Saldivar's Splendid Debate Performance
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Monday, March 5, 2012 Capital Weekly Page 1 CapitalCapital FromFromWeekly Weekly thethe HeartHeart ofof thethe NationNation toto thethe SoulSoul ofof thethe PeoplePeople No. 024 Monday, March 5, 2012 Price: $1.00 BIG John! Saldivar’s Splendid Debate Performance t was another good playing politics with the issue in night for Plus TV, an- what he described as a character- other great opportu- istically PUP fashion. He com- nity for the residence pared and equated it with one of of Belmopan,I and a big night for former PUP leader Said Musa’s UDP incumbent John Saldivar. disingenuous moments back in It was the debate among 1998 when he promised to abol- the three general election can- ish the Value Added Tax (VAT) didates vying for the position of if elected, but failing to indicate Belmopan Area Representative what he would put in its place. now vacant since the Prime Min- When Musa got elected, Saldivar ister advised the Governor Gen- recounted, all he did was to bring eral to dissolve the National As- back the same tax (VAT), only by sembly one month ago and set the a different name. In like manner, election date for March 7, 2012. Saldivar drew he parallel, Hegar Like the mayoral debate is now promising to disband held a couple weeks earlier, the RECONDEV, but neglecting to event was organized by Belmo- say what he would replace it with. pan-based national television Hegar’s response was ex- station Plus TV, broadcast live on ceedingly weak, in fact, hardly that station, and hosted by its pop- audible, let alone comprehen- ular morning show hosts Louis sible. He was hardly back on his Wade and Patrick Jason Andrews. (Continued on Page 3) It was a feisty and en- tertaining three-way bout fea- Hon. John Saldivar Empowering turing the UDP’s John Saldi- var, the PUP’s Amin Hegar insight was being severely tested. to raise issues such as nepotism, Grass-Roots and Independent Green Par- As to the Pastor from cronyism and whistle-blowing. ty Candidate Richard Smith. Roaring Creek, he had a few good Indeed, as Saldivar pointed out, People From the start, Saldivar lines and evoked some hearty it is the politicians whose run took charge, establishing him- laughs and applause, but on the Hegar’s party, the PUP, that are self as the legitimate Belmopan substance of the issues, it was clear the masters of nepotism and cro- representative, born and bred that both he and Hegar were out nyism in Belize, and it was they in the nation’s capital (Hegar is of their league, going up against who enacted anti-whistle blow- a former Area Representative of a heavy-weight like John Saldivar. ing legislation in this country. Cayo West, defeated and retired Early in the bout, hegar But the first knockdown by Erwin Contreras in the 1998 made the mistake of throwing of the evening came when Hegar General Elections; Smith is a some jabs and upper cuts at accused the UDP Government of registered voter in Cayo South). Saldivar, but none of them con- using RECONDEV for political “Let me welcome the visi- nected, and every time he made purposes and promised that if tor to Belmopan”, Saldivar re- his move, Saldivar countered elected, he and the PUP would marked at one point, referring with some over cuts that landed disband the statutory body. Saldi- smack on the forehead. Such var countered swiftly and effec- sarcastically to the eye Doctor Story on Page 8 from the West whose vision and was the case when Hegar dared tively, exposing Hegar as the one Page 2 Capital Weekly Monday, March 5, 2012 CARICOM From the Desk YOUTH of the Chairman Ambassador Campaign Noise-Makers versus Vote-Bringers for the so-called media- that they don’t even need a moguls who claim to shape political machinery to truly public opinion, and too contest a national election. much respect for the Beliz- On top of all that, ean People, who in their un- or course, is the fact that failing wisdom, we are con- Belizeans clearly approve Kera Bowen vinced, have already made overwhelmingly of the The CARICOM Youth Ambassadors’ Program (CYAP) up their minds what is best proven, pro-Belize, pro- is represented in Belize by Dylan for them and their Country. people agenda of the UDP Williams and Kera Bowen both Politics, like any under Dean Barrow’s lead- CARICOM Youth Ambassadors. ership; that the PUP is In keeping with its mandate to “Ensure other activity, is a disci- that youth have a voice in the decisions pline in its own right, and clearly the same party that, that affect them” Belize’s CARICOM has its own professionals, as the government, was Youth Ambassadors have developed a its own stars and its own selling us out less than communication strategy to encourage five years ago, showing youth to exercise their right to vote heroes. There are some in and participate in Belize’s democracy. our society who, by