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PUP Launch Manifesto At Sports Day
posted (February 9, 2015)
Wednesday February 11th is nomination day for the City Council elections, and 3 weeks' after that, voters will go to the polls in nine towns and cities to choose their municipal leaders for the next 3 years.

Campaign efforts are stepping up and in Belize City, and the PUP 11 did something different on Saturday: they held a sports day at the ITVET compound to launch their manifesto.

As a popular event, we can't say that it succeeded: only a few hundred persons came out, but all the media was there to hear what the PUP has planned for the City.

Leader of the Opposition, Francis Fonseca and Mayoral Candidate, Yolanda Schakron told the media they've been on the ground, and the people have been explaining to them what is wrong with the city, and how to improve it:

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Opposition Leader - PUP
"We are in the final stretch, the last 21 days or so before the election. So, yes, we are stepping up. The team has been working very hard over the last few weeks and the whole objective is to finish strong. There is a sense of momentum and I think the team is being well received. Obviously, what happens over the next three weeks is critically important and what happens on election day, in terms of the machinery, is going to be critically important as well."

Yolanda Schakron, Mayoral Aspirant - PUP
"The two main concerns that we have heard is the drainage problem. May people who have gotten cement streets, because of the drainage problems. their houses have flooded. In the Southside, people don't have good streets. The streets are in terrible condition. The Southside of Belize City, we have heard a lot about the playgrounds, there are no playgrounds and no sporting facilities - that's the main problem in the Southside. Now, in the entire city, the taxes; the trade license and the fees. Those are some issues that small businesses are facing. Many of them are on the verge of closing down. The cost of trade license is a lot, so we are focusing on that too."

At the launch, Yolanda Schakron announced that she is willing to be your mayor for free. If elected, she wants to donate the salary that she would have made while being mayor to an education fund for city children who are out of school.

Now, viewers may know very well that the incumbent, Mayor Darrell Bradley, collects his salary while in the office of mayor, to which he is due, but he also continues his law practice as an attorney. So, after the announcement, we asked Schakron about her proposed pro-bono work as mayor in that context. Here's what she told us:

Yolanda Schakron, Mayoral Aspirant - PUP
"I am someone who believes in education. I believe to empower a nation, when you educate your children, you are empowering a nation. As I have walk the city, I have seen that there is a great issue with people cannot send their children to school. I have been doing education funding for a lot of kids through my business. I want to expand that, so I decided, after praying a lot about it and it's something that really gets to me when I see children out of school and mothers cannot afford to send all their children to high school, so they have to make a decision. I decided that I will take my salary and give it - start an education fund for the children of this city who are out of school, who the Minister of Education should be helping - I decided that's what I want to do, because I believe that our youths have fallen through the cracks and I will serve the people of this city without a salary. I believe that God have blessed me abundantly and I want help other people. I want to share my blessings with other people. As a woman, I see the situation is really bad with the single parents. Mostly mothers, but there are some fathers who are just keeping their kids at home and that has to stop, that has to change."

Geovannie Brackett, reporter
"Was it difficult for you to make that decision, concerning the fact that we have a mayor who is an attorney and he has been doing practice even while being the mayor - I mean to give up that money - was it difficult?"

Yolanda Schakron, Mayoral Aspirant - PUP
"It's not difficult. Let me tell you Geovannie, money, it's good to have money and it's good because you can get things you need, but after a while in your life when you have achieved much, money is not important anymore."

And while the Darrell Bradley City Council can boast of 140 paved streets and transformative works at Battlefield and BTL Parks, the PUP manifesto has no plans for construction - of anything! Here's what the Leader of The Opposition said about it:

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Opposition Leader - PUP
"I mean it is a part of our manifesto plan, but the point that I think is made very clearly in the manifesto is, and it was repeated here today at the launched, is that there has been an absolute abandonment of the Southside of Belize City, while millions of dollars have been invested in the Northside. Parks, playgrounds and many streets on the Southside have been neglected. Yes, there has been some work and the whole objective is not to deprive the work that has been carried out. I think all residence appreciate and understand that we need that work to be done. But I think the concern is that is has been done in an inequitable and unaccountable way and while that work has been carried out cementing streets, many other services that the City Council provides have been abandoned and neglected and I think that is reflected in the manifesto - that imbalance, in terms of the work that has taken place over the past three years."

One more thing which the Mayoral Aspirant, Yolanda Schakron, called out Mayor Bradley on was the expenditure in the 2013-2014 Audit for legal fees and consultancy fees, which is noted in the audit as being a total of 1.3 million dollars. She asked publicly for the Mayor to explain why the council needed to pay 1.3 million dollars to lawyer and consultants:

Yolanda Schakron, Mayoral Aspirant - PUP
"I think the residence of Belize City deserves to know what cases and which lawyers, that got 1.3 million dollars. He said he has done pro-bono work, but 1.3 million dollars is a lot of legal fees. I mean, I have paid lawyers before and 1.3 million. I can't imagine what the legal fees would have been if he hadn't done some pro-bono work for the city. We want to know. We want him to come to us and show us. I think we deserve to know that. 1.3 million dollars could have gone in a lot of other things in the city. We just want to know. We are not telling him that he took it - just show us who was the lawyer and which cases."

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