Both major political parties held important high-level meetings to consider
weighty matters on Saturday. The PUP National Executive met at Cahal Pech met
to decide the way forward for a difficult issue – the ownership of the
party’s assets. As has been widely reported, former party leader Said
Musa and Campaign Manager Ralph Fonseca sold the party newspaper, radio station
and headquarters to the new party leader, John Briceno late last year.
Briceno part-paid for it, but there was still an outstanding balance of four
hundred thousand dollars. Musa and Fonseca – in a letter from their attorney
Edwin Flowers warned that if they didn’t get paid by October thirtieth
– they would re-possess those assets. The letter was dated the 16th October,
but it became public last week and Briceno and his supported reacted angrily
positioning themselves to call out the former leader and campaign manager for
lording over what was rightfully for the party.
So Saturday’s executive meeting was billed as a showdown – but
from Friday it became clear that Musa and Fonseca were only rattling Briceno’s
cage – for their sport, apparently – and they would not take the
party leader to court.
Musa showed up at Saturday’s meeting, and he wasn’t shouted down,
or shamed, or threatened with expulsion. In fact, we are told the past leader
was accorded with respect by Briceno’s executive who urged reconciliation,
not the confrontation desired by their leader. And the compromise that was eventually
agreed to was as follows: Musa and Fonseca will not re-possess the party assets;
instead, the assets will be placed into a trust, with Mr. Musa and Fonseca to
each name a trustee and the party to name two.
And the kicker is that Musa and Fonseca still get their way: they have to be
paid for those assets in five years. That means two things: first, the debt
is deferred, not extinguished; and second, the PUP hopes to settle this debt
after it takes office – because as any party in the business of winning
elections should – it expects to win the next general election.
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