(l-r) Hon. Hugo Patt, Hon. Tracey Panton and Alberto August
by William Ysaguirre (Freelance Writer)
BELIZE CITY, Thurs. June 12, 2025
The United Democratic Party (UDP) continues to implode, with internal squabbles for leadership delaying any chance of unity and a return to becoming a credible Opposition party in the eyes of voters. In the latest skirmish this week, Corozal North area representative, Hon. Hugo Patt, in his capacity as Interim UDP Leader, asked anyone invited to a National Party Council meeting scheduled for this Saturday, June 14, to stay away.
UDP Acting Chairman Alberto August had called the delegates from all constituencies to the meeting; but Patt wrote to him on Monday, June 10, asking him to delay the meeting, until he had time to meet with August and to comprehensively review the list of delegates. When August refused to reschedule, Patt advised all UDP supporters via a press release to stay away from the meeting and to engage with their local UDP committees in each electoral district to support Patt’s position that the delegates list should be reviewed before convening a national meeting.
Patt received full support on the same day from Leader of the Opposition, Tracy Taegar Panton, who stated in a release: “…Thank You: Interim PL Hon. Hugo Patt. Be assured that you enjoy our full and unequivocal support in this process of renewal, unification, respectful engagement and inclusiveness. I lend my efforts to yours as we defend our democracy and respect the rights of our supporters, stakeholders, caretakers and elected/appointed Party Representatives.”
On Wednesday, June 11, August wrote back and told Patt to, in effect, go fly a kite, declaring that the party’s constitution does not grant the party leader, any interim leader, or a deputy leader the power to instruct the party chairman in this manner. August insisted that, “Article 7(6) of the Party’s Constitution clearly states: ‘The National Party Council shall meet at least once every three (3) months. Meetings shall be called by the Chairperson’”. August said this meant that Saturday’s meeting was long overdue, as the last National Party Council met on January 25.
Former UDP senator Aldo Salazar is an attorney, and both Patt and August sought his help for the right interpretation of the UDP constitution on this issue, without a solution. August is of the view that only the Central Executive Committee has the authority to determine who should be a delegate on the National Party Council, according to Article 8(2)(e) of the UDP constitution. He pointed out that Patt had been absent when the Central Executive Committee passed four major resolutions at a meeting at the party’s headquarters in Belize City on May 18, even though he was invited to attend the meeting virtually. The committee had approved the reinstatement of all expelled party members, the scheduling of special constituency conventions for all 31 constituencies beginning in July 2025, and for the current leadership executive to continue in office until a new one is elected at the party’s national convention scheduled for October of this year.
All members of the National Party Council were informed and consulted accordingly, before this Saturday’s meeting was announced on May 28, August said, which met the requirement for 14 days prior notice.
“The Party has been going through hell for over five years. We went into the March 2025 general elections totally divided. This division must come to an end. Since the recent resignation of the Chairman, I have been engaged overtime in the effort to unite our Party. We are now seeing a light at the end of the tunnel; please do not convert that glimmer of hope into the headlight of an approaching train. While it is our desire to have you in attendance, not attending the scheduled meeting of the NPC is totally up to you; all we ask is that you seek not to usurp the authority of the Central Executive Committee, the Party Chairman and by extension the National Convention of the United Democratic Party,” August’s letter concluded.
Former UDP leader and Mesopotamia area representative, Moses “Shyne” Barrow has been shunned by both Tracy Panton’s Alliance for Democracy and his former House colleagues since he was unseated in the general elections in March, but he still claims to be the “UDP Leader”. He also inserted himself into the disagreement between August and Patt by instructing his attorneys, Pitts, Pitts & Associates, to write Patt on May 16, a letter in which he tried to discredit Patt’s position as interim UDP leader, and warned him that any further attempts to “unseat him” (Shyne) would be met with court action.
“This is a position that he was duly elected to via a National Convention in March 2022 and August 2023. Whereas you continue to serve as the 1st Deputy Leader of the UDP, Hon. Dr. Barrow at all material times continues to be Leader of the UDP. Therefore, we reiterate that there is no ‘interim’ party leader, and there cannot be any without first undergoing the official processes outlined in the UDP Constitution, that would be ultra vires,” the letter stated.
Barrow announced his resignation on March 17 after his humiliating loss in the general election, so that the UDP might elect a new leader at a national party convention; but he is now claiming that there was no formal acceptance by the other members of the party, and on April 23 he said that he was withdrawing his resignation “offer”. Barrow’s letter stated: “the only mechanism to remove the Party Leader as per Constitution, would be Article 9(7), which would require a 2/3 majority vote at a special National Convention. The NPC who would have had to declare the Party Leader’s office vacant then set a date for a National Convention to elect a new Party Leader.”