Enough! Editorial
Stabroek News
June 15, 2002
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Enough of the posturing. It has become tiresome. Really. People are tired of hearing who’s right and who’s wrong. President Bharrat Jagdeo and PNC/R Leader Desmond Hoyte have got to stop apportioning blame and start taking responsibility.

As the Chinese proverb says: "When the nest is overturned, no egg stays unbroken." (In a great disaster no one can escape unscathed.) Guyana is in the throes of a gigantic disaster. Civil society, church leaders and the man in the street have been pleading for the re-opening of the dialogue process between the President and the PNC/R Leader, in recognition that a united effort to fighting crime is what is needed. How many more civilians and policemen have got to die before an end is put to the madness?

How can the leaders of the PPP/C and the PNC/R in good conscience continue to trivialise unity? Because this is what they are doing when they preach about inclusiveness and yet will not even speak to each other. What are they saying to their followers? Do as I say, and not as I do? Come off it! Not even three-year-olds obey that.

Enough is enough. P.J. Patterson and Edward Seaga have said it. Admittedly they have only said it after massive loss of life. But it has been said, publicly.

On Tuesday, the leaders of the People’s National Party and the Jamaica Labour Party respectively, signed a revised code of conduct and denounced political violence.

Patterson:

"We recognise that while a solution to our crime problem requires the concerned efforts of all Jamaicans, it is incumbent upon government to provide the requisite leadership."

Seaga:

"If it fails it would be because there was not credible and effective leadership in dealing with complaints."

In simple language, Patterson and Seaga are saying: ‘The buck stops here. Since I am the leader, if this accord fails, I have failed.’ Words that separate the men from the mice. Given Jamaica’s history, it is possible that the signing of the agreement will have as much impact as a band aid on an epidemic, but the leaders have recognised that they have got to take the lead.

This is what is needed in Guyana. No one really wants to know whether the violent crime currently being unleashed is political or opportunistic; it has got to stop.

The menu of measures will not work if nothing is done about the corrupt officers in the Guyana Police Force. They have got to be removed to allow the others to get the job done. Marching about the city is obviously not the answer either. It has been done and overdone. It poses the danger of giving rise to more crime and police excesses. The leaders know what has to be done. This column has explored the methods exhaustively. The time to act is now. Enough is enough!