Mr PM, please emulate the President

THE EDITOR: If MPs could only master the same level of decorum and use of language as our esteemed President, this would be a more gentle place.

I contrast the language of the President with the language of the Prime Minister and feel sick to my gut.

Our Prime Minister recently referred to the Opposition Leader: “But the Opposition Leader wants to get around that by bringing the President’s name into the Parliament in a substantive motion so that she and her imps, pimps, and chimps can scandalise the President in the worst way.”

The last thing I expected was for my Prime Minister to use such a degrading phrase to refer to members of the Opposition. By extension, this reference goes to the more than 300,000 people who voted for the UNC.

It is insulting and degrading for half of our population. Our dear Prime Minister seems to have forgotten he is the PM of the entire nation, including those who did not vote for him and his political party.

By definition, the Prime Minister is saying that the Leader of the Opposition and her little creatures are hiding in cupboards; her people control prostitutes for a percentage of their earnings; and her people are in some way chimps. Is this really what was intended?

Among friends, I have heard people refer to each other jokingly as “imps,” suggesting the person was being naughty and even playful.

However, not many people will tolerate being called a “pimp” (except maybe in the rap music industry).

But to call someone a “chimp” is to invoke unfortunate theories used to justify Europe’s domination and enslavement of large portions of the world."Chimp" is often erroneously used as a synonym of the monkey. And that, frankly, is an unacceptable utterance to come from anyone, especially the holder of our highest office, who is describing any citizen of our fair twin islands.

It is now written into our history that one prime minister condoned and used the “ape” insult to degrade his opponents in Parliament. Unfortunately, this cannot be erased.

At the US Democratic National Convention in 2012, former first lady Michelle Obama said “Being president doesn't change who you are, it reveals who you are.”

Our population is discovering who our Prime Minister really is. “Give me a break,” “kiss my ar--,” and now “imps, pimps and chimps” say that some misfortune has befallen our Prime Minister. Why has his vocabulary become so sparse?

At a time in our history when our children more than ever need leaders whose behaviour they can model and emulate, our Prime Minister instead elects to use language that is unbecoming of the office he holds.

Respect for an office should not only be expected from the ordinary people it serves; surely (s)he who holds the office also needs to treat it with no less respect, mindful that the authority (s)he enjoys is an honour bestowed by those who pay the office-holder’s emoluments and fund his perks.

I look forward to the day when listening to our leaders in Parliament again brings me the same hope and joy as when I listen to her Excellency.

DENNISE DEMMING

DIEGO MARTIN