Earlier on we told you that Marcial Mes was arraigned in court today. We also told you that he has been suspended as a Minister of State and that the family of the victims wants him to pay their medical bills and pay them a visit in person.
Indeed, the Honorable Mes is a man in quite a predicament. If he does get off on the charges, there will be talk saying that Ministers are above the law, and if he does not, he will be the first Minister of State to face a conviction. And whichever way it goes, his political stock, already threatened in a recent divisional convention, can only stand to suffer. But one thing Mes can count on throughout is the support of his boss, Prime Minister Said Musa. In a political commentary, Jules Vasquez argues that while Mes is getting suspended by Musa - in fact, he may be getting off easy. And why? Here's a guess.
Jules VasquezReporting,
As a leader with a progressive indigenous agenda - Prime Minister Said Musa has always had a special alliance with Marcial Mes. The PM, who has toured the south probably more than anyone in his office over the past twenty years, was often if not always accompanied on those southern tours by Mes.
And while Mes never distinguished himself for his political performance as a Minister, or in the House of Representatives, for Musa, Mes' performance, even if it was completely unremarkable, has never been the important thing. Mes has been important to the PUP and Musa's leadership because he is the first Mayan to be elected to the House of Representatives as a PUP. And for this leader, with a keen sense of indigenous issues, the symbolism of that has been important, and in fact it has afforded Mes protection against his own failures.
Proof of Mes' unique value to Musa came in July of 2005 when the Prime Minister downsized the Cabinet but kept Mes around as the dubiously titled "Minister in the Prime Minister's Office." A vaccuous post but Musa gave him the nod because Mes remained important symbolically, and strategically - as the Musa administration faces a lawsuit from Maya leaders for failing to honor its ten point agreement.
And despite flagging political fortunes - Mes barely survived a strong challenge at his June 2006 convention from Oscar Requena - Musa has held on to him as a Minister of State now in the Ministry of National Development. And just last year, government got him this new Nissan Patrol - an elite SUV and a sharp upgrade from the nondescript L200 pickup he had been driving previously.
But now Musa has had to suspend the Minister of State. A release says it's so that, "his functions as minister would not in any way impede the legal process." An explanation which implies to us that Mr. Musa thinks that ministers are somehow above the law, and if Mes remained a minister, he too would so be.
But it seems that what Musa fails to consider, or acknowledge, is that Mes has so substantially violated the public trust by refusing to provide a specimen for testing - when the police say he appeared to have been drinking.
Janelle Chanona, News 5
"The witnesses are saying that he looked drunk?"
Supt. Noel Leal, P.G. Police
"It also appeared to us and it is important here that his appearance to the police must be as if he appears to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol and that is the way he appeared to us yesterday and that is why he asked him if he would cooperate by taking a blood test but it is his right to refuse."
His right to refuse indeed, but as a public official of the highest order it seems to us that it is his duty to comply - and when he didn't, Mes put himself, if not above the law, then certainly beneath the standard of conduct in public life that is required of a Minister of State. But it seems that in Belmopan, those nuanced interpretations of a public responsibility don't matter as much as does Musa's loyalty to Mes, and not to be forgotten, Mes's absolute loyalty to Musa's leadership - a relationship that remains intact, even as scandal smolders around this incident.
And while we noted that Mes was the first Mayan to be elected to the National Assembly as a PUP, he is not the first PUP who is a Maya in the House of Representatives. That was Vicente Choco, but he was elected as a UDP in 1974 and then switched to the PUP. Basilio Ah was also elected, but as a UDP. And not only is he the first Mayan for the PUP, Mes is the first PUP to win the Toledo West seat since independence, and he has won it twice.
