Remember the G-7 back in August of 2004? They were the 7 PUP Ministers who threatened to resign if their Cabinet colleague Ralph Fonseca was not removed as Finance Minister. Their actions literally took the Musa administration to the brink and – depending on your view of history they dealt the first blow to a government whose past sins were about to catch up with them.
Well now we’ve got a new seven; seven UDP City Councillors who have gone public to express their dissatisfaction with mayor Zenaida Moya and we’re calling them the Z-7. And while their collective gravitas does not begin to approximate that of their G-7 namesake, in terms of public relations, they’re far more advanced. While the G-7 cloaked its manoeuvres behind leaks to the press and cloistered round the clock encampments, the Z-7 came right out today with a press conference, swinging at their mayor and making their position clear.
We’ll have that shortly, but, first, some slight background. The group emerged after a disrupted closed meeting which was held yesterday at City Hall. As we reported in our last newscast, a group of councillors were opposed to Phillip Willoughby’s election to the post of Deputy Mayor. That happened in February when four councillors were not present at the meeting. But 7 were there and we were told Willoughby got four out of the 7 votes. Well, we stand corrected, he only got 3 with one councillor abstaining and one, inexplicably, spoiling their ballot. The other councillor who vied for the position Leila Peyrefitte got two votes.
The Z-7 – which includes Peyrefitte – felt that Willoughby then was not duly elected and his predecessor Councillor Dion Leslie attempted to move a resolution against him at yesterday’s caucus meeting. That’s when things went cross way between them and the Mayor – who was rushing off to a town meeting. Which is why you only saw four councillors at that town meeting; the others were busy ratifying the resolution against Willoughby. So that’s the background – which led to today’s unprecedented press conference with 7 councillors coming out publicly against the Mayor.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
City councillors Kevin Singh, Andrew Faber, Deon Leslie, Laura Esquivel-Frampton, Roger Espejo, Leila Peyrefitte, and Eric Chang all had relaxed amused looks on their faces before the press conference started. First up was an apology.
Laura Esquivel Frampton, Belize City Councillor
“We are here today to give a formal apology to the residents and voters of Belize City for not attending the public meeting last night March 16th. We want you to know that our intention was not to be disrespectful to you our constituents
and so we are here to formally apologize to you and give you our explanation. We humbly request your understanding for our decision not to attend that meeting.”
And the reason they didn’t attend was the closed caucus meeting which preceded the public meeting ended in rancour. The 7 councillors say they got three agendas for that meeting, the last one coming out of the Mayor’s office a half an hour after the caucus meeting was supposed to have started. They say that is no way to do business and more than that, it is against City Council regulations enshrined in law. And they say what’s behind it is that the Mayor wanted to defer a resolution brought forward by Dion Leslie, the former Deputy Mayor, that the man elected to succeed him Phillip Willoughby was illegitimately elected and his ascension should be voided. Councillor Esquivel who has been designated as the spokesperson for the Z-7 explained that things started to fall apart once Leslie started going ahead with his resolution.
Laura Esquivel Frampton,
“When he began to read one of several resolutions, the mayor tried to stop him from reading this resolution. Despite this he continued. At least six councillors indicated their support for the resolution. At this point the
Mayor stated that she would not allow the vote and instructed the City Administrator, who is responsible for taking minutes, not to record and acknowledge the vote. The mayor then stated that she would end the meeting. Councillor Espejo called for a vote not to end the meeting, this was seconded by Dion Leslie and Eric Chang at the same time. The mayor again ignored this request and got up and left the meeting, also telling the city administrator to do the same. We feel this is illegal.
After this, the other councillors remained. All 7 who remained at the meeting confirmed their vote and agreed to sign the resolution. We all agreed that it would be disingenuous to attend a meeting after what had just transpired.”
And the Councillors say that what had just transpired had been happening for some time.
Laura Esquivel Frampton,
“We stated the order of the events yesterday to illustrate how the Mayor regularly conducts the business of the council. It has been the norm for unilateral decisions to be made, contracts to be signed without the knowledge of the council and attempts made to silence councillors.
All the conflicts that have come about have come about because of non-adherence to the law. It has come about because of the council finding out about agreements being made, contracts being signed, and recommendations being made of the Liquor License Board and the Trade License Board without the input and knowledge of the council. These have been systematic actions of the Mayor and we are telling the public that you elected all eleven of us, not one person. And all the conflicts have resulted out of some sort of activity that took place outside of the knowledge of the council which is outside of the letter of the law.
It is fitting and perhaps even symbolic that we are here before you today taking this united stand. We were elected on a platform of transparency and accountability and we have been doing our best to uphold the pledge. We call
on the Mayor to adhere to the laws which govern our Belize City Council to the highest level.”
Jules Vasquez,
“If she does not?”
Laura Esquivel Frampton,
“Then we will take it to the Ministry of Local Government for their input and we will see where we proceed from there.”
Roger Espejo, Belize City Council
“We know exactly what the law says and we are calling on her to acknowledge a vote and for it to be minuted. Now if the City Administrator does not acknowledge that vote, the City Administrator serves the council, the City Administrator does not serve only the Mayor, she serves the council and the council votes and the council rules. The council is the Mayor’s boss, technically speaking, and she has to listen to the council. If the City Administrator does not adhere to those minutes, the council will meet, pass a resolution to perhaps remove that city administrator or for an annex to be formulated and for them to filed. And now if she later on wants to take legal action, which I am sure she has legal footing, she is free to do so. This is a free country, anybody could go to court for anything.”
Laura Esquivel Frampton,
“The public elected 11 councillors to represent the city and we want the public to understand that the way things are run are by unilateral decisions and by intimidation of staff members as well as some councillors and this is how it is done. We are saying this needs to be changed. This is not how the law sets out for the Belize City Council to be run. If the law wanted the Belize City Council to be run by unilateral decision, it would call for the election of one person, not 11.”
Roger Espejo,
“We want to speak here today from a point of fact and not from a point of emotion. You will get that when you go and interview her later today, you will get emotion. What you’ll get here today is facts.”
And the fact they say is that the Mayor has gone rogue.
Jules Vasquez,
“Is the fact that you all are here, 7 of you as a block, is that an indication that the Mayor is beyond persuasion by any external force within the party and that you all have no option but to speak publicly?”
Laura Esquivel Frampton,
“I would say that certainly from the previous term to now there have been attempts that I know of for her to spoken to as well as the managers at the council in terms of following the law and this is not being adhered and so we feel that the public deserves to know exactly truly what happens in the meetings so they understand this is not about me not liking you, this is about contracts being signed without the knowledge and consent of the council, the council seal being used which is against the law without a resolution of the council for that council seal to be used. Just yesterday there was an MOU presented, this MOU was signed by the Mayor the 15th of March, the day before our meeting, and the city administrator and it wasn’t brought to the council. There is nothing wrong with the MOU, it is just another example of this thing is signed, it was not on the Mayor’s agenda, it was Mr. Willoughby’s agenda and he did not get a chance to bring it up. But again it was already signed before our meeting.”
But in order for them to take an action so extreme against a figure as prominent and as directly elected like the Mayor, they must have had approval from higher ups.
Laura Esquivel Frampton,
“We have spoken to people within the Central Executive and the Party Chairman about our decision to hold this press conference and what our reasons are.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Have they endorsed it?”
Laura Esquivel Frampton,
“They didn’t tell us not to do it.”
And now the matter pending before the council is this resolution, 7 councillors signed it but will the Mayor accept it.
Laura Esquivel Frampton,
“We are calling on the Mayor to do the right thing and the legal thing and acknowledge the vote.”
