Belizean slang :
To Ashcroft — meaning to litigate; to bamboozle; to give the Bukut.
Eamon threatens to Ashcroft Arthur
On Tuesday of this week the press asked Eamon Courtenay what he thought about the lawsuit which Arthur Saldivar, filed against him and the P.U.P. The suit stems out of Saldivar’s claim, that his party, the P.U.P. has been unilateral and unfair, towards him and that they aren’t following the party’s constitution properly, by not accepting him as a candidate for the party’s Belmopan Standard Bearer Convention.
At almost the eleventh hour, just before the convention was to be held in early July, Arthur was able to get an injunction, which obliged the P.U.P. to postpone that scheduled convention. Almost immediately the P.U.P. back peddled and it opened a window of opportunity, so that persons such as Arthur and other interested candidates who would want to apply were given a second chance to apply. The party’s vetting committee would vet their applications as is the rule. We don’t know if Saldivar’s application has been given a positive appraisal by that committee, but based on what he has being saying, he will continue with his lawsuit, if his second application fails to get past the vetting committee.
As we indicated before, Eamon Courtenay’s name, as the P.U.P’s Legal Advisor was attached to the claim by Arthur. So on Tuesday the press asked Courtenay to comment on Saldivar’s lawsuit. Courtenay who was perhaps riding high on a victory of sorts, that he had just won for his boss Ashcroft, decided to and came out swinging, when he asserted that Saldivar needs to accept that the P.U.P. does not want him to be a candidate for them. According to Courtenay, he is a victim of what he termed as Saldivar’s misguided legal claim. He said that he does not understand why Saldivar believes that he has a right to represent a party, that doesn’t want him to represent them. Courtenay went on to say, that Saldivar was going to court to force a political party to make a legal decision in his favor. He said he hopes Arthur never prevails in doing so. Courtenay went on to say that Saldivar is not a fit and proper person to represent the People’s United Party and if the People’s United Party choose him as a candidate, then he Eamon Courtenay will sue and challenge Saldivar from representing the party.
Eamon Courtenay said that it is preposterous and ridiculous, that Saldivar does not want to accept that the P.U.P. does not want him and Saldivar should get that in his head; that they do not want him as one of their candidates. He said that Saldivar can go to court as many times as he wants, but at the end of the day he will not represent the party, even if he, Eamon Courtenay has to sue him, to prevent him from becoming a P.U.P. candidate. Courtenay was asked if it was not for the people to decide that and this is how he responded, “Well he can run as an independent.”
As we had suspected, that was not the end of that! On Wednesday Saldivar fired a press release aimed directly at Courtenay. In his release Saldivar notes that, “The Constituents of Belmopan and the Committee to Elect Arthur Saldivar were shocked and appalled by the disgusting display of arrogance, contempt and disregard for propriety, discipline and unity exhibited by PUP legal advisor, Eamon Courtney last night on various news media…. Last night’s display exposes the fact that his issue is petty and personal and has nothing to do with enhancing the Party’s chances of winning the upcoming General Elections in Belmopan.”
Here at this newspaper we will not defend the likes of Arthur Saldivar, but when it comes to being a candidate for the P.U.P., Arthur can boast that he has been there and done that, he can even boast that at one time he offered himself to be the Leader of the P.UP. and if it were not because of some timely backdoor dealings, he would have been the Leader of the P.U.P. Eamon Courtenay cannot make such claim.
