News on the Belize election campaign. Note Paragraph 7: "The party has also promised to build 10,000 homes and create 15,000 new jobs."
POLITICS-BELIZE: ELECTIONS FOLLOW NO HOLDS BARRED CAMPAIGN
BELIZE CITY, (Aug. 26) IPS - Belizeans will go to the polls
tomorrow after a highly charged, vitriolic campaign involving two
experienced parties not afraid to trade punches.
Manuel Esquivel's ruling United Democratic Party (UDP) built its
campaign on the theme that the country needed to maintain some
level of continuity as far as its social and economic policies
went.
Taking the fight to the former ruling party, the Peoples United
Party (PUP), UDP platform speakers were not afraid to allude to
past performances and have alleged everything from financial
mismanagement to corruption.
The UDP wrested power from the PUP -- then under veteran politician
George Price -- in 1993.
"It's all about trust," reads the UDP's manifesto theme, while
citing the need for enhanced activities in the areas of job
creation and poverty alleviation through the building of roads,
schools, health clinics, and water systems for rural communities.
On the other hand, the PUP has promoted the slogan: "Set Belize
Free." It has also promised to abolish a value added tax first
conceived by the Price administration but eventually implemented
by the UDP.
The party has also promised to build 10,000 homes and create 15,000 new jobs.
The issue that appears to unite the two durable rivals is the need
for some kind of political reform to meet the reality of a changing
Belize.
The influx of Central American immigrants, for example, has for
years been a most vexing issue and both sides have, at some time
or the other, been charged with using the presence of a huge
immigrant population to their respective political advantage.
Under the country's Economic Citizenship Program, an immigrant can
acquire citizenship in this English-speaking Central American state
by paying $50,000 to the government.
Commentators have remarked that the issue must be set in the
context of a comprehensive immigration policy -- a matter that did
not feature prominently during the election campaign.
In 1980, for example, Amerindians accounted for seven percent of
the population, Creoles -- of mainly African descent -- 40 percent,
Garifuna or Black Caribs who are of mixed Amerindian and African
blood, eight percent and mestizos -- of mixed Mayan and European
descent, 33 percent.
By 1991, however, as a direct result of the mass movement of
Salvadorean, Guatemalan and other Central American political and
economic refugees, the mestizo population grew to just below 44
percent.
This has led to some serious social problems including a phenomenal
rise in population growth and illiteracy that stands in the
vicinity of 12 percent.
But the ruling party has cited major capital projects, including
a rural electrification project and a program of infrastructure
development and the stability of the Belizean dollar to support its
claim of prudent economic management.
The campaign has also featured the ruling of a Commission of
Inquiry which recommended that opposition leader Said Musa
reimburse $3.75 million to the government of Belize following
allegations of mismanagement of the country's Economic Citizenship
Program (BECP).
Musa, who was minister of foreign affairs in the Price
administration between 1989 and 1993, was alleged to have
improperly assigned the proceeds of passport sales to the wrong
government account.
Ignacio Bautista, a political analyst, says "the selling of
passports was a burning national and political issue for the 1989
general elections."
The Commission, established by Esquivel, arose out of an Auditor
General's report on the BECP, during PUP rule.
The report cited, "irregularities in the handling of large sums of
money and blatant disregard of government rules and regulations."
Musa has however lashed back by saying that the charges were "based
on a misleading and biased Auditor General's report."
The Auditor General, O.G. Nicholas, testified that he had examined
a total of 452 files, all involving the request of Economic
Citizenship.
He said attempts were made to meet with Musa, "to clear up the
numerous unanswered queries" but that the former Minister refused
to meet.
In 1984, upon taking office, an "Economic Investment Program"
involving the sale of passports to foreigners was introduced by the
Esquivel government.
The PUP criticized the measure, promising to terminate it when it
resumed office.
But, this was not the case when the party eventually won office in
1989. Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney General Dean Barrow said
"Musa and the PUPs had continued to engage in the selling of
passports."
Musa has however dismissed the issue as "simply raw politics,
through propaganda in a desperate last-ditch attempt by the UDP to
smear my good name."
For the most part, though, Belizeans have been focusing on rising
crime, joblessness and problems in reactivating the tourism sector.
There are 94,173 registered voters, and a report from electoral
officials says the voters' list is "a clean list that represents
an actual reflection of the electorate." The figure in 1993 was
98,371
Last year, the Organization of American States (OAS) conducted a
re-registration exercise in an attempt to update electoral records.
*** end of story ***
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