virtue no remorse and every in- The CARICOM Youth Delroy Cuthkelvin of their name recognition tention of doing so again Ambassadors recognize that youth Chairman, Editorial Board and connections, have un- if ever given the chance; of Belize constitute almost half of Belize’s population and their ur friends at limited access to media and that the third-party/ participation in the general and a local Ra- and publicity; but that in independent elements have municipal elections is crucial in dio and TV itself makes them neither neither the track-record influencing the future of Belize. O experts nor professionals, nor institutional capacity The CYAs also recognize Network that is consid- that it is your constitutional right ered one of the so-called let alone stars or heroes, to run a country one way to participate in your country’s media giants in Belize where the science, or sport, or the other. We are con- governance and democratic process. The CYA therefore challenge youth have been running an elec- of politics is concerned. vinced that the Belizean electorate in 2012 is not and the citizenry to participate tion-coverage promo in The true profes- in an apolitical manner and vote. which they assert that on sionals and heroes during only fair, but also practical. The CYA will launch its March 7, “The noise stops this season, and especial- That, again, on both counts, VOTE 2012 Campaign via a Public ly on Election Day, are is in the UDP’s favor. Service Campaign to be aired daily and the voting starts.” on local radio, television and other Ironically, that those who have worked As to the fly-by- media leading up to the Municipal and same media organization the political machinery, night, so-called pollsters, General elections on March 7, 2012. has been responsible for who know how to connect one of our party col- generating some of the with the electorate on the leagues put it most aptly loudest and most mean- issues that matter, who when he suggested that Capital Weekly ingless noise ever since have mastered the science, someone should conduct From the Heart of the Nation we entered the election or the art, of bringing out a poll on who actually To the Soul of the People season, and especially the voters to support their believes the polls being since the date of the Gen- candidate and their party. conducted in Belize by Published By: eral Elections were an- This is no conceit persons who are clearly Roots & Rhythm Ltd. nounced by PM Barrow. on our part, but when we not independent and have 15 Gibnut Street No personal disre- consider all the factors go- an obvious axe to grind. Belmopan spect intended, but one ing into these elections, we Those who made the of the main reasons we find it hard to conceive how aforementioned proclama- Chairman: Delroy Cuthkelvin haven’t had much to say the UDP, having hit all the tion should heed their own ever since the election right chords, and having the warning: indeed, on Elec- Compositor: frenzy began is that there kind of tried and tested ma- tion Day, the noise stops, William Cuthkelvin is so much noise in the chinery that it does, can fail and the voting starts! The market, so to speak, it is against an Opposition Party real professionals, the real that clearly does not have experts and heroes on that Telephone: extremely difficult, if not 802-1284 impossible, to get any its act together, and worse, day are not the noise-mak- to a group of ‘indepen- ers but the vote-bringers. sensible message across Email: dent’ pseudo-intellectuals Happy Elec- the overcrowded airwaves. capitalweekly_bze who claim to be so much tions, everyone; and Besides, we have @yahoo.com too little regard politically smarter than the rest of us may God Bless Belize! Monday, March 5, 2012 Capital Weekly Page 3 BIG John! Saldivar’s Splendid Debate Performance of the last PUP Government, his argument, drawing a sharp claiming that this was a new contrast between the PUP and PUP. That one takes the cake, the UDP’s style of managing the Saldivar responded, question- Nation and the People’s affairs. ing how the present PUP could “We work the money,” Saldivar ever be considered a new party stated. “We don’t steal the money.” when it is the same old people When Hegar attempted to that are leading and controlling it. score points by stating his posi- Unable to defend his and tion against offshore-drilling, the PUP’s past, Hegar then at- Saldivar exposed his and the tempted to daub the UDP with PUP’s hypocrisy, citing the fact the same brush, accusing the cur- that it was the last PUP Govern- ment that issued every existing The PUP’s Amin Hegar rent government of corruption; Independent, Richard Smith but Saldivar quickly demolished (Continued on Page 7) (Continued from Page 1) feet in time for the count of ten; and from that point onward, he found himself consistently on the ropes, dodging devastat- ing blow after devastating blow.