The Great 08, it may sound like an easy cliché but 2008 has earned the name we've given it because looking back at it, we've never seen or reported on a year quite like it. It was the year that saw elections hand the country's oldest political party its worst defeat ever – a defeat it is still reeling from; it also saw a former Prime Minister charged for the theft of public funds; it witnessed two bouts of catastrophic, epochal floods that devastated Belizeans in the south and west and caused tens of millions in damages, it saw the signing of the special agreement – which is either the boldest step forward we have ever made with the Guatemalans, or the first step on the road to perfidy.
2008 is also the year when government and a British billionaire gathered his munitions to undo the government of Belize, it saw record inflation, and it saw the launching of the urban terror era, and it saw the untimely unexpected death of an icon Andy Palacio. We'll look back at all of it tonight – or as much as can squeeze into two hours.
Welcome to Channel 7's retrospective of The Great 08.
We begin where the year began: with the elections. Remember that? So much has happened that it may seem distant, but it was history as the PUP, monied and muscular and promise making to the very end set itself up to take the biggest fall ever. It started when the date for elections were announced a month before on January 7, 2008 – and the 10 million dollar Venezuelan grant which would lead to so much personal and political undoing was unleashed:
[January 7th, 2008]
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
_The Prime Minister made a stage managed entrance to a room full of supporters and all 31 candidates of the PUP - an environment more of
a rally than press conference, a show of unity and readiness 31 days before the election. And to underscore the fact that his 31 has two women, the Prime Minister was flanked by his two female candidates - obviously what his party feels is a major strategic advantage.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa, PUP Leader
"His Excellency the Governor General today issued a proclamation dissolving the National Assembly. Nomination day has been set for the 21st day of January and the general election will be held on Thursday the 7th day of February, 2008. The Governor General has also issued writs of a referendum and the question of an elected Senate to be held also on the 7th day of February, 2008.
We in the PUP have pledged to conduct our campaign with respect for our political opponents and with respect for the voters of the 31 electoral divisions to exercise their democratic franchise, freely, peacefully, without violence or the threat of violence. In the end, the will of the people will prevail. We will be having a series of rallies in the districts as well as Belize City and later on in the month we will unveil and launch our manifesto: 'Believe in Belize.'"
The Prime Minister also discussed the much talked about Venezuela money - a US$10 million grant that the government received from the Hugo Chavez's government to go into housing loans.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"The Venezuelan money, as you said, is a grant to the people of Belize. It was promised sometime ago. It has arrived and it is to benefit the poor people of Belize."
Jules Vasquez,
Sir are you able to talk about the housing money that the Prime Minister said? How much is it and in June the release had said US$10 million?
Hon. Ralph Fonseca, Minister of Housing
"There is none for you Jules, you are too wealthy. What has happened is we announced the Venezuelan intention to help us with housing from June. So a lot of people started to apply and then we had the hurricanes where we took a lot of applications. So we have more applications than moneys that have come in from Venezuela and that is how they are working on it, based on priority.
Grants for people that are indigent and have no income or very little income, loans for families that earn $20,000 or less, the entire family, and to continue the building of the houses that we've started already or for those that really need houses."
Jules Vasquez,
It is US$10 million though.
Hon. Ralph Fonseca,
"It is US$10 million total but one million U.S. is for the stuadium."
And there you have Housing Minister Fonseca confirming that it was 10 million – we now know that wasn't quite so while Musa nicely dodged announcing any figure. But what became apparent right before the elections was the entire Venezuelan money giveaway gambit had backfired Because for every person who had received a home improvement grant, there were two who hadn't and by the day before elections it had brought things a bitter boiling point for some voters. Keith Swift sampled opinion in fornt of the Department Of Housing on that day.
Of course the following day was election and we now know that the mood expressed in that line was an accurate presentation of the mood across the country. And so, as expected on election day, the PUP was swept out of office in a political tsunami, 25 to 6, a 12% swing in the popular vote, the largest ever recorded and the lowest ebb in popularity ever for the PUP.
