Dear Editor,
I would like to address my comrades about the September 26 Parliamentary Elections. First of all, I have refrained from writing letters to the editor for about two years. I contained myself during the ten months that Mr. Marcel Gumbs was Prime Minister, although I disliked the fact that he suspended the Council of Ministers’ weekly press briefing. The Government dealing(s) was shrouded in secrecy for nine months. And in my opinion, his Alamo-style standoff was preposterous.
And to be fair, I have contained myself from writing about this Government too. Mr. William Marlin is having his chance as Prime Minister, but he is on a short leash. Comrades, September 26 will be judgement day for the Government and the opposition (the whole Government).
“You can fool some people sometimes, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.” Comrades, our politicians appear to be having problems with getting people to be willing to go to the polls on September 26.1 meet people daily who tell me that they would not leave their homes to go and vote for liars. And I do not try to convince them to make use of their right to vote.
Simply because who feels it knows it, comrades. That is the price that you politicians have to pay for those who have deceived and misrepresented the people who put their trust in them. I have heard some politicians beseeching people to go to the polls, citing that minorities and women have fought (some of them died) for universal suffrage. And that is true, comrades. But when you consider all the senseless ship jumping, betrayal of people’s trust, and a parliament with a high rate of absenteeism, I would boldly say why the hell bother to go to the polls?
I myself have an ambivalent attitude about the September 26 Elections. You heard all of them talking about “moving the country forward.” But if all our leaders had put their heads together from October 2010, we (the people) would not be in the deplorable conditions in Middle Region, Dutch Quarter, and Cay Bay.
I believe in moving the people and the country forward simultaneously. But when they talk about moving the country forward, they mean projects – more concrete structures. That is how they get to line their pockets. But we (the little ordinary people) get little or nothing from the cash flow, comrades. People have become disaffected because you (politicians) have not been passionate about public service. The politicians have told us that if we do not vote then we have no say. That is a small price to pay if you are a hard-working man or woman. But they have alienated themselves from the aspirations of the people, so who the hell cares about having a say regarding politics?
While the right to vote is a good thing, it is not a sacred thing. You do not go to hell for not voting. But your vote puts the politician in heaven while you live in hell. One can be a conscientious objector (like some religious groups). God gave man a free will. End of story.
Julien F. Petty
