Govt. must engage those stakeholders who are committed to reviving standards

Oct 22, 2008 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Many years ago, after years in public life and examining the trends and attitudes in our society, I publicly contended that the major effort by Government, the opposition, religious community, social activists and all concerned citizens was to harmonize and combine our efforts and resources to engineer a moral and spiritual revival.
In addition to efforts at several levels, as recent as October 8, 2007, I wrote His Excellency, the President and the Honourable Minister of Education proposing that a good place to start was within the earlier levels of our education system, to help shape the character of our citizens from an early age.
I offered the assistance of an international institution that has had great success on the question of Character Education designed to lead our youth along the straight and narrow path.
The moral decline in our society is a serious issue. It transcends Political, Religious, Class, Race, Gender and Age, for when standards decline and there is a gray area between right and wrong, or right becomes something that is not even understood by some, it means that the already slender fabric of our society is further damaged and the foundation is laid for either anarchy, implosion or a dictatorship.
Today, I must again speak and appeal for sanity. After the jail break, in a friendly conversation, I pointed to some of the mistakes being made by certain high officials in Government.
I warned, for example, that once we either encourage or turn a Nelson’s eye to extra-judicial killings, or granting firearm licences to persons who ought not to qualify to carry a nail-file, that we were creating conditions that none of us would be able to control in the near future.
We have had the ‘high profile’ incidents at Bartica, Lusignan and Lindo Creek. Those three incidents have been dramatic and traumatic, but are no more than symptoms of a spreading cancer.
The other killings of that of Minister Satyadeow Shaw, Ronald Waddell, Axel Williams, Dennis Edghill, Tommy Orderson, Max Perreira, and now Alicia Foster, among others, all point to a moral decline.
When an administration seem impotent when Roger Khan in a public advertisement, and in other places, named who were the enemies of the Government, and who were the friends, and who were those he sponsored to execute, and that he initiated what the existing security forces could not, all of us ignored these unusual developments by this modern day Lone Ranger, Phantom or Tarzan.
I could not agree more with several editorials on this matter, over time including a most recent one entitled, “Guns and Roses,” which drew attention to a 26-year-old young person who was preparing herself academically to serve this country at a higher level.
We can do well to turn the pages of history and look at the mystery of Monica Reece’s killing unto the so called mystery of Lindo. These are not matters an administration should seek to sweep under the carpet, or regard citizens who seek credible answers as cranks.
What worries me today is the response by the Administration to introduce a bill for ‘wiretapping’ and other security procedures. These are unlikely to help, but rather, sends a signal for the construction of a police state.
The crude methods employed in other areas suggest that we have some set of persons who are prepared to be bullies instead of the normal dialogue that characterizes a truly democratic society.
For now, I need avoid specific references, save to refer to my own experience in the management of the City, and to add this dimension. The responsibility of every Head of State and top leadership either in or out of office should be to have a back ground check on all persons who are clothed with authority, or given powers over others. They ought not to be a law unto themselves.Leaders should ensure that those persons put in charge of sectors do not have a history of psychiatric disorders that can adversely affect others.
World history is full of such men and women  because they were not constrained early either by society, or their superiors. They have caused havoc. The likes of King George III, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Pot Pol and Hitler, among others.
We must not forget that these persons sometimes appear to be heroes among their colleagues because they exemplify extreme views such as led to the crusades and wars, which caused so much of pain, death, damage and damnation.
We must learn as leaders in our society to identity managers with the proclivity to boss everything and prevent them from doing harm in this society.
I again call upon the government, not as a PR exercise, as we witnessed after the massacre this year, but as a serious effort to engage seriously all stake holders and those committed to reviving standards. I pleaded with the President and the Minister of Education to begin by accepting the offer made to use the services of experts in Character Education. This of course will be a great task but with beneficial long term effects.
In other forms, short term, medium term solutions can be discussed, but certainly wiretapping, is not the answer.
Having so much of our young men in jail on flimsy charges for many months and not being brought to trial will only help create a group of persons as recruits for evil doers, because they themselves feel victims of injustice, discrimination and economic degradation, by the powers that be.
Let us bring an end to this PR and tokenism and get down to serious business so that we bequeath to our descendants a society that is safe and secure.
Hamilton Green, J.P. Mayor

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