Representation throughout the year/s please!

07.JAN.11

Editor: It is the beginning of a New calendar year, and it is also a new term in office for the ULP administration. It is quite fitting to call on all parliamentarians to give good representation to the people through the year and onwards.{{more}}

We, the people, cannot continue to accept mediocrity from our representatives. In some constituencies, the elected representatives are hardly seen by the constituents for years. They do not interact with the people. They give the excuse that you have to be out of state most of the time so they don’t have time! Just before elections we see you at our doorsteps in our communities begging for our votes, campaigning, making promises, but many of you do not even show your faces afterwards. Worst yet, you behave like lord over the people – seeking to dictate to our conscience…insulting, threatening, bullying etc. Such behaviour shows that you are not interested in serving the people but in gratifying your own selfish pride. This has to stop! Represent us by respecting and protecting our God-given Rights and Freedoms- through your speech and behaviour. Pass laws in parliament that will benefit ALL the people, even those who criticise you. Remember your oath of office in which you pledge to serve impartially. Listen to our concerns and treat us as God’s creation.

It would be good if each representative could have at least one town hall meeting monthly or bimonthly to listen to the people’s ideas and concerns. We are generally reasonable citizens and we know that governments are not able to address all of our concerns, but just knowing that we have politicians with genuine regard for us makes a big difference. So, we are not asking for silver, gold, special favours, bribes…just good representation throughout your tenure.

I wish all in our parliament God’s humility, a renewed (right) view of yourselves and the people. May you be faithful and honest in the execution of your duties – the people’s business. Remember the self-evident truth as so wonderfully expressed in the American Declaration of Independence, 1776, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, – That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Ann-Marie Ballantyne
svgpatriot@hotmail.com