32.8 C
Belize City
Thursday, March 28, 2024

World Down Syndrome Day

Photo: Students and staff of Stella Maris...

BPD awards 3 officers with Women Police of the Year

Photo: (l-r) Myrna Pena, Carmella Cacho, and...

Suicide on the rise!

Photo: Iveth Quintanilla, Mental Health Coordinator by Charles...

PUP volcano erupting under Johnny!!

GeneralPUP volcano erupting under Johnny!!
People’s United Party (PUP) leader, Hon. Johnny Briceño, has called for a special national convention to elect a new slate of national executives to undertake what he terms an urgent transformation of the party and a return to unity.
 
But even as he tries to urge unity, it is clear that the rift between very powerful factions of the party is widening. Central to the dispute is who will end up with the party’s media assets.
 
Latest news to us this evening is that the very executive Briceño is seeking to replace is threatening to take him to court if he proceeds with the convention. That much was said in a release issued under the letterhead of the party’s secretariat this evening, following a meeting of the national executive—to which the new party leader told us he was never invited.
 
Speaking with our newspaper this afternoon, Opposition Leader Briceño said that he was informed this morning that someone was calling executive members, to a meeting he knew nothing about. He furthermore said that as far as he is aware, he, as party leader, is the only one authorized to call a meeting of the executive.
 
Party insiders tell us that a quorum of 10 is required for such a meeting to be valid, and the release from the secretariat lists 14 names, mostly aligned with the outgoing leadership. Names listed are PUP Leader Emeritus –               George Price; deputy leaders – Godfrey Smith and Vildo Marin; legal advisor – Dolores Balderamos-Garcia; national campaign manager – Ralph Fonseca; and his three deputies: Anthony Mahler, Ismael Cal, and Florencio Marin, Jr.; chairman of the publicity committee – Yasser Musa; president of the women’s group – Merilyn Young; president of the marshals – Marshall Nunez; chair of the Southern Caucus – Mike Espat, and Western Caucus – Mario Castellanos; and secretary general – Henry Usher.
 
The PUP Secretariat release says that the national executive supports Johnny, but in its view, the current executive members are entitled to sit until June 30, 2009, and the only posts they would support being filled at this time are the deputy leader seat vacated by Briceño last month, the chairmanship vacated by Francis Fonseca, and the seat for chairman of the policy and reform committee.
 
However, Briceño points to the era of his predecessor, Said Musa, who, he said, also called a special convention for a new executive two weeks after he rose to become party leader.
 
“The national executive believes that the manner in which the special convention/national convention for April 13 has been called is procedurally irregular and unconstitutional,” the release goes on to say. “Neither the secretariat nor the national executive has any record of constituency delegates that allegedly called for the convention. Such a convention cannot, constitutionally, abrogate the two-year-term of the current national executive and elect a new executive in its place.
 
“If it is done, the national executive reserves the right to take legal action to challenge the constitutionality of any such convention.”
 
The release also goes on to challenge the meetings held to elect chairpersons for regional caucuses, and “urges that there be an urgent meeting with the new party leader to resolve these issues, which if left unsettled, can only lead to disunity in the party.”
 
But there is a more sensitive issue at the core of the dispute – that is, who has control over the media organs that some party members say they had always thought were party assets.
 
The secretariat issued a second release this evening, indicating that the party’s media organs, the Belize Times and the Positive Vibes radio are, in fact, “privately owned,” but it does not clearly indicate who from the party owns them.
 
The release said that in 1956, the Times and Independence Hall were assets owned by the Price Estate, and that The Times also had small shareholders.
 
“Over the years, private funds were expended to purchase these assets from the Price Estate, when the Estate was finally settled in favor of the beneficiaries. Private funds were also used to rebuild and refurbish the building following a disastrous fire, and thereafter to fund additions,” the release goes on to say.
 
Those who challenge that position tell us that funds have been raised in the name of the party to finance those assets, yet the assets have been registered in private names.
 
Indications to our newspaper are that the disagreement over the Sunday convention in Orange Walk only came to the fore after the new leader indicated that four resolutions would be proposed for Sunday’s convention, the fourth one being a call to have the party’s assets “returned to the party.”
 
Positive Vibes has always had private ownership. When it became an asset dedicated to the party, monies were raised to fund its operational deficits,” rebuts the secretariat release. “It is regrettable that the party leader has not stated these facts.”
 
Henry Usher, PUP Secretary General, told Amandala via phone today that his post could only be changed at a meeting of the party council, and not at the convention.
 
He said that while the new leader has made it clear that he intends to put together a new national executive and while that is his prerogative, it has to be done according to the party’s constitution, which requires that a majority of the constituency delegates (now numbering 653 from across the country) endorse the proposal.
 
Usher said that the delegates’ list remains largely the same as in the leadership convention held on March 30, except for a few changes. This morning was the deadline for changes, he added.
 
Briceño told us this evening, however, that plans are still in effect to hold the special national convention this Sunday, at the People’s Stadium in Orange Walk starting at 10:00 a.m.
 
Mrs. Narda Garcia, whom Briceño wants on his slate, has issued statements from both the Western and Northern Caucuses, indicating that they support the convention, and urging supporters and friends to attend.
 
These caucuses cite section 7(2) of the PUP Constitution as the authority for the special convention.
 
Now, it is a question of who has “supreme authority” inside the PUP – the executive or the wider membership. Sunday’s convention of 653 delegates could, in effect, answer that central question by dissolving the national executive. But if it does, the current executive has said it will go to court over the matter.
 
A party insider told us that by the party’s constitution, the national convention is deemed the supreme authority in deciding who will lead, and, hence, who will win in this internal struggle for power in the PUP.
 
Briceño told us that his slate, while not finalized, will include about 26 persons. Key among those he is recommending are Cordel Hyde, Mark Espat and Daniel Silva for deputy leadership positions, Eamon Courtenay for national campaign manager, and Carolyn Trench-Sandiford for chairperson.
 
He had offered a senior position to Francis Fonseca, whom he had beaten at the leadership convention on March 30, but Fonseca has refused the offer, said Briceño.
 
He told us that he has been advised that the Fonsecas, Musa and Smith will boycott the convention this Sunday.
 
As for the Leader Emeritus, Price, Briceño said that he has not been able to speak with him because he has been informed that he is very sick and can’t talk.

Check out our other content

World Down Syndrome Day

Suicide on the rise!

Check out other tags:

International