A national tragedy as a political football

Dear Editor,
There is a new low in Guyana’s politics, and this is where the leader of the Opposition and leaders in the APNU felt that they could thrive opportunistically to secure partisan points, and assign blame to the ruling party rather than focus on healing the wounds of this nation and determine accountability by awaiting the findings of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) and recommend systemic reforms.
These Opposition elements are of the opinion that when they feign this high level of outrage, this will not only boost their public image, but also weaken the Government, thus paving a way for eventual removal from office. When the Government and its Ministers are vehemently attacked by the Opposition, the focus is shifted away from the officials who are directly responsible for the day-to-day operations of the MV Barima, the Transport and Harbour Department, and the Maritime Administration Department. In a CoI these are the people, including the Captain, engineers, and the crew members, who must be intensely examined and cross-examined to provide answers in order to determine and assign culpability. Moreover, survivors will have their say. Unfortunately, the Opposition is of the opinion that Ministers Edghill and Indar are already found guilty for this national tragedy and must pay the ultimate price of removal from office. This is quite ludicrous and without any merit, legal or otherwise. These Ministers are not culpable in any way, so the question is why the incessant wailing for their removal from office?
The protests, which were engineered by the Opposition, especially the fugitive offender who has nothing to lose, have once again sought to open old wounds of division which President Irfaan Ali and his loyal team have spent great time and effort to heal. It is a shame to witness extremely complex issues, both social and infrastructural, being reduced to the vociferous chanting of misdirected emotional slogans which were meant only to create hate and mistrust. Is this what a responsible Opposition must do? We have travelled too far as a nation to revert to this Neanderthal mentality where we view our fellowmen as adversaries, rather than as our friends and allies, working together to build this nation. I must compliment the Vice President, Dr Jagdeo, for the dignified calm and statesmanship he displayed at Linden; the Opposition leader can learn a lot from him.
When lives lost are treated as mere propaganda tools, the message which gets transmitted to the public is that human lives are not worth anything. We have seen from the first day of the tragedy the leader of the Opposition was busy sharing videos on his Facebook page. It is outrageous to view the dead bodies of loved ones being treated with such cheapness, but publicity is the name of the game. I would hate to see the bodies of my parents or children be displayed floating in the Atlantic. Such callousness is inexcusable. This is gross disrespect to the victims and their families, but now it is about scoring cheap political points.
Then to add insult to injury, the private grief of the families is being dragged into the public domain under the pretext of demonstrating grief and compassion. The political agenda is clear as daylight, and the crocodile tears fool no one.

Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf