It may, or may not happen, but the word coming out of the UDP is that Mayor Zenaida Moya-Flowers’ political days are numbered, at least with the UDP.
On Saturday, the UDP National Party Council voted to boot Zenaida from its ranks, the executive, and the council has referred her case of disrespecting Prime Minister Dean Barrow, her fellow councilors and by extension the party, to a Central Executive’s 3-member Ethics Committee, to be comprised of the Rt. Hon. Manuel Esquivel, Dean Lindo, a former Party Leader; and retired general Robert Garcia, who would meet to consider the matter and to advise the Central Executive, and subsequently the National Party Council, on how to proceed.
The word from UDP sources, however, is that they strongly feel that Zenaida will be expelled from the party by month’s end.
In an audited account of the Belize City Council books that covered the period from January to April, the Auditor General had confirmed that there were eighty-two instances of what Mayor Moya and her financial managers had dubbed “under depositing.” City Hall, as a result of this questionable process, was reportedly unable to account for an enormous amount of money. The audit revealed that a total of $274,657.46 had vanished in the “under-depositing” practice of the City Council, a term that is said to not exist in accounting.
Ultimately, the matter was passed on to the judicial system for resolution, and Moya, along with some members of her staff, have had to face charges related to the violation of certain financial management regulations. Last Thursday, after she had been charged in court, Moya-Flowers, on the steps of the Magistrate’s Court, told the assembled media that “someone doesn’t have any balls,” a direct reference to her Party Leader, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Hon. Dean Barrow. She accused him of this, she said, because when he initiated actions against her, she “was in her bed delivering a child.”
In referring to Zenaida’s pointed charge that the Prime Minister was responsible for her prosecution in court, a strong press release issued by the party on Saturday, after the decision to throw her out of the National Party Council, states: “The decision to charge Mayor Moya-Flowers and others was a decision made by the constitutional, independent, professional office of the DPP after review of the evidence.”
“The UDP cannot and had no wish to comment on the guilt or innocence of anyone charged. The Party has, from the point of view of proper administration, custody and use of public funds, a responsibility to take a position on the conduct of its elected officials.”
The UDP explained that the National Party Council had voted unanimously “to reconfirm the Party’s commitment to its platform against corruption and its resolve to promote accountability, transparency, high ethical standards and dedicated and efficient service in public life.”
Therefore, the release informs: “The National Party Council has therefore taken the following positions: (a) pursuant to Article 7 Sections 11 and 12 (b) of the Party’s Constitution to remove Zenaida Moya-Flowers from the National Party Council (b) refer the issue of her conduct to the Central Executive of the Party for further consideration.”
Three other members of the Belize City Council had also been arraigned along with Mayor Moya-Flowers, but the evening before she appeared in court, on Wednesday, September 30, Zenaida dispatched a combative 3-page press release, in which she catalogued her position.
“The Mayor has had to stand up to the Minister of Finance to defend the democratic status and the independence of the Council, and this has caused the Minister of Finance to declare war on her and the Council using the pretext, or excuse, that there are financial irregularities at the Council that need to be curbed. If there are, it is the duty of the Mayor and Councilors to curb them; not the Minister of Finance or his minion, Patrick Tillett. The Mayor has therefore commenced a constitutional motion in the Supreme Court to determine once and for all who runs Belize City Council – the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, or the Mayor and Councilors….”
The Mayor’s lengthy press release went on to say that neither “the Mayor nor the Belize City Council has made any report to the police or has requested police action into the affairs of the Belize City Council. This was done by the Minister of Finance representative, Mr. Patrick Tillett, who is not employed or paid by the Council. He is the paid agent of the Minister of Finance.
“There has been a public trial of the Mayor and Belize City Council by rumor and innuendos, led by the Minister of Finance, and his minion, Patrick Tillett.”
The mayor has secured the services of Hubert Elrington, brother to Hon. Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Attorney General, to take the Government to court over the amendments to the City Council Act, recently passed by Government.
Apparently, however, the Mayor stands on her own, because a release from the Council, under the control (Mayor Moya-Flowers is supposed to be on maternity leave) of Deputy Mayor Dion Leslie, says that the Mayor did not consult with them before taking the matter to court, and they do not support her, and in fact, have no problem with the amendments.
The unanswered question is, can the Mayor proceed with the matter in court, even if she does not have the support of her council?
According to the UDP release, the Mayor has sought to divert attention from the central issue (being charged in court) by attacking the PM Barrow, her fellow councilors, and by extension, the United Democratic Party.
PM Barrow has said that the Mayor had been invited to the Saturday meeting, and had said that she would come, but she was a “no-show.”