Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber hasn't been taking his three weeks as acting prime minister lightly at all. In fact, he's capitalizing on it. He has organized a countrywide tour to, as he put it, re-connect with the people. Today at another event, we asked him about this tour and if this round of visits may be a crafty tactic to garner support in the race for party leadership. Here's his response.
Hon. Patrick Faber, Deputy Prime Minister
"In the time I have been acting prime minster, I decided to embark on a tour to just re-connect with people and it is not something for me alone. It is going to be recorded and documented so the entire government can have access to it as a way of reconnecting with what people want. Quite often when we are in our offices in Belmopan and making decisions in the cabinet and even in the national assembly we lose track of what it is people want us to do so I thought I give people an opportunity to put on the record the things that are important to them that the government needs to be working on. So I have now completed two districts the Toledo district and the Stann Creek district."
Reporter
"Given the fact you have done southern Belize what were some of the main issues they had?"
Hon. Patrick Faber, Deputy Prime Minister
"The main issues I found there of course were land issues, and infrastructure, the road works, they would want to see better road works, not necessarily pavement but the regular machinery of the Ministry of Works upgrading their feeder roads and their farm roads and helping to ensure that there children who have to travel on our network of buses to school in the south get to school without the buses running off the road, skidding off the road and so on and I think those were valuable concerns of course electrification was also an issue that is something many our villages in the south still do not have and I agree with them this should be a focus of our government to get that done. There was also an expressed view that they wanted to see or hear from the government's education campaign on the Belize Guatemala ICJ issue so I will be working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure we go back and have sessions so that people are able to determine for themselves and for me that means both sides, the yes argument and the no argument so that they can be educate and make a decision based on facts and not on emotions when they have to vote on April 10th."
Reporter
"In terms of your bid for party leadership, do you expect that this party tour will assist, we note that your competitor had started a countrywide tour way before you."
Hon. Patrick Faber, Deputy Prime Minister
"It is not a personal issue for me but a leader connects with people, that is what we do so if it helps my chances in becoming the new party leader and ultimately the prime minister of this country then so be it, don't shoot me down for it I am doing the work it is no easy task to engage like that. We are making sure it is not political we have invited the PUP representatives and the opposition representatives and other stakeholder to come out."
Faber's next stop on the tour is Cayo. He says that PUP representatives Oscar Requena and Mike Espat came along on the tour in the south.
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