![]() |
Dean Barrow | |
---|---|
![]() Barrow in 2013 | |
4th Prime Minister of Belize | |
In office 8 February 2008 –12 November 2020 | |
Monarch | Elizabeth II |
Governor‑General | Sir Colville Young |
Deputy | Gaspar Vega (2008–2016) Patrick Faber (2016–2020) [1] Hugo Patt (2020–2020) |
Preceded by | Said Musa |
Succeeded by | Johnny Briceño |
Leader of the Opposition | |
In office 30 August 1998 –8 February 2008 | |
Prime Minister | Said Musa |
Preceded by | Said Musa |
Succeeded by | Johnny Briceño |
Member of the Belize House of Representatives for Queen's Square | |
In office 14 December 1984 –12 November 2020 | |
Preceded by | Constituency established |
Succeeded by | Denise Barrow |
Personal details | |
Born | Dean Oliver Barrow 2 March 1951 Belize City,British Honduras (now Belize) |
Political party | United Democratic Party (1984–present) |
Spouse(s) | Lois Young (before 2009) Kim Simplis (2009–present) |
Alma mater | University of the West Indies at Cave Hill Norman Manley Law School University of Miami |
Dean Oliver Barrow,SC PC (born March 2,1951) is a politician from Belize who served as the fourth prime minister of Belize from 2008 until 2020 and as leader of Belize's United Democratic Party.
An attorney by profession,Barrow served as Belize's deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs from 1993 to 1998 and was Leader of the Opposition from 1998 until the UDP won the February 2008 election. Barrow was elected to his first term as prime minister in 2008. He started his second term after the UDP again won an election on March 7,2012 and his third term when the UDP won again on November 4,2015.
Barrow was born and raised in Belize City,British Honduras (now Belize).[ citation needed ] He is a grandson of Ebenezer Oliver Buntin Barrow,a district commissioner in British Honduras and officeholder in the National Party. [2] He attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables,Florida,where he graduated with a degree in economics and political science.
Following his graduation from the University of Miami,Barrow returned to Belize,where he entered the legal profession in 1974,working with his maternal uncle Dean Lindo and rising to partner in Lindo's firm in 1977. He eventually left to form his own law firm,Barrow and Williams,with partner Rodwell Williams. He left the firm in 2008,but maintains the title of senior partner. Among his firms' more controversial clients was Lord Ashcroft and Ashcroft's associated businesses,including Belize Bank and Belize Telemedia Limited,formerly known as Belize Telecommunications Limited.
In December 1983,Barrow entered electoral politics as a candidate in Belize City's elections for city council,which he won as part of a nine-man slate. Before that year's redistricting,in 1984 Barrow was preselected as the UDP candidate for Collet but after redistricting chose to contest the newly created Queen's Square constituency instead,as was his prerogative under UDP party rules. In the ensuing election Barrow handily defeated Ralph Fonseca of the People's United Party. Soon after he was appointed to the first Manuel Esquivel Cabinet as Attorney-General and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
In the 1989 general election,Barrow defeated Thomas Greenwood but his party lost the election. Barrow continued in his law practice. In 1990,he became deputy UDP leader under Esquivel after the death of Curl Thompson. In 1993,Barrow won his third straight general election and returned to the Cabinet in the posts he held from the previous administration in addition to Minister of National Security. His detractors called him "Minister of Everything" during this period because he was a particularly high-profile spokesman for the Esquivel government.
After the UDP's devastating 1998 election loss in which he was one of only three UDP winners,Barrow was elevated to UDP party leader and Leader of the Opposition,succeeding the defeated Esquivel. Barrow presided over the smallest oppositions (three and seven respectively) in the House of Representatives since 1974 and ever in the UDP's history. Barrow was reelected in 1998 and 2003 by closer margins than his previous elections over attorney Richard "Dickie" Bradley. He has since been re-elected by comfortable majorities.
Prior to his retirement in 2020,Barrow was the most senior member of the UDP delegation in the Belize House as well as the Area Representative with the longest tenure of uninterrupted service. Among other Area Representatives,only Said Musa has had a longer cumulative time in office.
The UDP won a massive victory,with 25 out of 31 seats,in the general election held on 7 February 2008,and Barrow was sworn in as Prime Minister on 8 February. He is the country's first black Prime Minister. [3] He announced his Cabinet,including himself as Minister of Finance,on 11 February. [4]
The UDP won a reduced majority in the 2012 general election and Barrow started his second term as Prime Minister on 9 March 2012. He announced his cabinet,including himself as the Minister of Finance and Economic Development,on 12 March 2012.
Barrow led the UDP to a third consecutive general election victory in November 2015,however he stated the election would be his last as party leader. [5]
Citing health issues,Barrow initially said he would step down as prime minister no later than the end of 2019 and hinted he could do so earlier. [6]
However,on 18 November 2018,Barrow's Cabinet urged him to remain as Prime Minister of Belize until the 2020 Belizean general election. He said that he would take that move.
A convention to name Barrow's successor as UDP party leader was tentatively scheduled for May 2019,but in August 2019,the UDP postponed the date to 9 February 2020. [7]
There were two confirmed candidates for the leadership convention,with the first one being Deputy Prime Minister,Patrick Faber and the other being National Security Minister,John Saldivar.
