It's 8 weeks to municipal elections and both UDP and PUP are striking up their political machines for the long stretch into march. Indeed, it promises to be a fierce and competitive two months of political one upmanship and today the UDP got the first "up" when it launched its manifesto. 7NEWS was at the launching.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
It's a team that hopes to break one of the longest streaks in politics, the PUP's 16 year unbroken dominance in Belize City Council. And to break the record of the long serving council, the UDP will rely on this document, more a pamphlet than a manifesto, it is called a plan of action. In one page, it outlines goals in 5 areas, job creation, quality of life, business development, autonomy and easy access government. Also, the prospective councilors make 9 pledges to city residents. Party leader Dean Barrow was duly impressed.
Hon. Dean Barrow, UDP Leader
"I am absolutely convinced that this manifesto is a very good one, that it is practical and concrete and doable and it doesn't make the kind of wild promises that insult the intelligence of the electorate. Any manifesto is only as good, any plan, is only as good as the people who will implement it and that is where I feel the United Democratic Party, in these circumstances, is possessed of an incomparable advantage. I really believe that the women and men that make up this UDP city council team are possessed absolutely of the right stuff."
Barrow says they have the right stuff and the mayoral candidate says what's in here is the right stuff.
Zenaida Moya, Mayoral Candidate
"It's a document that is achievable. It's doable. It's something that is measurable. At the website, there will be web papers that explain more about this document."
But what's the strategy of making this document very light reading and filling up the details on the internet.
Zenaida Moya,
"Residents often times don't want to read a bulky document, they want something, a little one page, or many people only want to read a leaflet so we felt that we can save time of the residents and saving some resource additionally by offering something very simple on it. It will be something that costs the party less but something that we can really distribute to the masses."
Jules Vasquez,
Am I hearing right that you all cheaped out on the voters of the city? You all thought it would be cheaper to come up with a three-page handout?
Zenaida Moya,
"Well Jules we didn't see it as...of course it's cost effective but we see it as something that residents will want to read."
And perhaps what residents we spoke to most want to know, is how a UDP city council will manage in a PUP era.
Zenaida Moya,
"We know that when we win this election, and we will win, that we may very well face an unfriendly central government and we will not let them off the hook, definitely not. We understand that to be autonomous means that you don't have to beg and be degraded and be subservient. This is something that we want of all our residents so this is something that we will work towards as a city council."
And now this team hopes to bring that dignity to the city.
The PUP is expected to launch manifestos for the city and for all councils in the next three weeks.
