7 News Belize

PUP Councillor Seeks to Sew Up Victory in UDP Stronghold
posted (October 16, 2019)
At the top of the news, we showed you our interview with Mayor Bernard Wagner in which he discussed 2 major judgment debts that the Belize City Council owes: one to former City Admin. Candice Miller, and the other to Belize Waste Control.

Well, we met the Mayor at the Hotchandani Plaza, near the Pound Yard Bridge. He was there for the launching of the Mesopotamia Community Sewing Center. It's an initiative being led by the City Councillor Dr. Candice Pitts, to provide job opportunities for residents of the Mesopotamia Division.

The Council has put together a program where interested women from that constituency will be trained in the profession of sewing so that they can earn a living as seamstresses.

Now, while the City Council has a duty to provide services for all residents of Belize City, this particular project is interesting because Dr. Pitts will contest the next General Elections as the PUP Standard Bearer for that division.

So, we stopped by this morning at the inauguration to find out exactly how it will work. Here's what Dr. Pitts and Mayor Bernard had to say about this new Sewing Center:

Dr. Candice Pitts - City Councillor/PUP Standard Bearer, Mesopotamia
"The work that we've been doing in the Mesopotamia constituency so far has exposed us to some of the concerns and the needs of the residents of this division. Many of them are complaining about the lack of employment, and so, we have thought about what factory could be most effective in this constituency. Many of them have been asking for an initiative such as this. And so, we decided to invest in it and to reach out to the residents to see if this is something that they could work with at this moment."

"At this point, we are catering primarily for single and unemployed women, young and old, to help them to generate their own income, be self- sufficient, and to feel a sense of empowerment, through generating their own income."

Reporter
"When can the ladies from Mesopotamia start to make use of the space to generate this income."

Dr. Candice Pitts
"Well, their training has begun. We start from the assumption that they don't know about sewing, or they probably just need to refine the skills that they have. So, we will provide training for them for up to 4 weeks, and then after that, they will start to produce."

Reporter
"What would you say to comments that people are making that this may just be a political strategy, a political stunt by the PUP just to get a foothold for Dr. Pitts?"

Bernard Wagner - Mayor, Belize City Council
"Well, people obviously will always have their opinion but we know that at the core of all these initiatives that we are about the people."

The interested sewing trainees will be given a formal course on the profession, which will last several weeks.

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