Last night, you saw City Councillor Mark King go after his Mayor, Zenaida Moya with the zeal of a jihadist, the stats of a whistle blower and the persuasiveness of a fish from “rivabattam.” He accused her of mis-spending, nepotism, and corruption. Moya responded by brushing him off, characterizing King as “loony” and politically inconsequential. And while it was one of the most entertaining political spectacles we’ve ever participated in, for the UDP leadership and loyalists, it was just plain embarrassing. But when we spoke to Party Leader Dean Barrow today, he wasn’t emotional; he said king foretold his own undoing, and right about now, the best thing for him to do is to fall on his own sword.
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
“Well my reaction is evisceral, it is institutional. The councillors all signed an undertaking that none of them would do what Mark King did. He referred to the fact of that undertaking during his press conference. The consequence of violating that undertaking, in my view, are clear and I would imagine that Mr. King will have no difficulty in facing up to those consequences in order to make the drama of the piece complete. He indicated quite clearly that he knew what he was doing and he was prepared to sacrifice himself for what he saw as this larger cause. That is no doubt commendable, I would certainly like to see him follow through on it though and not oblige the party to act. In other
words I believe that given the fundamental violation of the obligation that Mr. King accepted, he accepted both the obligation and the fact that he has violated it. I would imagine that he would do the right and logical thing thereafter.”
Jules Vasquez,
But then shouldn’t also a consequence be brought against the Mayor? She is the one who initiated first this week, calling out the BTB for what some say is a fictitious wrong.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
“But the BTB is not a councillor. The undertaking, written undertaking that all the candidates signed, was to not attack each other; not to attack any fellow candidate for the convention. So whatever the Mayor may have said about the BTB, unfortunate or not, does not fall into the same category at all.”
Jules Vasquez,
But are we then to say that the UDP will whistle past the graveyard and not listen to what Mark King has said, because he has made some very bold accusations of corruption, accusations I’ve heard before about the Mayor?
Hon. Dean Barrow,
“But you presume too much. I never said anything about the substance of Mr. King’s allegations. I just said that in making those allegations he violated a written obligation and with respect to Mr. King, I believe that certain consequences then become inevitable. In so far as he is made allegations against the Mayor, I would think that indeed the party will want to be sure that the Mayor fully answers those allegations.
I will tell you that quite frankly his bill of indictment wasn’t as telling as I thought he felt it to be. The shock value came more that he was making allegations than the substance of the allegations. For example he says the Mayor allowed her brother or brothers to earn $270,000 from the council. Did they do the work? I certainly, had I been Mayor, would not have hired my brother but that apart did they do the work. If they did, it is a storm in a teacup.
He said she employed or she used a council security staffer to look after her house under construction. I would not have done that but she said she was
entitled to two securities and that was the way she chose to deploy one. Again is that the kind of thing that would cause people to feel that this is a Mayor who ought to be re-elected? I don’t think so but to the extent that there is any apparent substance to Mr. King’s allegations, I believe the party has to be sure that the Mayor answers fully and properly and to the extent that you’re talking about public funds, public accountability, the Minister of Local Government or the Ministry of Local Government will be obliged to look at what Mr. King has said and to get to the bottom of what it is he has said.”
Jules Vasquez,
Do you regret that all this has played out so publicly?
Hon. Dean Barrow,
“Yeah but I tell you the truth, that was my first reaction and my second reaction after reflection was well, these are the excesses of democracy and the UDP is about democracy. Democracy is often times, perhaps inevitably, a messy business and it is messy, there is no getting away from that. But in the end I think that right will prevail.”
Jules Vasquez,
You will agree that to the outsider it looks like 7 months into office, the UDP under your leadership is in disarray.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
“Man that is ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. There is a contest, contests within the UDP are always keenly contested. The administration would be in disarray if secret deals were tumbling out of the closets, if we weren’t managing the money, if we weren’t looking after the people’s business. To the extent that convention throws up a sideshow, I am saying that maybe if the sideshow appears to some quarters to be outrageous, that is a little bit regrettable but it is the essence, the fundament of democracy and ultimately I have no difficulty with it.”
And while Barrow would wish for King to just walk on, “laughing and happy” as he said he would, if he does not, UDP sources tell us, he will simply be barred from running as a city councillor. What is more interesting is the effect King’s political suicide mission has had on the party. While the intended effect was to terminate, in some sense, her political career, the sense we are getting form UDP sources, is that instead of fallout, there is a kind of falling in behind the embattled mayor. We’ll see how that develops in the next few weeks.
But that’s not the end of it from the tumultuous City Hall. Mayor Moya had a press conference late this afternoon to lay bare the financial records and clear herself of wrongdoing. We’ll have that story later on in the newscast.