Barrow also stood down from his House seat in Queen's Square in the 2020 general election,endorsing his sister,Denise "Sister B" Barrow,to succeed him. [8]
Barrow returned to private practice and resumed his position as head of litigation [9] at the law firm of Barrow &Williams LLP,a firm he started with his partner Rodwell Williams. [10] He has since then been involved in many high-profile matters. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]
Barrow has four children. The oldest,born Jamal Barrow,is a former rapper who performed under the name Shyne. He has since changed his name to Moses Michael Levi Barrow. He was elected to the Belize House of Representatives with the center-right Belize United Democratic Party in the Belize City-based Mesopotamia constituency in the 2020 Belizean general election. [16] [17] He was subsequently also appointed the Opposition Leader in the House of Representatives and the leader of the Belize United Democratic Party,in both June 2021 (until September 2021) and February 2022. [18]
His second son Anwar runs a small-scale lending institution. His daughter Deanne practises law out of her mother's (Barrow's first wife Lois Young) firm.[ citation needed ]
Barrow was married a second time 7 February 2009 in Savannah,Georgia to his long-time girlfriend Kim Simplis. [19] They have one daughter,Salima.[ citation needed ]
Barrow attended St. Michael's College in Belize and the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill in Barbados (LL.B. 1973);Norman Manley Law School,Mona,Kingston,Jamaica (Certificate of Legal Education,1975);University of Miami School of Law (LL.M.,1981);University of Miami (M.A. International Relations).
Said Wilbert Musa is a Belizean lawyer and politician. He was the third prime minister of Belize from 28 August 1998 to 8 February 2008.
The United Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in Belize. It is currently the main opposition party,having lost the 2020 Belizean general election,after previously holding the government across three prior terms. Founded as a centre-right conservative party,the UDP is led by Moses Barrow.
Sir Manuel Amadeo Esquivel was a Belizean politician. As leader of the United Democratic Party,he served as the second prime minister of Belize from 1984 to 1989,and then again from 1993 to 1998. His party's victory in 1984 was the first time an opposition party had won a general election in Belize.
Ralph Henry Fonseca is a Belizean politician and a member of the People's United Party.
The House of Representatives of Belize is the lower chamber of the National Assembly,the other being the Senate. It was created under the 1981 constitution. Members are commonly called "Area Representatives".
The Senate is the upper chamber of the National Assembly of Belize. It has 13 members appointed for a five-year term by the governor general.
General elections were held in Belize on 5 March 2003. Belizeans elected 29 members to the House of Representatives for a term of five years. The result was a victory for the ruling People's United Party (PUP),which won 22 of the 29 seats.
General elections were held in Belize on 27 August 1998. The result was a victory for the People's United Party,which won 26 of the 29 seats and Said Musa was elected as prime minister for the first time. Voter turnout was 90%,the highest since independence.
A series of local elections were held on March 1,2006,to fill vacancies for town councils in Corozal,Orange Walk,San Pedro,San Ignacio,Benque Viejo,Dangriga,Punta Gorda,Belize City and Belmopan. All the councils except Belize City elected one mayor and six councilors;Belize City elected one mayor and ten councilors.
The National Alliance for Belizean Rights (NABR),formed as the Patriotic Alliance for Territorial Integrity,was a political party in Belize in the 1990s. The party colour was forest green.
The Leader of the Opposition is an elected official who,according to the Constitution,"commands the support of those elected officials that do not support the Government." The Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the largest political party in the House of Representatives that is not in government.
General elections were held in Belize on 7 February 2008. Beginning with this election,Belizeans elected 31 members to the House of Representatives of Belize instead of 29. In what was considered an upset,the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) won the election with 25 out of 31 seats;the ruling People's United Party won six.
Dean Russel Lindo was a Belizean attorney and politician. He was one of the principal founders of the United Democratic Party in 1973 and served as its first leader from 1974 to 1979.
A constitutional referendum,the nation's first,was held in Belize on 7 February 2008,coinciding with the 2008 general elections.
Michael Kwame Finnegan is a Belizean politician and a member of the United Democratic Party. He served as Minister of Housing and Urban Development in Prime Minister Dean Barrow's cabinet. He was a member of the House of Representatives,representing the Mesopotamia Electoral Division in Belize City from 1993 to 2020. Finnegan hosts the television show Mek Wave and Lik Road.
Francis William Fonseca is a Belizean politician who served as leader of the People's United Party (PUP) and as Leader of the Opposition of Belize from 2011 to 2016. First elected to the Belize House of Representatives from the Belize City-based Freetown constituency in 2003,Fonseca served as Attorney General and Minister of Education,Culture and Labour in Prime Minister Said Musa's cabinet until February 2008,when the PUP lost the general election to the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP). Fonseca was one of only six PUP representatives nationwide to retain his seat in the National Assembly in the 2008 election.
Patrick Jason Faber is a Belizean politician. He was the leader of the Opposition. He formerly served as the minister of Education,Youth Sports and Culture. In July 2020 he was appointed the leader of the United Democratic Party,after Prime Minister Dean Barrow stated his plans to retire at the end of his term.
Wilfred Peter "Sedi" Elrington is a Belizean politician who has been the Foreign Minister of Belize since 2008.
General elections were held in Belize on 4 November 2015 to elect members of the House of Representatives. On 28 September 2015 Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced that he had advised the Governor-General to dissolve the National Assembly and to fix Wednesday 4 November 2015 as the date for the next general elections.
General elections were held in Belize on 11 November 2020 to elect the 31 members of the House of Representatives. Nomination day was 21 October.