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 politics, religion, 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 2002 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 grant firearm licences to persons who ought not to qua1ify 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 profi1e’ 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 Minister Satyadeow Sawh, Ronald Wadde1l, Axel Williams, Dennis Edghill, Tommy Orderson, Max Perreira and now Alicia Foster among others, these all point to a moral decline.
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, and that he initiated what the existing security forces could not. All of us seemed to have ignored these unusual developments by this modern day Lone Ranger; Phantom or Tarzan.
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 send 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.
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 stakeholders and those committed to reviving standards. I p1ead 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 feel they are victims of injustice, discrimination and economic degradation, by the powers that be.
Yours faithfully,
Hamilton Green, JP
Mayor