Opposing for sake of opposing

THE EDITOR: A man and his daughter were killed at their home on Williams Street, Aranguez. They have been identified as Elliot Veerasammy and Sarah Veerasammy. According to reports they were at their home when a man stormed the house and shot them several times before escaping. It is time for the powers that be to unite to destroy the criminal element, but this is just a wish that may never become a reality. Furthermore, it appears we have on our hands an ineffective Opposition that simply opposes the government for the sake of opposing. Do they oppose genuinely or do they simply disagree in public although they agree in secret?

Do they have the public’s interest at heart or are they serving their own selfish desires? I am compelled to ask these questions after a bill which proposes that the punishment for the im­por­ta­tion and distribution of illegal firearms that will car­ry a penal­ty of im­pris­on­ment for the re­main­der of a cul­prit’s nat­ur­al life un­der the Firearms (Amend­ment) Bill, was passed in the Sen­ate last Tues­day.

The bill was passed with amend­ments with sup­port from Gov­ern­ment and In­de­pen­dent sen­a­tors. The Op­po­si­tion vot­ed against it for no logical reason. Thankfully, this bill re­quired on­ly a sim­ple ma­jor­i­ty vote for pas­sage and was passed with­out need for Op­po­si­tion votes.

The Opposition’s main role is supposed to be questioning the government of the day and holding them accountable in the public’s interest. Their role is to challenge policies of the government and produce their own policies and more effective solutions where appropriate. They don’t seem to be fulfilling that role and to me, it appears they are simply opposing for the sake of opposing.

Simon Wright, Chaguanas