Tracey Taegar-Panton on leadership candidacy: ‘The time for me to lead the UDP is now’

By Aaron Humes: Why Tracey Taegar-Panton for leader of the United Democratic Party? Why not, she asks.

Summarizing why she rejects the charge that she had her time to be a leader and passed it up, the two-term Albert area representative told Breaking Belize News (BBN) this evening: “The time for me to lead the UDP is now. My candidacy represents the change the party needs at this time. My experience and proven lead ship has prepared me for a time such as this.”

She offered a bit more elaboration in her interview with us this evening: “I think the time is right for me. I certainly believe that I am the change the party needs to re-establish its credibility. I believe I am the candidate that can unite this party; I believe I am the candidate that will help to inspire confidence among the wider Belizean population for the United Democratic Party; and I believe that I am the candidate that can certainly regain the trust that we lost among our party supporters.”

She points to her long record of service to Belize in various sectors of the economy, experience, integrity, and no baggage, which she believes the party needs at this time. Within the party, she has been regional leader for the Eastern Caucus covering the Belize District and Chief Party Whip in the National Assembly and vice-chair of the Caribbean Democrat Union (CDU), the regional alliance of right of center parties to which the UDP belongs.

While she has the support of the National Organization for Women (NOW), the UDP’s women’s arm, the hyped announcement that opponent Moses “Shyne” Barrow had been supported by the Caucus for Change at the weekend in Belmopan is, under scrutiny, not quite the accolade it has been suggested to be.

Taegar-Panton shared her experience of the meeting: “I attended a meeting with a group of my colleagues as I understand the member for Mesop did. The meeting I attended had 11 delegates; seven of which are considered caretakers of their division; two, I believe, were delegates of the division and two were not even delegates and are not able to vote. I made my case; there were some requests made of candidates making their presentations; I was not able to certainly accept all of the conditions; I could not make commitments to all of the requests made of me.”

Taegar-Panton says she learned of their decision later on but thanked them anyway for the opportunity. She focuses singularly, she said, on the 516 delegates of the party at the National Convention and gaining their support and so she is not fazed by the endorsement. She also pointed out that some of the constituencies listed on the Caucus letterhead as being members have never been so, to her knowledge, and so there has been “adjustment of the facts” as it relates to the endorsement.

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