Let’s Emancipate ourselves from political partisanship

It is sad to note the depths to which we have sunk even as we uphold an Emancipation banner. With 10 days left before the commencement of this novel “Emancipation Cricket Festival”, twinned with this country’s own intended contribution to honouring the West Indies cricket legends of the sixties and seventies, there is every sign that a lot has turned sour along the way. As a result, unless we can salvage it, what should be the unfolding of a noble idea is in danger of succumbing to partisan political ambitions.

Gradually, but ominously more rapidly, this idea and resulting project is becoming rapidly polluted by the stench of local politics, and the planned Festival and moreso, our country’s image itself are becoming contaminated by the sad infusion of local politics. We need to try and lift ourselves, and our country’s image, out of the mire which threatens to engulf us.

Now, all political parties, in or out of government, are entitled to their own views and the issues they choose to promote. But when the image of our country and, even more importantly, such an all-encompassing principle as emancipation is concerned, we all must try to ensure that we keep them well clear of murky political waters.

That means finding at least a minimum consensus around which we can work together for the good of the nation and the advancement of the emancipation process.

Unfortunately, that is precisely what is not happening. The core issues of emancipation and our efforts to honour our cricketing legends seem to be forced increasingly on the back seat to political bickering and strife. Surely, this cannot be what the initiators envisaged.

Even our media, of all types, seem to be contaminated by the needless row. Clearly, we cannot allow this to continue and fester-Not In Our Name!

It is time to, as we say locally, “mash a hard brakes”, pull up and correct our path. It is clear from the outset that Cricket West Indies and our Government were not on the same page. But it was not too long ago that the respective heads of both institutions were bedfellows, either personally, politically or both. Was it too hard to reach out to each other, acknowledging differences, but at least working out a modicum of cooperation? Certainly, our own Prime Minister, in his public pronunciations, is not setting the best example in this regard. We cannot proceed along this path, and it is not too late for some rapprochement, a scaling down of what seems to be inflammatory public pronunciations. General elections are not too far away, so there is ample time for such politicking. Leave emancipation out of that!

Let us borrow the much-repeated urging of Prime Minister Gonsalves himself, and display “all that’s good and noble in us”. Let us insist that the good name of St Vincent and the Grenadines, and the hallowed principles of Emancipation are not subsumed by political partisanship.