In need of political maturity

Tue Apr 16, 2013

Editor: There is need for political maturity in this country. Both the electorate and some politicians have left much to be desired in terms of political maturity. We, many times, as the electorate, think along party lines and the politicians do what they do many times for political objectives and that is to retain or gain power.{{more}}In the end, our country suffers.

The two former leaders, in the case of Ebenezer Joshua and Milton Cato, laid the foundation for our development. Each leader played his part in his own way. However, it is so unfortunate that we are still where we are, simply because leaders would fail to build on what the previous governments have done. In many developed countries, the leaders built on what the previous leaders did and would try to make it better. But here in SVG, we do the opposite. Every time a government changes, we have to start from scratch again; thus it always sets us back 10 years or so.

We could have been a developed country had we built on the successes and made it better. The destruction of the Campden Park industries and other factories that were built by the late Cato by the then Mitchell Government is a good case in point.

On the other hand, as an electorate, we are still politically immature in the sense that we still rely upon politicians for hand- outs. When they fail to give us a handout, we turn around and say they have failed us and most likely we would reject them at the polls. Instead, what we should do as an electorate is demand that politicians give proper representation by dealing with the problems and issues affecting us.

Let us as a people rise above party politics and see what is good for us. The opposition should embrace projects that are good and show how they can do it better so that when they get into office, they can continue where the others have left off. For failure to do so, this country would go backwards every time a new government takes over, for it has to start all over again. So, in the end we the people will suffer and not the politicians and their friends.

The government, on the other hand, must not go into projects with the idea of retaining power, but rather into projects for the benefit of our country. They should also look after the small things that affect the lives of the ordinary man on the streets. By doing so, our country will move forward. We cannot move forward if we continue to play party politics with everything and fail to look at things from a nationalistic point of view with maturity. We must embrace what is good and condemn what is not good, regardless of our political persuasion.

Kennard King