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Musa Speaks On his History With Price
posted (September 22, 2011)
Sure to feature prominently at the Price Funeral is the man who succeeded him as leader of the PUP, Said Musa.

He took over from Price in 1996, 22 years after the then Premier had called on him to join the PUP.

And, at least in terms of image, Musa has hewn very close to Price, naming him senior minister in his 1998 Cabinet.

And, taken in the long view, his allegiance to Price is intriguing, because Musa started out in politics as a firebrand, a sort of revolutionary, very opposed to the idea of Price's incremental, peaceful constructive revolution.

We asked him today how he came around to what we'll call Price-ism:

Jules Vasquez
"Your father once ran against the PUP in Cayo, and was the Mayor - I believe one of the first Mayors, if not the first Mayor of San Ignacio. And you, yourself, was opposed to the PUP during the UBAD pack days. How is it that - and as I recalled also, you had lost a government job, as a Magistrate, and I believe that you lost your job because of the radicalism - it was said - that you espoused. Having said all that, what eventually led to you becoming a Price-ist?"

Rt. Hon. Said Musa - Price Brought Him Into Politics
"First of all, you were perfectly right in saying that my father was an NIP in the old days, but what I take comfort from is the fact that whenever he met Mr. Price - and I recall as a little boy in San Luis, when Mr. Price would go there to visit Don Quahim Habet, who was the owner of the lumber operations there. My father was the foreman. Mr. Price always treated him with absolute politeness and respect, and that of course, was the first impression I had of this man. As for when I had returned from university, and was part of the pack, that was affiliated with UBAD - and then we had joined together to form RAM - and some would say it was my revolutionary days, from which I moved away from. I think it was a part of my growing up - part of my maturity. I believe any young person who doesn't have a rebellious streak in him, has not really lived. So I considered that as an important part of my development at a politician. I began to understand where Mr. Price was coming from, while I was at University, I must say. The struggle for independence, the fact that all the noise about this Guatemalan issue - branding him as sell-out - that kind troubles a lot of the Belizean people at the time. But when you sift it all apart, and you realized that this man was fighting for freedom, that Belize should not be integrated, incorporated, or associated with any other state, but Belize belong to the Belizean people, it grew on me that this man was our liberator. So when I came home, yes, I was disposed toward the PUP, but I felt that the independence struggle was going too slow. I felt that we had to step things up, from a personal point-of-view, but also at that time - as I said at the forum - I wasn't really interested in becoming an elected politician. I saw myself, by that time, as a career in the law - stick to it. But as a Belizean, observing the situation, I felt that I could play my little part, along with our young colleagues at the time - Evan X Hyde, Assad, and of course the UBAD members, Shabazz, Justice, everybody - that we could help to stimulate things forward. So in a way, we were contributing toward Mr. Price's goal, in bringing the consciousness and the need for national unity within our country. And so, that led to an accident of history - if you like - that here I was in this very office that we are in right now, when I got the phone call from Mr. Price, If I could meet him at his office. I suspected Everal Waight, my uncle, had set the stage for that, because when I went over there, he was there along with Mr. Price. And that's when he asked me to - or informed me - that Sir Sandy Hunter had decided to retire from Fort George because of health reason, and If I would consider taking up the challenge. And the rest is history."

Jules Vasquez
"You worked with Mr. Price for many years - from 1974 up to your Government as well. What would you say was his most anxious moment that you were aware of? And how did he act or react in those anxious moments? We always see him as particularly stoic, but we know that any leader confronts issues that provoke anxiety."

Rt. Hon. Said Musa
"I had never seen Mr. Price, in all my years, in a total panic mode. He was a very cool 'Cat' - as they would say in modern lingua - very cool individual. Perhaps stoic is not the word. He had that ability to look inside of himself, and to live in the moment, and to realize that all these things happening, that too will pass. But I would say that perhaps the most troubling moment that I could recall was once when we getting near to a decision as to whether to go forward with independence, but then we had the Heads of Agreement. And there was this very famous - well it wasn't famous. It's still not famous - but there was this meeting-"

Jules Vasquez
"It may be after this."

Rt. Hon. Said Musa
"At his home, when the leaders of the party were present, in particular, I remembered Indy Rogers, Harry Courtenay, Luis Sylvester, Assad, myself, and Mr. Price. And the decision had to made, 'Are we still going forward? Or are we going to give in to the voices calling for tenured memoratorium. And the reason that it was even on the table, is because there was quite a bit of unrest happening at the time locally. And Mr. Price listened to the views of each one of us present, and then made decision forward. We were going forward. There was no note. 'We must seize the moment. We must seize the day now.' That to me was a very troubling but important day in his life, I believe, when he took that decisive step, because perhaps, we would not be celebrating 30 years if he didn't take that decision."

Jules Vasquez
"How was he at the time? Was he wracked with doubt? Was he apprehensive, or was he decisive?"

Rt. Hon. Said Musa
"He had no doubt that to delay independence would be, perhaps, to lose it forever. The only thing that troubled him was that we didn't want to see bloodshed in Belize at the time."

Jules Vasquez
"If you recall, what were the last words exchanged between yourself and Mr. Price."

Rt. Hon. Said Musa
"His last words to me, I don't really recall. And I don't want to be melodramatic about it. But I do recall that recently, he said to me, 'We have to work harder to bring back our party.' My only hope now is to go to heaven. I say that as to say that Mr. Price saw death - and this was days before his death that I am talking about - he saw death as nature taking his course. He never feared death. In fact, almost in a sense, he realized that it was coming. He felt very troubled by the fact that he could not move around the way that he wanted to. He kept bringing up, 'When are we going to have this national tour again?' Yes, he wanted be able to do that, and I kind of frustrated him that he didn't have the kind of strength to do it."

Jules Vasquez
"What memory of price are you the most sentimental about. What memory do you treasure the most?"

Rt. Hon. Said Musa
"That he always called me Prime Minister, to this very day. To me, that - and of course, it wasn't unique to me, because if he met an ambassador, even when we are not in government now, he would call that person Ambassador. But when he addressed me as Prime Minister, he was saying, 'Listen, you are prime minister.' And that to me was a great moment to cherish."

You can see part two of that interview tomorrow when we'll ask Mr. Musa is his embrace of neo-liberalism betrayed Price's ideals of a mixed economy and social justice...

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