Belize City, Thurs. Sept. 4, 2008 - The United Democratic Party has been roundly accused of engaging in a mass retrenchment and victimization exercise. That exercise has spanned the country, and has seen poor Belizeans like school wardens, open vote workers, public officers and teachers arbitrarily transferred or fired with no justification other than their political affiliation. This has been occurring for months, but in the past week Belize’s biggest unions, the Belize National Teachers Union and the Public Service Union, decided that enough was enough, and stepped in very strongly.

On August 28th, the hibernating Association of Concerned Belizeans, which had been so silent since general elections as to be considered defunct, erupted with a short but sweet release under mounting public pressure.

The release stated – “In light of the recent upheaval within the Belize City Council regarding the allegations of mishandling of public finances, the Association of Concerned Belizeans (ACB) calls upon the Belize City Council and all other municipal bodies to immediately prepare and present to the public the audited financials for their respective municipalities. The mandate of all municipal bodies is to promote transparency and accountability, regardless of partisan orientation. With that said, the Association of Concerned Belizeans (ACB) asks the public to join us in demanding the immediate disclosure of the audited financials from all current governing municipal bodies.”

Six months into office and the UDP Government is already awash in scandals, nepotism and abuse of office. Many UDPs are disenchanted and expressing disgust at the behavior of their government.