A hearing involving Belize City Mayor Zenaida Moya-Flowers and the United Democratic Party, (UDP) had been scheduled to take place in the Supreme Court of Justice Minet Hafez on Thursday, November 12, but none of the parties showed up and the matter was adjourned until Thursday, December 10, 2009.
Moya-Flowers had taken her party to court because they expelled her from the UDP National Party Council last month. The party had also been proceeding with its plans to expel Moya-Flowers. And to that end, they appointed an ethics committee to look into her behavior. Moya-Flowers is also facing criminal charges in court.
But Amandala has learned from a source at the UDP headquarters that a deal is being worked out between Moya-Flowers and the party.
We understand that the party is asking her to withdraw her judicial review action from the court, and in return, the party will not proceed with its planned “disciplinary action” against her.
Moya-Flowers’ trouble with the UDP began before October 1, 2009, but it was exacerbated on that day, when the Mayor, after being arraigned on some twenty-four criminal charges in the Magistrate’s Court, held an impromptu press conference and made remarks that many considered disrespectful to party leader and Prime Minister Dean Barrow.
When Moya-Flowers’ judicial review first came up in the Supreme Court last month, her attorneys, Dr. Elson Kaseke and Godfrey Smith, managed to extract a promise from the UDP lead attorney, Michael Young (Deanne Barrow is also representing the UDP), that the party would not take any action against the Mayor while the judicial review was before the court.
The Mayor’s case is predicated upon the fact that the party violated the principle of natural justice, because she was not afforded an opportunity to defend herself before she was expelled from the National Party Council.
The Prime Minister, on the other hand, had said publicly that the Mayor had been given the opportunity to appear at the meeting, but did not come.