatives of the PUP will be out of the hurly-burly this February. The Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Dave Burgos, Orange Walk East, and the Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs and National Security, Hon. Ismael Cal, Orange Walk South, both of whom were instrumental in quelling the August 2004 G-7 challenge to the status quo in the PUP government, are also not contesting their seats in the upcoming elections.
Also not contesting the general elections for the PUP 2008 are former Minister of State in the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, Commerce and Industry, Hon. Ainslie Leslie (Cayo North), and Hon. Maxwell Samuels, former Minister of Transport (Belize Rural North).
The People’s United Party held a press conference this afternoon, Monday, at their party headquarters on Queen Street in Belize City. At his press conference, Mr. Musa, in the presence of his party’s 31 standard bearers and PUP Leader Emeritus, Rt. Hon. George Price, said that the referendum for the elected Senate would be held the same day as general elections, but on a separate ballot.
Within the hour of the Prime Minister’s announcement this morning that he was dissolving the House, the United Democratic Party, the nation’s leading Opposition party, announced that they too would be holding a press conference, this one tomorrow, Tuesday, January 8, at 10:30 a.m. in the Caracol Room at the Radisson Fort George.
It is expected that the other political parties in the nation will also be calling the fourth estate to attention in the coming days, to explain their initiatives for the exciting days ahead before the climax on Election Day 2008, February 7.
For one party that is not a party – The Group of Three, it is also an important moment to insist on improvement in our governance and to promote other relevant changes in our political system. On Tuesday, January 8, The Group of Three, led by two independents, the indefatigable Senator Godwin Hulse; the Chief Executive Officer of the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kevin Herrera; and former Cabinet Secretary in the UDP 1993-1998 government, Henry Gordon, will be holding their own press conference at the Santa Rita Room in the Radisson Fort George, at 2:00 p.m.