Email

Print

Yesterday, an Opposition splinter group calling itself the PUP’s Standing Up Against Injustice’ held a meeting at Musa and Balderamos Law Offices on North Front Street. The subject? The impending arrest of Said Musa and the PUP’s response, or as the case may be, non response to it. The Party’s official position is that Mr. Musa should get a fair trial by an independent judiciary – a less than enthusiastic response.

And so those who support Musa met yesterday and we are told that the group included as many as three Area Representatives – which is fully 50% of the party’s six seats in the House of Representatives. Their statement characterized the impending arrest as an act of persecution and political victimization. That’s far different from the very sterile position officially adopted by the party, exposing the party’s polarization over Mr. Musa’s legacy and his current predicament.

But it’s not just a flash in the pan, those PUP’s who say they are standing up against injustice can’t just be overlooked by the party leadership. And so today, the official PUP issued a statement. It refers to the Musa allies as an ad hoc group and says that the party welcomes their activism and loyalty. But that’s about it; the statement says that high officials must be accountable for their actions. And the official release also refers to a diversion of Venezuelan grant funds – a direct rebuttal of the splinter group’s position that it was a sound policy decision.

A sharp difference of interpretation, but the same hue of blue, and to make clear what’s official and what’s not, today the party leadership fanned out across the media, underlining the 3 key principles of their position. Deputy Leader Mark Espat came to Channel 7.

Hon. Mark Espat, PUP Deputy Leader
“That position is clear and it remains the same: that is firstly that holders of high public officer must be accountable for their conduct, for their behaviour while in office. Secondly, that because politicians are involved in this issue, the party would be vigilant to ensure that any prosecution is done in a fair manner by an independent judiciary. And thirdly, as any citizen is entitled to, there is and there must be the presumption of innocence. And so those are the three elements really that form the basis of the official position of the Party’s Executive on this matter.”

Jules Vasquez,
But beyond those very, it seems to me, technical differentiations, the organizing principle of politics is loyalty. Said Musa is not just any person. He is a former leader of the PUP, he is a two term successive Prime Minister. Shouldn’t the party bleed as is this ad hoc group for what they feel is the persecution of Said Musa?

Hon. Mark Espat,
“Let me say that this issue is an emotional, it is an immense social economic issue, the issue of the Venezuelan funds being diverted to satisfy the UHS related debts. There are two dimensions really; there is a political dimension and there is a legal dimension. On the political dimension I think that my position and the position of our leader of the party and others have been clear from all the way back in May of 2007 and that position is on the public record. As far as I am concerned, the political judgement on this issue was passed on February the 7th of this year and that judgement was unambiguous and unequivocal.

The party will of course as our release says be extremely vigilant to ensure that this does not turn into a witch hunt. Don’t expect though that my position or the position of others in the leadership will change. And that position was that the UHS debts or what was perceived by some to be public sector debts were private debts, that is on record and that has not changed and will not change.”

Jules Vasquez,
But really is not the establishment leadership of the party in somewhat of a bind because three of its members, three of the elected representatives of the PUP I should say, are at odds with the other three in so far as three of them believe Mr. Musa is being persecuted and those three are Said Musa, Francis Fonseca, and Florencio Marin Jr. while the other three, yourself, Cordel Hyde, and John Briceno believe that he should be held to account for actions that he did in office and you all do not support public funds paying a private debt.

Hon. Mark Espat,
“Well Jules we believe that any holder of public office should be held to account and so our knee jerk reaction without knowing what the legal charges may be, if any, without knowing the circumstances and details of any case that may be brought cannot just be that you are innocent because you are PUP or you are guilty because you are UDP. That is not a reasonable position. That is not an enlightened position. It is certainly not a position that will change the kind of politics that we do in Belize. And so I think we’re saying the same thing, I just think that some people feel more strongly than others. Some want to pre-judge the merits or demerits of any possible prosecution and that is their democratic right and certainly as members of the PUP, they have that right.

Politics is about numbers and that is why our release says clearly that we respect the right of this ad hoc to advocate their position. That in no way detracts from the official position of the party, mind you. But we respect that and we respect that some people will feel strongly about other issues, more strongly about some issues than others, that is a part of politics. And so yes I am concerned but I am concerned about all six of us and I am hope that wherever possible we can find common ground as we have on many issues over the last several months.

I think on any issue there will be a difference of intensity in support or adversity towards that issue.”

Jules Vasquez,
It is not a matter of intensity, it is a matter of interpretation: did Mr. Musa make a proper policy division to settle a sovereign debt. That is what the ad hoc group believes, you do not believe that. So there is a difference not of intensity, a difference of interpretation of his actions.

Hon. Mark Espat,
“Well if you examine every issue, every major issue over the ten year tenure of the government, I think that you can dissect it in hundreds of ways and you can find individual Ministers, high ranking members of the PUP who would fall on different sides of an issue.”

Jules Vasquez,
Isn’t it always a point of concern for a party when cabals or ad hoc groups, splinter groups start to form, and start to pick up momentum?

Hon. Mark Espat,
“I am not surprised that an ad hoc group would emerge and I am not alarmed by it. They have stated their allegiance to the party, they are PUPs and so we extend that privilege to express themselves as they see fit.”

Jules Vasquez,
Even if you didn’t extend the privilege they would express themselves. That is the feeling I get.

Hon. Mark Espat,
“Well that’s speculation."

There are indications that other official bodies within the party may come out in support for Mr. Musa. But when will he be arrested? And who else may be arrested? Well, on Thursday the DPP told us it would be within a few days. But it’s not likely to happen on tomorrow’s holiday and by Thursday it will have been one week since the story broke. So the best we can do is just wait and see.