Faber struck a more conciliatory tone when asked about his party colleagues, Gaspar Vega and Frank Pawpa Mena.
He has previously suggested that his colleagues embracing Vega are wrong to do so, and Mena recently blasted Faber and his agents - though not by name - for buying out the Dangriga Municipal Convention.
Today we asked how he would handle the Vega matter if he were party leader:...
Jules Vasquez - Reporter
"Were you to lead the UDP, would you say that Gaspar Vega cannot run on a UDP led by Patrick Faber?"
Hon. Patrick Faber - Deputy Party Leader, UDP
"Why do you continue to make mischief? In fact, I remember when you put the question to the Prime Minister in the press conference you prefaced that by saying that you had already asked me and I gave my views or if it was not you, it was your agent. So I don't know how it comes back to me now that you pose the question again. But I'll say this, the UDP is not Patrick Faber, the UDP is not Dean Barrow, the UDP is not any one individual. We have a very democratic process in our operation in our party and you've seen where this is fleshed out, almost on a daily basis, unlike the other party and so any decision in that regard will be made jointly by the officials and the members of our party through the party's mechanisms."
Jules Vasquez - Reporter
"According to Frank Papa Mena, you all don't have a democratic system, you all have a moneycratic system where money, by your agents, is the implication, will determine the outcome of a convention in his town."
Hon. Patrick Faber
"Well, I will say this. In our quest to be democratic of course there has to be winners and loser and sometimes emotions get in the way of the better judgment of what happens in these conventions, especially when somebody who thinks they should win doesn't win. But let me assure you that whatever happens, or whatever has happened so far will be worked out within the ranks of the UDP, within the confines of the democracy of our party and it's not all that you hear after a convention that you ought to swallow and digest because some of it is just as a result of the kinds of feelings and the kinds of emotions that come with these bitterly fought conventions."
Jules Vasquez
"So you and Mr. Mena may be able to iron out your differences?"
Hon. Patrick Faber
"As far as I'm concerned, Mena and I are colleagues and we are friends and as I've often said about the other people who are on opposing sides with us within the party ranks from time to time, that does not mean that we are going to break up the party, that does not mean that we cannot work together. We are colleagues and we are friends, I maintain that with all of my ministerial colleagues and colleagues in the National Assembly."
Jules Vasquez
"He didn't attend the parliamentary caucus and he didn't attend the parliamentary meeting."
Hon. Patrick Faber
"You seem to have more information than me. Maybe that's a question you ought to ask Mr. Mena. But no, I understand that he is just on a little bit of a leave and nothing more than that."
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