So now that the courtesy call to the Prime Minister has been checked off the to do list, it is back to party matters. One that we have been following for
some time now is the appointment of senators. The existing slate: Lisa Shoman, Patrick Andrews and Anthony Sylvester were only put there as placeholders
after the general elections – until the PUP could elect a new leader.
Now that new leader, John Briceno has settled upon the three persons he will appoint to the upper house. This evening he discussed their strengths.
Hon. John Briceno - PUP Party Leader
"As the new leader I have been tasked to able to try to reach out to as many people as we can to be able to come up with a good team in the Senate. I
have spoken to former foreign minister Eamon Courtenay and asked him to be our lead in the Senate and he has graciously accepted; so I'm very happy to
announce that. I've also spoken to Valerie Woods, a very strong intelligent, articulate Belizean woman. She is well known in the NGO community,
especially in the tourism sector. I have worked with her when we were in government; she was the director for the Protected Areas Conservation Trust;
which was under our ministry. So I have great regards and respect for her and the work that she can and I expect her to do. She has accepted to be a
member of the Senate and thirdly, I spoke with Paul Thompson; a young man who has a lot of grass roots connections, grass roots approach. He is also
well known in the sporting community and especially a lot of young people they know him and respect him, he's a very hard worker and again I have great
respect for him and the work that he has done. I also believe that he is going to do a wonderful job. So those are the three senators, we are sending
the names to the Governor General first thing in the morning to make it official but I have already consulted with a lot of people and looked at
different people to try to come up with a great team that can properly articulate the party's position in the Senate and also to defend us when the
necessity arises."
So as you heard Eamon Courtenay, Valerie Woods and Paul Thompson are the new PUP senators.
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