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. 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 1980s, by saying Keynesian economics was being used: "The economy was in a deep recession, the country was broke (due to hurricanes) therefore it had to get the private sector moving again. The country started a major expansionary program ... to pay for the program we took on a lot of debt."
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. 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 in part to increasing public perception of corruption among his Cabinet and within his party.
Outside of Belize, Musa chaired several regional organisations, including CARICOM and SICA.
Musa again led the PUP into the election held on 7 February 2008, but this time the PUP suffered a severe defeat at the hands of the UDP, winning only six out of 31 seats. Musa himself was re-elected in the Fort George constituency. UDP leader Dean Barrow succeeded Musa as Prime Minister on 8 February.
Musa said on the day of the 2008 election that he intended for it to be his last election. 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.
On 13 February 2008, Musa announced that he was stepping down as party leader so that the PUP could "renew itself from the top." The PUP held a convention on 30 March 2008 to select his successor, and Johnny Briceño was elected as PUP leader.
Read more about this topic: Said Musa
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or career:
“The merely political aspect of the land is never very cheering; men are degraded when considered as the members of a political organization.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Work-family conflicts—the trade-offs of your money or your life, your job or your child—would not be forced upon women with such sanguine disregard if men experienced the same career stalls caused by the-buck-stops-here responsibility for children.”
—Letty Cottin Pogrebin (20th century)