Dear Editor,
As we face the future, it is clear that our walk forward will be burdened with the baggage of certain counter productive practices in which we have been engaged in the past. I think a major reason why we are living this reality is because, in some cases, we reflect with prejudice and not with pride, with grumpiness and not with gratitude.
It is very often too easy for us to indulge in political diatribes that cast down, condemn and disregard the contributions of the Burnhams and Jagans of our recent past. Our nation is still relatively young and they have been the leaders with whom God has blessed us to start us off on our march for independence, as we fought to develop our own personality among the nations of this world. As the spirit behind the two major political forces in this young nation, we ought to set aside time to genuinely celebrate them together, by recognizing the good they have done.
In our national celebrations, we should mention their names together and show how they have worked together, whether directly or indirectly, for the nation’s success.
Sometimes we are guilty of using the political microscope carelessly and destructively for malicious and selfish gains. When the PPP is in power we have an overwhelming flood of all that Jagan has done. When the PNC is at the helm of leadership, it’s all about Hoyte and Burnham.
This irresponsibility further feeds the spirit of separation and strife that keeps our people polarized and prone to violence and crime against each other.
We must bring these leaders together. Link them through the period in which they coexisted and show what was achieved by them for the nation.
We have to liberate ourselves from the negative and depressingly myopic perspectives that we hold of them. This is not about living in denial of their frailties and their faults.
It is about realizing that no one is infallible, and each of them, regardless of their many frailties and flaws, has in someway made valuable contributions in building the spirit of the nation towards political liberation and social cohesiveness.
Identifying and celebrating their victories together in all national occasions will go a far way in uniting us as a nation, and it will encourage us to place a stronger sense of pride in our aspirations for the future, together.
We have to get past the petty prejudices that our faulty interpretation of our recent political history is imposing upon us.
As responsible citizens, we are the ones to ensure that the truth behind the creed of our motto: One people; One nation; One destiny, is lived out from the very top among the leadership in our society to the working class that keeps the wheels of our existence and our survival turning.
Yours faithfully,
Pastor Kwesi Oginga
