Said Wilbert Musa, Prime Minister of Belize
Said Wilbert Musa was born in San Ignacio, Cayo District in the morning of 19 March, 1944. He was the fourth of eight children by Hamid and Aurora Musa. The Musas are from humble stock and modest means. From his early years, Said learned the value of hard work. His parents instilled in him discipline, respect for others, and a commitment to serve his community and country. Growing up in San Ignacio in post-World War II British Honduras, Said and his family shared the hardships of rural life in a colonial backwater. He quickly realized that education was the key to a better future. Hamid and Aurora Musa sacrificed much for their family, but the education of their children was always given a high priority. From this, Said learned the simple lesson that there is no greater tool of upliftment and empowerment than education. To do better and to make life better for others has been and continues to be the central theme of his life's work.
As a boy, Said attended Saint Andrew's Primary School in San Ignacio. After primary school, his family moved to Belize City where Said went to distinguish himself as a student at St. Michael's College and later at St. John's College Sixth Form. He then went to England where he studied law at Manchester University. In 1966, he obtained an Honours Degree in Law (L.L.B., Hons.). He was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn, London, after obtaining a Certificate from the Council of Legal Education in 1960. During this period, he married Joan Musa and started a family.
The young Belizean lawyer returned home in 1967, filled with a passion to participate in the growth and development of our yet unborn nation-state. He served as a Circuit Magistrate during the latter part of 1967 into 1968, and as Crown Counsel in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions between 1968 and 1969. His interest in the welfare of civil servants at that time led to his election as President of the Public Service Union.
But Said was restless. He needed more excitement, more challenges. He also needed to be free from the restriction the colonial administration put on its bright, young rising stars. After two years in the public service, doing his bit for the public and the service, he decided to enter private practice as an Attorney-at-Law in 1970. He teamed up, first with Assad Shoman, and then with Lawrence "Ronnie" Balderamos and co-founded the law firm of Musa and Balderamos. As a young lawyer and a political and social activist, Said became involved with the United Black Association for Development (UBAD) with Evan X Hyde and a group of young, talented, socially conscious Belizeans, who made an impact on the Belizean scene of the early to mid-1970's. During this time also, along with Assad Shoman, he formed the People's Action Committee (PAC) and the Society for the Promotion of Education and Research (SPEAR).
Early in 1974, Said found a home in the People's United Party, where he joined in the struggle for Belizean Independence. He saw in the PUP a party of hope, vision and change, and he embraced its philosophy. His first general election bid in 1974 was unsuccessful, but Premier George Price, appreciating the political promise in this young lawyer, appointed him Senator for 1974-79 term.
Said went back to the voters of the Fort George constituency in 1979 and waged a political comeback that demolished the then UDP Leader, Dean Lindo and convincingly christened him a consummate politician. He was appointed Attorney General and Minister of Education and Sports in the 1979-84 PUP Government. Later in that same administration, Musa was given the additional portfolio of Minister for Economic Development.
These were exciting times in Belize's struggle for Independence and territorial integrity. Musa jumped into the fray with vigour and determination. He helped to mastermind the internationalization of Belize's struggle and participated in negotiations with Britain and Guatemala. He represented Belize at the Caribbean Community, the Commonwealth of Nations, in Latin America and at the United Nations, and traveled extensively in Belize's quest for worldwide support for our independence and the preservation of our traditional and existing borders.
Musa helped to win that Independence and the guarantee of our territorial integrity in 1981. But before the culmination of this phase of the struggle, Musa was a key figure in the drafting of the Constitution of the independent Belize and the discussions leading to the peaceful transition from self-governing colonial status to independent state. As Minister of Foreign Affairs in independent Belize, Said honed his diplomatic skills as he presided over such notable triumphs as the recognition of Belize's sovereignty and independence by Guatemala, and the admission of Belize into the Organization of American States.
Said Musa has been in public life for the past twenty five years. During this time he worked and served Belize as Attorney General; Minister of Education; Foreign Affairs; Economic Development; Sports and Culture. He has won four general elections as the representative of the Fort George constituency of Belize City. He has earned his stripes.
In 1996, the People's United Party called on him to take over the reins of leadership from its great leader Emeritus and Father of the Nation George Price. Again, he embraced the challenge, with humility, but with new hope and a new vision for a better Belize.
As Party Leader, Said Musa has traveled throughout Belize, to towns, villages, scattered communities. He has met, listened and spoken with Belizeans from all walks of life. He has a gut sense of what makes this nation tick and what are the hopes and aspirations of its people.
As a person, Said is easily approachable, warm and compassionate. He is a listener more than a talker, although he handles himself masterfully in front of a microphone, on a rostrum or in the blaze of television lights. He is a man of action, yet a closet intellectual, as familiar with Camus and Voltaire, and Vivaldi, as he is with baca a'town Blues and Punta Rebels. From Majestic Alley to Belmopan, Said Musa is the archetype of Kipling's man. He can walk among kings, but still keep the common touch.
Said Musa is now the Prime Minister of Belize - the third in our nation's short history. The baton has been passed to a new leader, to a man of vision and a man of action. Through training, experience and compassion, Prime Minister Musa is well suited to carry out the Belizean agenda for the new millennium. Having helped to Set Belize Free, Musa and the PUP are now poised to implement a new, bold, creative agenda for real change.
