His party just suffered its worst losses ever in successive municipal and general elections and Said Musa told us yesterday that he’s retiring from politics. With that background, you can understand why Musa held a very low-key press conference today. He did it at the Princess, and appeared without any party supporters, just a few family members and one member of his divisional committee. He conceded that the election result had a lot to do with him as leader, but stopped short of saying that it was the product of a failure of leadership.
Said Musa, Leader of the Opposition
“I would like to first of all congratulate the people of Belize in showing the world that democracy and the rule of law is very much alive in Belize. The majority voted for a change and we respect the will of the people. I congratulate the Honorable Dean Barrow on his party’s resounding victory at the polls yesterday. It was a long hard fought campaign but for me politics has never been personal. He has been a worthy opponent and I wish him and his party well as they now take on the responsibility of governance in Belize. I called him earlier this morning to congratulate him. The election is over, no bitterness, no recriminations, let us move on.”
And that moving on means finding out what’s wrong with the PUP which suffered its worst defeat ever.
Said Musa,
“We clearly have to do a very serious self-examination of the People’s United Party because basically this party is the real only majority party of Belize. I fervently believe that. What has happened is yes there have been people that left the party or people have lost trust in the paper. W e have to regain their confidence and to regain their confidence, we clearly have to get back to the core values of the PUP.”
But some in his party say that it’s Musa’s leadership over the past ten years that betrayed those values. They can say what they want, but this leader says he’s moving on.
Said Musa,
“Well I have indicated to various members of the party, particularly my close confidantes, that this was my last election. Now in terms of working out the transition and the leadership, really I would have to consult in more detail with the party, the executives in the party and indeed with members and supporters of the party in working that out.”
Jules Vasquez,
But you don’t foresee stepping down immediately as leader?
Said Musa,
“I would have to consult with the party on process of the transition.”
But Musa defended his record over the past 12 years as leader – and says he is a victim of propaganda, not his own bad decisions.
Said Musa,
“The UDP concentrated on attacking the leadership of the PUP and they hammered away at one issue, which is basically corruption, corruption corruption, and as I have been saying, and I firmly believe this, the truth of the matter is when you look around you if it corruption was a real issue, as opposed to a perception issue, how is it that Belize is still continuing to grow rapidly.”
So then whose fault is this supposedly false perception? Musa’s favorite bogeyman, of course, it’s the media!
Said Musa,
“Well in this election campaign like no other, the media played a very big part and yes, the media has been very extremely negative towards the PUP and people are watching television now more than ever, they are listening to their radios so the media plays a very big part, undoubtedly. And clearly there have been things that have happened which compounded by the media have created a different image of the PUP.”
A different image, but for Musa never a different reality – only a feeling.
Said Musa,
“Yes there is this feeling that some people took advantage of the situation, some well to do people if you like, there was that feeling deep down that in terms of translating the benefits of growth that it was not spread sufficiently across the board. I would readily concede that.”
But the answer as to why that happened Musa says is all in his head is in his head – how it works.
Said Musa,
“Well I have always governed maybe perhaps too much on the right side of my head which is the heart, the emotion, the passion, and maybe there has to be a greater balance between the logical, the left side, and the right side.”
We don’t know which side when he fired Mark Espat, and Cordel Hyde and forced Johnny Briceno to resign from Cabinet in May of last year – three of the 5 who won their seats.
Said Musa,
“I think I did them a favor in that I gave them more time to go and connect with their people.”
Jules Vasquez,
Or they may be enemies of your own unpopularity.
Said Musa,
“Let me say this about my popularity, I suffer no hubris about my popularity. In any political campaign, going into an election, once the focus is on the leader, obviously because of the battering he has to take, Dean Barrow suffered in 2003, Manuel Esquivel in 1998, - it is an inevitable process. So I don’t think you can judge the quality of the leadership just on that basis.”
And while he calls it a leaders’ curse, Musa says the PUP will be back.
Said Musa,
“I am in no way feeling any sense of despair. There was a wave, some call it a tsunami, whatever and that always happens in politics. There is a shift, people believe it is time to try something else, try for a change, it comes in as great wave but wave can swing back so easily.”
And that’s said, he has nothing to fear from file diggers in the new Belmopan administration.
Said Musa,
“I have no fear about what will happen tomorrow in Belmopan or anywhere else for that matter. I think what was there to be leaked has been leaked. There is nothing else.”
Jules Vasquez,
Sir in terms of the housing loans…
Said Musa,
“Jules please I am not going to go into that, that was a campaign issue, this is not the purpose of today. “
Jules Vasquez,
A lot of representatives feel it backfired, they feel the backbiting and the bitterness created amongst the party’s supporters – it backfired.
Said Musa,
“I think there is some truth to that. Clearly these matters were in a process and many people have not benefited from it and yes, yes you have that as an issue. It obviously played a part.”
And while most agree that the PUP must now go through some major transformation, it is left to be seen where the balance of power will shift. It promises to be interesting in the parliament where Musa could face a challenge as leader of the opposition in the House of Representatives. Beside him are three representatives, one of them a deputy leader, who he sent to the backbench last year. The stakes are high in the larger battle for leadership and it will make for interesting political drama.
