I would put my head on the chopping block that the Councilors of the Belize City Council have no idea where those eight characteristics come from. In fact, I am certain they do not realize that these are international standards set down by the United Nations for good governance in government—local, national, and international. They also may not have realized that they promised with certainty that they were going to adhere to these standards.

The language the UDP used in making its good governance promise is: “It shall therefore …”. For those on their side who do not understand the English Language, I must remind them that the use of the word “shall” in their promise means certainty that what is promised is going to happen. So, let us see if this is what has happened.

On the accountability matter, can the Council explain to the people why and what happened to the $50,000.00 they were given to vacate the historic Pound Yard property without a fight and abandon their trust to the people to collect the balance of the money owed for the sale of the property? We are talking over $1 million, “Queen Elizabeth” blue ones they desperately need! Was the $50,000 and reported trips to the Corozal Free Zone the trade off to abandon court action to collect over $1 million? Or, is the Council shirking its responsibility to go to court on the matter because Dean O’s law firm reportedly represented the bank in the sale of the property? Or, is lack of action by the Council a decision by the UDP to have its Council rest the matter as a favour to the Novelos for large sums the UDP reportedly owes them for transporting supporters to conventions, demonstrations, and other party events?

We know from the BelChina interrogation session that the UDP’s Central Executive had with the Council’s senior managers that the UDP is not concerned about corruption among its elected Councilors unless there is absolute proof! It is also not concerned about the perception of corruption. We need to remind the UDP and its supporters that none of the senior managers, including yours truly, ever accused the Mayor and her Councilors of “corruption”. So there was no need to issue libel and other threats to the senior managers in the interrogation session.

The bottom line is that the UDP professed good governance in running the city government and it has fallen short in many respects. Next week we shall look at transparency. What I know for certain is that the UDP is not interested in any concerns from any member of the public pertaining to the performance, conduct, acts or acts of omission of its elected officials that violate or appear to violate international good governance standards they promised with certainty to govern by.