Patrick Faber Says Alliance White Paper Pushes for U.D.P. Reform

Collet Area Representative, Patrick Faber said that while the Alliance members want unity in the U.D.P., they want to restore democracy to the party as well. He explained that that is what the white paper proposes to do. He used the scenario of former U.D.P. elected member, Marcel Cardona, who spoke against his party’s budget in the House and was deemed as constructively resigned from the U.D.P. That scenario he said, differs greatly from the present situation.

 

Patrick Faber, Area Representative, Collet

“It is a comprehensive strategy for reforming the UDP at a time when our party faces unprecedented internal challenges. Challenges that threaten our ability to effectively represent the people of Belize.  The Alliance for Democracy recognizes the urgent need for this change, and this document outlines our vision for that change, and it will focus on three main areas. The first is restoring our democratic processes.  You’ve listened as the Honorable Panton outlined a number of infractions that have been dealt to members but the wider party as well by the current leader and leadership in general of the party.  We’ve heard about the practices having to do with just haphazard decision making. They take something to the central executive.  And they put the question, and they determine how they are going to put that question first of all, whether it is in the positive or negative.  And then they decide whether they are going to count the people who support or don’t support, or they count those who participate or don’t participate. But it is a total flawed process. We have seen where they have carried decisions at this level.  And if we are lucky, we get a shot at it at the National Party Council level, as is the case with the four of us now. That didn’t go anywhere. And for context, I want to, while we talk about these processes, revisit for the benefit of those who may not have known. I noticed that in the letter, the communication that was passed, having to do with the, as they deem it, the constructive resignation of the four of us. They used as precedent the situation with Marcel Cardona. Well, let’s look at that. And, of course, they called my name in that, in that I was the chairman of the party at the time. Well, let’s look at that situation for a minute.  Marcel Cardona’s case, first of all,  was a decision made by the cabinet. Marcel was a part of the cabinet, and that decision was first discussed and approved by the cabinet. Not that it is national government business, but it is the cabinet’s business. It went to the central executive of the party, and it was carried.”