Sober Reflection

A Political Fatwa

PUP Party Leader John Briceno issued a political fatwa at this past weekend’s meeting of the National Party Council. He declared that ‘heads would roll’ if there were any further attacks against any member of the People’s United Party in any of the Party’s organs. I have personal reason to be convinced that the Party Leader was dead serious in his declaration and is dead set on doing anything within his power to ensure that there is peace and unity within the People’s United Party – all factions, units, old guard, new guard, right guard; whatever you want to call them.

As I understand it, all those who were present mirrored those sentiments, calling for unity and an end to the bickering which has continued practically non-stop for a very long time now. As I understand it, there was representation from all constituencies, though a few representatives were absent. Everybody who was there that I’ve spoken to has verified that there was a cry for the Party to stop its nonsense, get its act together and focus its attention on where it should be – serving the people and decimating our political enemies, the UDP. So the message coming out of the Party Council meeting, and the political fatwa issued by the Party Leader is unity. There can be no other way.

But while the call resounded over the weekend, it went out a long time before that. The Party was badly broken following elections in February of 2008. Upon taking up the reins of leadership in March of 2008, John Briceno sent out the call for unity and he has stuck to that line through fair weather and foul (to be fair it’s been mostly foul weather). Risking the perception of weakness, the Party Leader has steadfastly resisted calls to sanction this one or the other and to oust this one or the other. Though met many times with thorny bouquets, the Party Leader has extended only the olive branch, each and every time. With that said, let me just say that if word coming out of the meeting is to be valued, the Party is as close to unity as it has been since those oh so turbulent times pre and post general elections.

If I had my way, there would be a National Party Council meeting every single week, with different delegates each and every time. In this way our political leaders would be able to get the real sense of what our supporters all across the country are begging and crying and pleading for. Maybe if this had happened a long time ago, unity would be within our grasp and I wouldn’t have to be laboring over a keyboard right now. See, our people need their leaders, plain and simple. Things are really, really bad in Belize right now. Throw in all this nonsense the UDP is doing right about now and I’d be willing to bet that the people are ready for a change. Serious! Things are that bad. The PUP needs to be that change.

See, this damned infernal bickering is hard work and does no good for anyone. Take me, for example. I think the UDP is a bunch of idiots and incompetents who are raping the country for their personal gain. I think the UDP needs to be attacked and exposed at every turn for their callous, underhanded and victimizing ways. But I managed to get sidetracked for a time with all this petty nonsense and spent a few good hours of my life putting together insulting comments about my colleagues at the National Perspective. I’ve noticed that some of them over there have spent quite some time in attacking members of the PUP leadership (some of their leaders, actually, since they say they are PUPs). What has it achieved? Well, nothing good for the Party we all profess to love, that’s for sure. And the infighting has done much worse than just waste time – it has created tension and distrust and frustration among our leaders and it sure as hell has confused our supporters. It has also given our political enemies somewhat of a free pass because our weapons have been directed elsewhere.

With that out of the way, I say this. All factions/units/cliques/guards were represented at the National Party Council this past weekend. All of them heard the call for unity. It will be interesting to take a look at this week’s National Perspective to see if they heeded the call. It will also be interesting to study the interaction of our Belize City leaders in the weeks ahead to see if they heeded the call.

As for me and the Belize Times – well let me put it this way. If the PUP is united as we head into this Christmas season, I’ll be content. And if contentment isn’t enough, then the Party Leader’s fatwa will do the trick. As close as my head has come to rolling recently, I better not push the case. So there you have it. There will be no more attacks, whether veiled or outright, against any member of the PUP whether I like and respect them or not. I close with the words of a wise old philosopher whose name I forget – can’t we all just get along?

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