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30 constituencies will see candidates from Shyne Barrow's UDP slate on their ballots on March 12th. These candidates, most of whom are new to politics, were presented on Saturday along with their manifesto, which tackled issues of education, health, sports, citizen security, and more.

Following an opening address by the party leader, several of the candidates, who also acted as shadow ministers, presented on how they plan to improve these sectors.

Dr Nelma Mortis, UDP Candidate, Port Loyola
"Our manifesto will be reflecting greatly, and I know our youth will love to hear this, we will now focus on ensuring that our national university is fully funded to allow access to free education at the tertiary level for all Belizeans. Simply means that we will also expand and roll out at the secondary level because we have not yet met secondary access."

"We will increase the salaries of teachers by 10%, we will restore frozen teachers' increments, we will provide teachers with an annual uniform and classroom beautification grant, we will digitize the process for the submissions of appraisal, increments and pension forms so that teachers no longer have to have that delay. We will increase the financing for technical and vocational schools in Belize."

Dr. Abraham Flowers, UDP Candidate, Freetown
"Under the UDP we will upgrade all existing regional hospitals with proper medical equipment, ranging from basic equipment such as oximeters, thermometers, EKG or ECG machines, etc. Complex equipment such as CT scan machine, dialysis machines, chemotherapy machine units itself, radiology machines, etc. Above all, this will provide the availability of medication and more medical supplies to those that need it the most."

"Two, the UDP will ensure that all regional hospitals are equipped with the proper medical personnel specialists."

"And third, the UDP will increase the number of scholarships for recent graduates from colleges and/or employed personnel medical staff."

Tyrone Lauriano, UDP Candidate, Caribbean Shores
"First off we want to implement a robust witness protection program which is absolutely necessary to regain the trust of the Belizean populace and the development of a meaningful police community relationship. We will increase the salaries of our police officers by 5%."

"We intend to double the budget for the national forensic unit to allow for better investigation of crimes and to have a higher prosecution rate. Along with that, we plan to double the budget for equipment, materials, and supplies."

"We also plan to provide land for all BDF and Belize Coast Guard members as serving citizens who safeguard our day to day activities."

"We plan to provide social security for all members of the BDF. We also plan to provide insurance for the BDF and Belize Coast Guard where government will pay 50% of that insurance."

Shane Williams, UDP Candidate, Queen Square
"All current national team players will be placed on a full, livable salary."

"The next UDP government will provide scholarships for all national team student athletes. You represent Belize, the least we can do is ensure you have a quality education. The UDP government will increase the national budget for youth, sports development, community sports and women in sports by reducing the budget for overseas representation. No more expensive wining and dining at balls abroad when the sports ambassadors can't even afford balls da yard."

Jose Uc Espat, UDP Candidate, Albert
"We will strengthen the office of the auditor general, the contractor general with more staff and resources to conduct audits of government ministries regularly. Merge the office of the auditor general and the contractor general and Financial Intelligence Unit to ensure cohesive effort to minimize corruption and closely monitor the affairs of the public office officials in Belize. We will establish term limits for senators and area representatives in Belize."

Barrow emphasized that he wanted to rid the party of corruption by expelling those members he referred to as "dinosaurs" and to inject new blood.

Shyne Barrow, Party Leader, UDP/Candidate, Mesopotamia
"In 3 years we have cleaned house and rid the Belizean people of those dinosaurs that are fighting, they're in the grave. I don't know if you ever saw Michael Jackson's Thriller, they're zombies and they want to hold the UDP - or they wanted to hold the UDP hostage. That's why we rid ourselves of those people because we will not go back to Cabinet with the same corrupt cadre, we will not do that to the Belizean people. I prefer not to be in politics that to lead a Cabinet where people will be stealing and involved in malfeasance."

"And now we have new faces, young and old, traditional, unconventional, that are here to offer themselves so we can make good on the 43 years that we have been chasing the mirage of the Belizean dream."

And while his candidate in Corozal has defected to Tracy's team - Barrow played an odd angle: he decided to support an independent - and former PUP - candidate.

Shyne Barrow, Party Leader, UDP/Candidate, Mesopotamia
"Certain independent parties said that they would showcase 31 candidates. They had 12 and scrambled to pick up a few more. Here we are with our 30 candidates because we will not field a candidate in Corozal Bay because we believe that it is better for Elvia Vega to win that seat than Thea Garcia."

"We will not just put somebody there, as you know, the gentleman that we had there betrayed the party, betrayed his oath, and defected to a third party, he has no chance of winning based on his actions and so rather than complicate things in that constituency, we would hope that Elvia Vega can hold on to her seat because anything is better than the PUP getting Corozal Bay."

But with new faces and little time for campaigning, how confident can Barrow be with only a little over two weeks left before the general elections? Well, he says he's faced challenges much worse than this, and he's sticking with it for the good of the public.

Shyne Barrow, Party Leader, UDP/Candidate, Mesopotamia
"I confess to you the Belizean people, there are days that my head hot me. My head is spinning. But I know God because I have been through hell. I've been through the worst that a human being can go through. And when my head is spinning, I say, for the Belizean people, for what I could do for this country along with my colleagues, for what I could leave for my daughter and all of our children and grandchildren, let my head spin. By the grace of God, I will continue on until my last breath, fighting for the Belizean people."