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On Friday February 17^th the P.U.P Orange Walk Town Council Candidates launched their manifesto 2012/2015 titled Change Is Here on the Despierta Belice Show. According to Mayoral Candidate Kevin Bernard, the Manifesto, which serves as a social contract to the people, is fixated on solutions and not promises.

Kevin Bernard- P.U.P Mayoral Candidate

"It is a manifesto not of promises mainly a contract of solutions and what we are highlighting there are several key things that we want to address for the people of Orange Walk, imminently in terms of the manifesto we want to start off with the key thing which is financial management, we need to bring stability to our town’s finances in order for us to do the other plans that we have which are streets and infrastructure, parks and play grounds, youth and sport activities, the other areas of our cemetery, women affairs and also the entire social aspect of our manifesto partnership with the people, working with the police department, the citizen on patrol and these things that we want to do will require that us be able to manage the affairs and put back finances in the way it needs to be done, I think we have a team that is committed to work on these areas and I am very confident that the manifesto, the people will take a look at it, read it and will see that we are not making any promise out of the sky but it is real solution that we are offering the people of Orange Walk.”

One of the biggest concerns in Orange Walk Town is the condition of the streets which the PUP 7 team looks forward to addressing.

Kevin Bernard, PUP Mayoral Candidate

“The first main topic apart from the financial management which is number priority one, I think have been crying out for streets and infrastructure, we need to start working in our streets and drains, it is important that we bring back our streets the way we want to bring it back, so yes these things have to go hand in hand, finances has to be there in order for to be able to carry it out but people are saying I am tired of having my street the way they are in the worst state right now, so our first project is to start to see how to start allocate monies, the 75% as we are promising from the transport revenue because this are  monies coming in every month, government sends a subvention of $33,333.00 so we have almost a million dollars being collected a year and if you look at the average monies coming per month it is roughly $85,000.00 to $90,000.00 and so we are saying let’s take 75% of that money and let’s put it back to the streets, let’s fix our drains, let’s start repairing the streets that need to be done , people will then be happy to show that we are doing the work but while doing the work we are saying  that whatever project we are undertaking we will make sure that the people are involved whatever decisions we are going to make.”

The Serve the People Manifesto was developed through a compilation of ideas and concerns brought forward by the people of Orange Walk during the team’s house to house campaign.

Kevin Bernard, PUP Mayoral Candidate

“Since we have been going in the campaign since in October  last year while we were campaigning for the convention we’ve been listening to the people, listening to their concern as a councilor myself people approach me, people approach all the members of the team about some of the plans and the things they wanted to see in terms of the development of this town and so our ideas did not only come out from us as individuals but came from the people of Orange Walk that they want to see our town develop, they want to see our town grow and they want to see development within this town so it is their ideas compiled with our ideas put up together and we form the social contract for the people of Orange Walk.”

Janine Ayuso-Reporter

“Where can we get this manifesto?”

Kevin Bernard, PUP Mayoral Candidate

“The manifesto will be distributed by the campaigners so expect them that they will be coming around your homes visiting the Orange Walkenos and bringing a copy to them, we have a certain amount of copies to distribute right now and people can also have a copy if they visit the website www.pup.org.bz it is available on downloadable format there at the same time we are going to make it more available in our website that we have and our face-book page we are making sure that all of these things is available through the internet but we will be going along house to house dropping a copy to the residents of Orange walk.”

It has been six years since any financial report has been published by the Orange Walk Town Council. It is apparent that the current town council has lost the trust of the community due to blatant corruption, mismanagement, lack of transparency and financial abuse. In their Manifesto the PUP pledges to improve the financial management of the town by doing the following: Immediately stabilize the Town’s financial situation by implementing acceptable and effective management and accounting procedures, hire capable, qualified and unquestionably honest administrators, implement austerity at the municipal level by reducing administration cost and enhance the council’s website and other mediums to ensure that the Town Council’s financial records are accessible to the public.

But while the financial management of the town is clearly in crisis, the People’s United Party is intolerant of the dilapidated streets and infrastructure that lines our town. The PUP Town council’s solution is to allocate 75% of revenue received from the Transport Department for the proper repair and maintenance of streets and drains to acceptable standards.

In addition to streets and infrastructure the PUP Town Council plans to promote recycling and civic pride through educational campaigns which will then lead to better garbage disposal in Town. The manifesto also highlights other social issues such as taxes, parks and playgrounds, cemetery, economic and cultural activity, sports and youth activities, women affairs, and lastly Technological Advancement in Administration.

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