“Malicious Backlash” or Fair Scrutiny? PUP Women’s Group Defends MUB Zabaneh

The United Women’s Group (UWG) of the People’s United Party is defending Miss Universe Belize Isabella Zabaneh after her clear statements over the government’s $10,000 procurement at the centre of the ‘Mira Millions’.

She made these statements over the weekend during the PUP’s National Party Council meeting in Dangriga and faced a wave of public backlash for it.

The UWG called it a “malicious backlash” and an attack on a young woman’s right to speak. “It is profoundly disheartening to witness the malicious backlash directed at Ms. Isabella Zabaneh,” the PUP’s women’s group said. “Such attacks are precisely why young females, and women in general, are often wary of entering the political arena.”

“The UWG unequivocally condemns these attempts to silence a young, articulate female voice in the political discourse,” it added.

Online Facebook users were quick to say that the public response was never about her gender. They argued that the criticism was about her position on the weeks-long controversy over how the threshold was seemingly intentionally being used to bypass oversight by processing repetitive payments under the $10,000 threshold.

Zabaneh boldly argued the threshold is outdated, stating, “Maybe thirty years ago it was appropriate, but it burdens the office of financial secretaries,” and calling it “micromanaging everybody from the top down to the bottom.”

That same threshold is the one Financial Secretary Joseph Waight flagged as the apparent mechanism used to dodge Treasury oversight in the ongoing “Mira Millions” case. He called the payment pattern tied to Minister Oscar Mira’s family “suspicious” and hinting at “wilful intention.”