A JOINT PLATFORM TO SHOW SUPPORT FOR A FELLOW HUMAN BEING

Jul 02, 2011 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Politicians seek votes. With these votes they will attain political power. The average voter is not always certain whether this power will be used for the benefit of the people, whether it will be used for the politician’s own purposes or whether it will be used to secure the interests of select classes within the society.
What is certain is that the quest for political power involves a competitive process. Members of the public find themselves drawn into that process and often find themselves at odds with their fellow man, all part of the game of securing votes for their preferred candidate.
The candidates themselves often encounter each other both on and off the campaign trail. They may, for example, be guests at a cocktail hosted by an embassy, or at luncheon or party hosted by a private sector organization or even at some public event hosted by some organization.
At these gatherings, they are quite civil to one another, often greeting each other and engaging in friendly banter and conversation. There is no viciousness there.
But sometimes when the candidates are in front of the masses, they abandon this civility and say the most unkind things about each other. They have been known to go after each other’s record and sometimes character. But when they are with their “ big shot” friends, they do not engage in any such conduct. They are on the best behavior as if they were in Sunday school together.
It is time that the masses stop allowing politics to divide them. If a politician wants to garner support at the expense of his political rivals, he should do this in a civil way and not try to use the masses to spew nasty things about other politicians because at other private gatherings, politicians are known to “knock glasses together”.
Outside of politics, they get along just fine. Just wander into any of the backrooms of parliament during recess and you will wonder whether it is the folks from the opposite side of the House who are often at each other’s necks.
So far the campaign between the political parties has been fairly civil, but there have been a few personal swipes taken and this is unnecessary. The candidates have generally been cordial and civil to each other and this is how it should be.
Since most of them claim to want the best for the working class of Guyana, they should avoid during their campaign, dividing the working class and pitting them against each other. The parties will have their differences and their supporters need not be antagonistic towards one another.
What the masses most want to see are our politicians working together. The ordinary man knows that politicians cannot agree on everything and it is always helpful to have someone with a different view. However, they resent politicians finding very little to cooperate on, even if it is outside of politics.
Recently there was an alleged kidnapping/ abduction incident involving a child of an opposition politician. The man’s party came to his support and even hosted a press conference about the matter.
This was a fellow human being undergoing a personal tragedy and it is certain that politicians from both the ruling party and the other opposition parties would have spoken to him in private and offered their support in what would have been a very trying time for the father.
But why was it that instead of only the man’s party hosting a press conference, could not all of the parties come together in one press conference thereby signaling their concern and rejection of what happened to his daughter.
This was an ideal situation for our politicians to demonstrate to the people that on certain issues, they can set aside their differences and publicly empathize with a fellow human being. Here was a wonderful opportunity for the people of Guyana to see their politicians on the same page so to speak, united in support of a fellow human being, regardless of the party he came from.
This is what the Guyanese people would like to see. They want to see civility and humanity from their leaders. They know that during the political campaign, each candidate will try to show that he is best suited to lead or at least better than the others. And they know that some of them they can be infected with his bug and often allow themselves to be carried away by the competitive spirit to the extent where they can do harm to each other.
But in the end, they know that their leaders when they meet in private settings can be quite nice to one another.
But it surely would have sent a positive signal for the creation of a more tolerant political culture, if during the recent crisis involving a leading member of the AFC, the other political leaders could have shared a joint platform denouncing what has happened to his daughter and pleading for her safe return.
At the end of the day, all the politicians go home to their families.
They are all good men and women but if the competition for power that puts them against each other. But if just once in a while they can come together out of the goodness of their heart to show support to one another, it would make this country a much better place.

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