Oh No! Not Over the brink!

It appears as if our society is leaping over the brink. The fatality count from violent acts, mostly with illegal firearms, spells that out for us.

This is no time for lip-smacking, titillating journalism. No time for religious proselytising. No time either for opportunist politicking or feeble excuses. We have allowed ourselves to slide down a deadly slippery slope, ignoring the warning signs flashing brilliantly. As a result, whether we accept it or not, our society is in trouble -DEEP TROUBLE!

Just imagine the insanity of the number of murders equalling the number of days of the week.

Our news outlets, including, the state-owned radio station, NBC, cannot fail to acknowledge these murderous acts eating away at the fabric of our society. They need to be part of the news, even though relegated to the latter items.

Yes, report on the positives by all means, but how could you ignore the fear that is rapidly taking over the nation as a result of these dastardly acts? The carpet is too small for us to sweep all the destruction under it.

Before we rush forward with half-baked recipes, we need both to acknowledge the depth of our plight and to accept that whatever our station in life, whatever our political orientation or religious affiliation, one way or another we will not overcome the frightening challenges before us, unless we do it together.

Not all the deaths may be gang-related, but the atmosphere is stifling the entire society. The more we hear of the murders, in broad daylight or in the dark of night, the more there seems to be little apprehension; the more there seems to be no punishment; worse, the more we seem resigned to accepting this gruesome fate- or maybe,cowed into being silent about it.

We must NEVER ACQUIESCE, NEVER GIVE IN to murder and illegality, NEVER MEEKLY ACCEPT that there are murderers among us, just as there are farmers, tradesmen, priests or politicians. We must stop the pussyfooting and dancing around whether we want to label our society as being in crisis or merely “facing challenges”.

The government of the day, whatever its successes, has to accept that it is not living up to its responsibility to make our country and its people secure and free from fear. While it cannot do it alone, it has to take the lead. This is a time like none other in our history and therefore needs exceptional treatment, including a unified Parliamentary approach. As we draw closer to the elections, those in the Opposition must be easily tempted to use the crisis for political purposes; understandably so, but should it win the general elections, the ball of fire will be in their court. The growing spate of murders is not where our slide down the slippery slope started. The signs of lawlessness among us have been present for some time, and increasingly now being manifested with apparent impunity. To get our country back on track, no single entity, certainly has the solution, but we are confident that a truly National Approach must be the only basis on which we can proceed. We have a moral responsibility to rescue our nation from this morass.