What If…

What if we were one People’s United Party, far removed from this nonsense about factions and fractures? What if we were one People’s United Party, free from useless distractions and able to focus much more on granting ease to the many thousands of Belizeans who support us and many thousands more who are desperately in need of somewhere to turn? What if all our bright minds and committed hearts worked from one playbook, striving toward one goal with one dedicated servant of the people to lead us? What if petty gripes, bitterness, malice and monumental egos were shunted away in the pursuit of something bigger, something better? I don’t think that would be wishing for too much. If the PUP can get it together, and I have full confidence that we can, the UDP would be scattered before us like so much dust in the wind. That’s how powerful a united PUP is…that is how fleeting and insubstantial the UDP is showing itself to be.

See, the United Democratic Party’s leadership is made up of stupid people, and that’s being charitable. Earlier on, many of us could be heard to say that the Prime Minister was the only intellectual in the den of dodo-birds. I still think he is not a stupid man, but a series of decisions which he has made leave one to question the firm grasp of the screws in his head. A couple of them may have been jarred loose driving over the potholes in Belize City. Seriously, very few people can say with all confidence that they still believe in Mr. Barrow and all that he stands for.

As I’m writing this I’m listening to a recording of WAVE’s morning show and Mr. Barrow is chewing out Senator Juliet Thimbriel for daring to suggest that the decision he made concerning the lands at mile 41 was wrong. He comes across as a man not all there, if you know what I mean, like the demands of office have taken a toll on his nerves. One of my old, old aunties used to drink Sanatogen tonic by the quart and said she did it because it settled her nerves. She sure seemed a lot more rational and calm and less delusional and hysterical than Mr. Barrow. Perhaps he should buy a bottle.

My gripe has always been and remains that the United Democratic Party is handing us back the country on a damned platter. They are messed up and have messed up in so many ways. The people of Belize are reeling from lick after lick after jab after lick…and we’re told the worst is still to come. Mr. Barrow has deliver on none (NONE) of his promises. NONE! And he has made absolutely no apology for not delivering. He just makes another promise and moves on. Every department of government is messed up, from lands to works to health to housing. The streets are running red with blood. Tourism is a mess. The economy is in recession. Unemployment is up. 43% of Belizeans are living in abject poverty. Children are dropping out of school because they cannot afford education. We are messed up. This government under Mr. Barrow has messed up everything.

About the only thing the Barrow administration has done with amazing verve is fire and victimize people they believe to be supporters of the People’s United Party. Our people have lost their land, their jobs and in many cases their homes. That is the reality out here. And yet they continue to fight for us, with us because they are confident in the knowledge that the people’s United Party can and will do better.

In the village council elections our people came out in numbers and sent a message. Down south where the PUP won 40 out of 49 seats, the message to the UDP is that the people have gotten enough. No more. The message to the PUP is that our people still believe in us, believe in the message which is being sent out by Party Leader John Briceno. People believe in what he stands for.

I get pissed off when people bring their petty agendas into the game and disrupt the game plan. I’m pissed off for myself and for all those soldiers who aren’t afraid of getting dirty and taking hits for love of the party. I maintain that we soldiers carry more weight than the petty agendas of a few. The needs of our many supporters and Belizeans in general far outweigh a few with division and mischief on their minds.

Some people will be pissed off at this and I’ll take my share of licks, but it is something that needs to be said. We’re being sidetracked by some really stupid but costly bickering and it needs to stop. I think that sometimes the Party Leader is perceived as too nice, but it would be the greatest of follies to mistake his kindness for weakness. His strength is in mediation and seeking input from all rather than chopping wildly with a sharp machete. But there’s absolutely nothing wrong with picking up that old machete from time to time, and I happen to know that the Party Leader spent quite some time in the cane fields and hasn’t forgotten the art of clearing away useless brush. Take that for what it is.

| | | | | |