Patrick Faber hopes to be Prime Minister in the next 35 days, but last night he got into a petty Facebook exchange with the President of the Belize National Teachers' Union Elena Smith.
Smith called his mother's name teasingly in a post, and while that would be enough to make any son jump to mom's defence - the whole story is that she only did it because his mother's name, Elizabeth (Betty) Leonie Brown Pott is about to be the name of a pre-school in Camalote village.
So that puts it in the public domain and last week, the village chairman was the first one who raised an objection to it:
Derrick Parham, Camalote Chairman
"The naming of the preschool, we want to get a little understanding too about the management behind the preschool. The name Betty Brown Pott, we don't really know who in the world Betty Brown Patt is, so the name Betty Brown Pott…we want to sanction a petition in these coming days and over the weekend to acquire signatures to reach out to the minister of education to please have that renamed complete because I think it is a total slap in the face."
Speaking to the media today at his Belize City office, Faber responded first by defending his mother's suitability to have a school named after her as a pioneering educator, but also conceded that if the village have one of their own to recommend for the school name, he also supports that:
Hon. Patrick Faber, UDP Leader-Elect
"Betty Leonie Brown Pott as I put in my post this morning is my mother and it should not matter that I am her son. She has had a long-distinguished career in education, in early childhood education more importantly, as she was one of the first certified early childhood instructors in this country. So, I don't understand why that would be a problem and because I am her son, she would be deprived of such a worthy honor. The idea to name the pre-schools is not an unusual one and it is not something that is limited to my mother at all. Remember that under the CDB project that we are doing we are building something like 22 preschools countrywide and it is not only 1 preschool. The decision was made not by me but my ministry, my team, to name these pre-schools after noted educators who have contributed to particularly early childhood education. I think the chairman and the Camalote committee, council as you call them, have a very valid point and I am honestly very prepared to listen to that and discuss with them, this is in fact the first time I am hearing today or yesterday is the first time I am hearing that there is some kind of outcry from the community. If that is the position, I am saying, that is noteworthy, that is worthy, let us talk about it. I am not opposed to it, there has never been a case of that coming to me and I said no, absolutely, it has to be called so, none at all."
