Last night on this newscast, city council Human Relations Manager Christine Perriott accused Mayor Zenaida Moya of personal abuse and disloyalty. Perriot was already hanging on to her job by a thin thread – after the Mayor asked her to resign the week before. And it seems that plain spoken interview tipped the scales against her, because after a caucus meeting today, the council voted unanimously to terminate her. After 5:00 this evening, the Mayor told us that Perriot had been fired, and added that it had been a long time coming.
Zenaida Moya, Mayor of Belize City
“She has officially been terminated and she’s no longer with the council.”
Jules Vasquez,
And that is a decision made by whom?
Zenaida Moya,
“It was a decision made by the council who met this afternoon.”
Jules Vasquez,
We know the council had a meeting yesterday where all but one of the councillors and yourself voted to keep her.
Zenaida Moya,
“That is incorrect, that is not true. There were some councillors who felt they wanted to hear the news, they wanted to hear what was said by the HR director and most of us agreed let’s hear what was said. And so we agreed that we would meet back today.”
Jules Vasquez,
And so having heard what she said, that made them make a decision to terminate her?
Zenaida Moya,
“Well I can say that that definitely impacted the decision.”
Jules Vasquez,
How much was the vote?
Zenaida Moya,
“It was unanimous.”
Jules Vasquez,
Did one councillor vote at least to keep
her?
Zenaida Moya,
“No.”
Kendra Griffith, News 5
“Is Mr. King here?”
Zenaida Moya,
“Councillor King is not here however he emailed his vote in support of her termination.”
Kendra Griffith,
“Mayor did the councillors know that you had asked Ms. Perriot to resign?”
Zenaida Moya,
“No, they did not know at the time that I had done so. This was a decision that was made directly between myself and Ms. Perriot as we had always discussed in the past, from since she got on actually, that whenever it was felt that she should not be at the council, that I can ask her to resign and she would do so.”
Jules Vasquez,
Both of you all had a union background and labour rights are things that you all came into the public light championing. How is it that she is being terminated, the primary reason was because, as I understand it, you claim that she was terminating people without due cause and now she is being terminated basically for exercising her freedom of speech – for saying what she said on TV and speaking what she felt to be the truth? Is this union justifiable?
Zenaida Moya,
“She was not asked to resign for mere termination of persons; that was not it. She was asked to resign because there was mounting pressures brought on by a majority of the workers who felt that they could not work with her or that she was not working with them in terms of they would go to the office and she would, according to them, not wanting to speak to them or, according to some of them, would quote “treat them like animals.” So this was the main reason why she was asked to resign.
From the onset there were problems, immediate problems. I am not saying she was not trying to do her job. But perhaps the manner of which it was committed, that is how it happened. They always say it is not what you say, it is how you say it.”
Jules Vasquez,
Mayor she says you used her and I guess you used her to fire people that you didn’t want to put your hands on because of political considerations and you let her do it. And after you used her, you betrayed her. So she is accusing you of selfishness and disloyalty. How would you respond to that criticism?
Zenaida Moya,
“I would respond that Zenaida isn’t afraid of anybody and if I feel as Mayor that somebody should be disciplined, I have no problem in ensuring that they understand that. So I am not afraid of anybody. There is no reason to use anybody.”
And to bolster her position, the Mayor presented a petition against Perriot which she says was circulated this morning and garnered 125 signatures in just a few hours. After that interview we spoke to Perriot and she told us that she has not been informed of a decision to fire her – and she has only heard of her firing second hand. As for the petition she claims that a politically affiliated worker went around making it clear to employees that they had to sign the petition. Once again, it’s her word against the Mayor, but Perriot cannot say what she will do next because she has not gotten any letter of termination. Whatever the case, it’s a power move for the Mayor who managed to bring her council around to support her after the majority did not support her yesterday. Today she claims that support was unanimous.
