BELIZE CITY, Wed. July 27, 2022 Delroy Cuthkelvin, a former member of the UDP central executive who in fact was removed from that committee following a leadership shakeup in the party that led to Hon. Moses “Shyne” Barrow replacing Hon. Patrick Faber at the helm of the party, has now been expelled from the party – for one year at least – by the UDP’s Ethics and Integrity Committee. Cuthkelvin, who launched a social media campaign that has been aimed at questioning the character of the new UDP leader and his fitness for leadership, has been described by the UDP’s Ethics and Integrity Committee as an agent of destruction, and it was even hinted that
he is serving as a PUP operative.
“Mr. Cuthkelvin has crossed the line
of healthy freedom of expression and dissent to becoming an agent of destruction that serves the agenda of the People’s United Party,” a statement issued by the Ethics and Integrity Committee of the UDP states.
A formal complaint was made about Cuthkelvin in late May after his social media statements and a number of videos he produced indicated that he was on an apparent warpath against the elected Leader of the Opposition, Moses “Shyne” Barrow. At the time, the chairman of the United Democratic Party (UDP), Michael Peyrefitte had said, “Mr. Cuthkelvin’s highly critical, disrespectful, distorted and oftentimes untruthful public comments about our Party Leader, other members of the leadership and of the UDP as an
organization are not in line with the code of conduct for members of our party.”
Also, John Saldivar, a former (and possibly current) aspirant for the post of UDP leader, who is believed to be an ally of Hon. Barrow, had stated in a Facebook post, “What you are doing to our party by attacking our leader can never be justified by anything that was done to you or not done to you in the past. Removing you from Central had to be expected because you were vicious against the man.”
He was thus summoned by the central executive of the party to appear before the Ethics and Integrity Committee, which recently handed down its decision. Earlier this month, Cuthkelvin, in a letter replying to the request for his appearance in front of the Ethics and Integrity Committee, reportedly said “I will NOT appear”, adding that the committee should instead call former prime minister and UDP leader Dean Barrow to testify against the members of his Cabinet who were involved in acts of corruption. He also nudged them to call former party leader John Saldivar.
It is now being reported that he did not in fact appear before the committee, but a decision was made nonetheless.
The United Democratic Party remarked in a statement released to the public, “As the Party seeks to unite and rebuild, there can be zero tolerance for divisive, destructive actions by those that wish to undermine unity and bring the UDP into disrepute.”
The UDP’s Ethics and Integrity Committee did indicate, however, that within a year he will have the opportunity to be reinstated as a member of the UDP if he submits a public apology and remains loyal to the UDP constitution.
It must be noted that Cuthkelvin has always been a vocal member of the UDP, and as far back as 2014, he is recorded as having accused the party of rigging a convention in the Stann Creek West constituency—a division he sought to represent. Subsequently, his bid to become the standard bearer of that division, following the resignation of the late Melvin Hulse, had been opposed by then Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, who in June 2015 told Love News, “In my view, he would be best advised to withdraw. Otherwise, he is going to create the kind of distraction and diversion that we don’t need, but it’s a matter for him, but I am glad you asked me the question because I can go on record as saying that in my view he would serve the interest of the party and of himself if he were not to pursue this.”