If the President is sincere about apologising, he owes the entire nation a huge apology

Apr 07, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
At first blush, I’d say it was magnanimous of President Bharrat Jagdeo to invite AFC Chairman, Mr. Raphael Trotman onto the stage during the William McDowell concert at the National Park last Saturday (02-04-11) and exchanged apologies with each other.
But then as I read the news story, I found nothing from the writer that pointed readers to instances or examples where either man said something untoward of the other that warranted an apology.
And try as I might, I could not recall or find any instance of nasty personal exchanges between the two.
There might have been the usual political mudslinging or pot shots, which is par for the course in politics, and on this note I do vividly recall the AFC being accused of or linked to funding from some drug smuggler. But considering the source of the accusation alone made everyone dismiss the accusation or link out of hand.
So I would welcome anyone identifying specific instances where the President and the AFC Chairman had such personal or political exchanges that would warrant public apologies to each other.
Also, the President reportedly said, “The politics will come and go; the love of God will always remain. Love for our country must supersede anything else.”
Well, if love of country supersedes everything else, why is there no FOI law and why is there so much secrecy in government’s dealings with public funds and resources? Why is there so much blatant corruption in government? Why is the President so vindictive and given to ‘cussing down’ and ‘busing out’ Guyanese who love their country and are simply trying to get him and his government to come clean on issues and deals?
The President also promised that “…we, as a nation, will recommit ourselves to the worship and the love of God, and that we live our lives in a way that is respectful of his commands.”
To recommit the nation to worship meant the President originally committed the nation to worship, so we have to now ask whether corruption is now a new form of worshipping money or whether loyalty to the ruling class is a form of worshipping human images. Was there not a reneging of the original commitment?
Don’t get me wrong, Mr. Editor, because I believe taking responsibility, humility and forgiveness are essential ingredients in rebuilding broken human and spiritual relations, but let us not become mushy over unnecessary grandstanding public apologies designed to score political points (or win political votes) when there are far more pronounced wrongs by this President and his government that demand he offers a full and sincere apology to this nation and certain persons against whom he has used the power of his office to demean and demonize.
If he was sincere about his errors, he certainly can’t stop at Mr. Trotman. He had to know that he wronged the entire nation on many fronts, including his government’s misappropriation of public funds, questionable disposal of state properties and resources and the unsolved murders of hundreds.
Yet there he was on the stage talking about love and peace and unity, whereas mere weeks earlier he whipped PPP supporters at Babu John into ethnic frenzy by accusing retired army Brigadier Mr. David Granger of having blood on his hands for the 1973 Election Day killings of two PPP members in Berbice, even though the President does not know this for a fact and even though Mr. Granger was at the time stationed at Timehri. He even urged older folks to inform younger folks of the past to inflame ethnic-based passions!
To boot, mere weeks before his Babu John tirade, he was in Buxton urging Buxtonians to forget their ignoble past as a community that served as a haven for criminal elements and focus on the future. How can anyone with a modicum of discernment take this man seriously when he talks out of both sides of his mouth? Forget the past! Remember the past! Let’s have peace, love and unity! Let’s shoot to kill and forget recourse to justice!
I have more faith in Mr. Trotman’s apology to the President than in the President’s apology to Mr. Trotman, and not because I do not believe the President has no redeeming qualities left, but because this President has proven that everything he says is based on political convenience and political expediency.
It’s all a word game of knowing what words to use at what occasion and hope the audience will buy into his reasoning without double checking to see if he didn’t try selling a similar ruse before.
Emile Mervin

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