Said Musa
Said Wilbert Musa | |
|---|---|
| File:SaidMusa.JPG | |
| 5th Prime Minister of Belize | |
| In office August 28, 1998 – February 8, 2008 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Governor General | Colville Young |
| Deputy | Juan Vildo Marin |
| Preceded by | Manuel Esquivel |
| Succeeded by | Dean Barrow |
| Constituency | Fort George, Belize District |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 19, 1944 San Ignacio, Belize |
| Political party | PUP |
| Spouse | Joan Musa |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Said Wilbert Musa (born March 19, 1944) is a Belizean lawyer and politician. He was the Prime Minister of Belize from August 28, 1998 to February 8 2008.
Early life and education
Said Musa was born in San Ignacio of Palestinian descent. He was the fourth of eight children by Hamid and Aurora Musa.
As a boy, Musa attended Saint Andrew's Primary School in San Ignacio. He then attended high school at St. Michael's College in Belize City and later St. John's College Sixth Form. He then studied law at the University of Manchester in England, receiving an Honours Degree in Law in 1966. He returned to Belize the following year, serving as crown counsel and then going into private practice.
Political career
Musa joined the People's United Party (PUP) under George Cadle Price. He ran for Parliament for the first time in 1974 in the Fort George constituency and was narrowly defeated by Dean Lindo, losing by 46 votes. He was, however, successful in the 1979 election, winning the Fort George seat and defeating Lindo by a margin of 71 votes.[1] He served as Attorney General and Minister for Economic Development from 1979 to 1984. In the first years of independence, Musa served on the committee that wrote the Belizean Constitution.
Musa defended Belize's large national debt, mostly incurred in the 1980's, by saying Keynesian economics was being used: "The economy was in a deep recession, the country was broke (due to hurricanes) and we had to get the private sector moving again. We started a major expansionary program ... to pay for the program we took on a lot of debt."[2]
In the 1984 election, Musa was defeated by Lindo, losing by a margin of 57 votes, but he regained his seat in the 1989 election, defeating Lindo by 449 votes; he has won the Fort George constituency in every election since.[1] Musa was Minister of Foreign Affairs and Education from 1989 to 1993. He took over the leadership of the PUP in 1996 and led the party to a landslide victory in elections in 1998 and 2003.
Musa led Belize to significant growth over his near-decade long term in office, but his popularity declined during his last years in office due to increasing perceptions of corruption among his Cabinet and within his party.[citation needed]
Outside of Belize, Musa chaired several regional organizations, including CARICOM.
Musa again led the PUP into the election held on February 7 2008, but this time the PUP suffered a severe defeat at the hands of the UDP, winning only six out of 31 seats.[3] Musa himself was re-elected in the Fort George constituency.[1][4] UDP leader Dean Barrow succeeded Musa as Prime Minister on February 8.[3]
Musa said on the day of the 2008 election that he intended for it to be his last election.[1][5] After the PUP's defeat, he congratulated Barrow. He considered the opposition's focus on allegations of corruption and negativity from the media to be primary factors in the defeat.[5]
On February 13 2008, Musa announced that he was stepping down as party leader[1][6] so that the PUP could "renew itself from the top."[6] The PUP held a convention on March 30 2008 to select his successor, and Johnny Briceño was elected as PUP leader.[7]
Musa has since found himself at the centre of more controversy when Prime Minister Dean Barrow revealed that Musa and his former Minister of Housing Ralph Fonseca had secretly diverted public funds (10 million USD from the Venezuelan Government and 10 million USD from Taiwan in the form of gifts for housing improvement and reconstruction and upgrading the healthcare in Belize) to pay off the controversial debt incurred by the private hospital Universal Health Services (U.H.S.). Musa maintains that the payoff will improve the quality of health care in Belize despite magnanimous public opposition and the fact that the institution has no government involvement (see Keynesian economics). It is widely believed that the U.H.S. has been in the possession of cronies of Musa's party. Still, even now that the Government has paid the debt for the formerly private institution, it still cannot claim ownership to a single share. The owners of the hospital are yet to be publicly revealed.
Prime Minister Dean Barrow has committed his government to a thorough investigation into the matter, as well as legal action if the investigation finds legal wrongdoings. Musa has not since given any public statements, save for a single pre-recorded statement in which he revealed that parts of unaccounted monies gifted to Belize had been diverted to the Belize Bank (owned by British businessman and billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft).
Family
Musa is married to Joan Musa. His son Yasser is a respected artist, poet and entertainer in Belize and headed its arts council, the National Institute of Culture and History (NICH) under the PUP administration in addition to serving as chief of public relations for the PUP. Another son, Kareem, recently returned to Belize with a law degree and has taken on a number of prominent cases recently.
He also has two other sons, Mark Musa (a doctor in England) and Said Musa Jr.(a graduate of USF with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration). One of Musa's illegitimate children, Henry Usher served as the Secretary General of the P.U.P. for the later part of the Musa-led P.U.P.
References
- ^ a b c d e Adele Ramos, "Musa and Ralph step down - PUP D-day March 30!", Amandala Online, February 15, 2008.
- ^ http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000026/002675.htm
- ^ a b "Belize's opposition party wins landslide in congressional elections", Associated Press (International Herald Tribune), February 9, 2008.
- ^ "CONFIRMED WINNERS", Amandala Online, February 8, 2008.
- ^ a b Adele Ramos, "Said Musa’s post-mortem of general elections 2008", Amandala Online, February 12, 2008.
- ^ a b "Former Belize prime minister steps down as party leader", Caribbean Net News, February 14, 2008.
- ^ "Johnny stuns Francis in ‘Pan!", Amandala Online, April 1, 2008.
