Sunday’s municipal convention may have showcased the PUP’s political strength in Belize City, but it also left one of the party’s most recognizable young politicians on the sidelines. Councilor Allan Pollard failed to secure a place on the slate, raising questions about where he now fits within the People’s United Party. Prime Minister John Briceño says the convention demonstrated overwhelming support for his party, but what does he make of Pollard’s defeat, and can he justify the significant amount of money spent on the event? We asked him.
Prime Minister John Briceño
“I think it continues to show the strength of the PUP that we have tremendous support across this country and that when you have very good candidates that is what you create, an excitement about who is going to be leading he party and in this case we are going to be leading the party in the next municipal election. So it is very good.”
Paul Lopez
For you, what is Allan’s future in this party?
Prime Minister John Briceño
“I think he has a very bright future. I have always been saying that. He is a young man with tremendous talent, tremendous goodwill, hard work and commitment as a public servant that wants to work for his community. So, we should never lose sight of that and I need to commend him for the way he has acted this entire time, with grace, humility and with poise and I want to thank him for that.”
Reporter
“Some people would say that the spending for the municipal convention was obscene. Is that your view?”
Prime Minister John Briceño
Prime Minister John Briceño
“I would just describe it that both parties wanted to win and they managed to get people to give them the support to be able to spend, to have a successful campaign and they did. Maybe you could have saved money, probably you could. Maybe you could look back and say you did not have to spend all that money, maybe they did. But the important thing is that government resources were not used.”
Reporter
“There have been much speculation that you did not support Pollard because of the Speednet acquisition by BTL. Is that true?”
Prime Minister John Briceño
“No, that is not true.”
Reporter
“Will he be removed by the board?”
Prime Minister John Briceño
“Well we have never said we are going to move anybody. But when you are appointed it is at the pleasure of the government. So, you are not guaranteed anything.”
Campaign Finance Crackdown Easier Said Than Done
The push to take big money and secrecy out of Belizean politics is gaining momentum. Following Sunday’s Belize City convention, Minister Kareem Musa committed to having campaign finance legislation ready by the end of 2026. The pledge also answers a longstanding demand from the National Trade Union Congress of Belize to regulate how much political campaigns spend and where that money comes from. But while Musa has set a deadline, Prime Minister John Briceño warns that turning the promise into law may be far more complicated than it sounds.
Prime Minister John Briceño
Prime Minister John Briceño
“First of all, I have been saying it over and over, we need to come up with legislation that can work. We don’t want to pass legislation to say we just pass legislation. We could have done that a longtime ago. I just met with Dylan Vernon. He and his colleague presented a paper which I will be taking a look at. Minister Musa has already said that by the end of this year he expects that he can bring a paper to Cabinet with a proposal on what kind of campaign finance work. Listen, let me make this clear right now, in the United States they have campaign financing laws. Is it working? Not really. I mean, just right now for the primaries. I just read an article in the New York Times where it says over a billion dollars have been spent from different groups that nobody knows who they are. So if we want to pass legislation just to say we have campaign finance legislation then we can do so. But it is important that we have one that is applicable and can work within the Belizean context.”
Notably, the opposition says it has prepared draft campaign finance legislation that it is prepared to present to the Briceño Cabinet.
Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.
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