Meet the Candidates Vying in Albert

The Albert constituency is one of the oldest areas in Belize City, with roots stretching back to colonial times. Before Mark Espat claimed victory for the PUP in 1993, this area was a stronghold for the UDP, with Philip Goldson consistently winning the seat. After Espat’s win, the constituency swung back to the UDP, with Herman Longsworth taking the seat in 2012, followed by Tracy Taegar-Panton in subsequent elections. Today, News Five dives into the upcoming March twelfth general election, taking a closer look at three of the four candidates vying for the Albert seat. Marion Ali reports.

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

On March twelfth, the ballot paper for the Albert constituency will feature three names: the incumbent Tracy Taegar-Panton, the PUP’s Kaya Cattouse, and the UDP’s Jose Luis Uc Espat, who is running under the leadership of Opposition Leader Moses “Shyne” Barrow. Each candidate brings their own perspective on the key issues facing the community. Tracy Taegar-Panton believes that the people of Albert are looking for a significant drop in the cost of living, along with support for housing, skills training, and more job opportunities.

 

Tracy Taegar-Panton, Area Representative, Albert

“The big, big issue of course is the high cost of living. That’s the major one, the cost of fuel. In Albert, housing and housing repairs is a big issue – a need for greater support for entrepreneurship initiatives, whether seed capital or training, so that they can find ways to earn an income and not have to be dependent on a government job or for the market, so to speak, to open up because the productive sector is growing. People want to – I think it’s really important for them to be part of the solution in terms of their income earning.”

 

Tracy Taegar-Panton’s PUP rival, Kaya Cattouse, shared with News Five that she kicked off her campaign in the area back in mid-2024. She says the response from the community has been incredibly encouraging, fueling her drive to make a difference.

 

Kaya Cattouse, P.U.P. Standard Bearer, Albert

“People are looking for a change. People in the constituency have been living in uncomfortable situations for a very long time. It has a lot to do with the current area representative in the constituency and the lack of work, the lack of effort for the people in the constituency. I mean, it’s simply giving people a more comfortable environment to live in, more comfortable housing, and that may be something simple like that. assisting people with their roofs, or their siding, or their flooring, or just making their homes more livable.

 

The other UDP candidate is Jose Uc Espat, who is running under the leadership of Moses “Shyne” Barrow.

 

Jose Uc Espat, U.D.P. Standard Bearer, Albert

“Jobs, the economy, cost of life, health, all these things are issues that are in the community of the Albert Division, different communities, and also national issues that affect this entire nation.”

 

Espat says that even if he is not victorious at the polls, he will show the constituents that his bid to serve them is genuine.

 

Jose Uc Espat

“I will not, at the end of the day, look at who vote for PUP, look at who vote for who vote for me. When election is done, if given that opportunity by the people. For me, every single one of my constituents is equally important.  If you voted for me, if you did not vote for me, and if you abstained, you, I need to let you know, and show you, as I always show through leadership, through action, an example, why, why you should vote for me, or why I’m here, and I will show you with action, and like I always tell everybody, I’m not going to talk this, I’m going to fix this.”

 

One of the issues of any election is that of campaign financing and Panton says the monies she receives are just enough to spread around to her campaigners.

 

Marion Ali

“Where’s the campaign financing coming from?”

 

Tracy Taegar-Panton

 ”Where our campaign finances have always come from, from the business community within our constituency, from the families in the constituency that can afford to lend their support financially or otherwise to the campaign. That is where we garner our support. Most of our campaigners volunteer their time. The people who are in charge of our callback and we do offer a stipend, but it’s nothing significant. It’s really a token to say thank you for lending your support to the campaign and that’s how we’ve done it in the last two elections and that’s how we expect to do it again.”

 

There’s always a lot of chatter about vote-buying around election time, but it’s a topic that politicians often avoid. However, Kaya Cattouse told us that it’s not a relevant issue for her in Albert.

 

Kaya Cattouse

“In the Albert constituency that people can see that they have not been receiving love any at all for the past three terms. You don’t need to buy their votes. The people will come out and support us regardless.”

 

Marion Ali for News Five.