People before politics, please

THE EDITOR: Time to lock down Parliament as well – the Government and Opposition must work together to vaccinate all.

Put the responsibility of getting citizens vaccinated squarely on the shoulders of our Members of Parliament. On election day an entire electorate stains its fingers with the red ink of confidence and hope on our representative and party. Why can’t we apply a similar principle for the jab?

We have a serious crisis at hand here, people are losing their lives. Let’s all focus our time and energy on the problems at hand and we can return to the politics of the day after.

Since we are in shutting down mode, why don’t we shut down Parliament and form a committee from both the Government and the Opposition to deal with covid19? Recently we spent about a week arguing/debating when and how the spike started. Right now it does not matter when it started, what matters is when and how we are going to end the spike.

The Opposition is calling for a commission of enquiry and for a cut in the wages of the CEPEP bosses. The Minister of Health is calling all the wrong shots. And our people are being humiliated and are suffering. The Prime Minister is touting his skills as an expert at charts and graphs and claims that he needs no one to defend his utterances.

In some democratic countries, the leaders in government and opposition usually team up and work together to address any major crises and this covid19 is as big as they get. We have one goal and we need some of the best minds to pull together rather than sit on opposite sides and pull in different directions. In times of crisis we need to bind together, not bicker.

Some countries have put both the opposition and government together to discuss and agree on funding packages. In New Zealand, the leader of the opposition is the chair of a committee to oversee and hold the government to account as to how it dealt with the crisis. It is a fine example of a country recognising the importance of accountability, not to mention the opposition’s important role and the benefit to the nation as a whole.

Our Opposition Leader stated recently, “Opposition, Government must work together to fight covid19. We must put aside our differences; we must accept that the only way out of this crisis is to work together. I again call on the Government – put aside petty differences, partisan differences – and let us work together.”

How difficult is it to administer shots to the population? A colleague recently pointed out that we generally take one day to vote in an election (barring special voters). Let all MPs mirror what they do on election day. Seek out their constituents who need the jab, arrange transport for them to and from the venue and all will be well. It is as simple as that.

The “united government/opposition committee” will roll out the plan with each MP being held responsible for their constituency. It is their responsibility to take care of their flock – and if we put our hearts and souls into this project we will succeed and avoid the embarrassment we are causing – and all the hurt and stress.

Please let us put people before politics. We need the powers that be to unite and fight the unseen enemy, an enemy the entire world is still battling with. And we will prevail.

TERRENCE KALLOO

via e-mail