Ellis’ Blunder

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing in more common than unsuccessful men of talent. Genius will not: unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

 

Calvin Coolidge

 

There can be no doubt that that dastardly act by David Ellis, which took place in the studio of StarCom Network on the Sunday’s programme of Brass Tacks will find its rightful place in the law court, thus making the matter subjudice. Paddy will not interfere with the due process of law.

 

The Rt. Excellent Errol Barrow once admonished poor people to stay clear of the law courts for fear that they maybe abused by the system. We have come a long way since then and poor people have been engaging the services of the courts with much success. We wish Minister Noel Lynch well as he seeks to defend himself from the abuse of a very powerful but irresponsible medium.

 

The incident raises serious questions about the real role of the press in developing societies like ours. The press, both print and electronic, is a very critical partner in building and shaping a wholesome society. Every word spoken, every picture shown, impacts upon the lives of people and because of its powerful influence in shaping those mindsets there must be as a natural course of their responsibility seek to project the positives aspects of our society at all times.

 

In every society where the press has taking on a political agenda and where it has used its overwhelming power to negatively influence public opinion those societies became disruptive, democracy came under threat and the lives of their people were thrown into total anarchy. We must guard our nation against such reckless use and abuse of press power. When the citizens of any country has to seek legal recourse from a media that has become malicious, politically motivated and disrespectful to the basic human rights of its people then our democracy is in peril.

 

When the late Sir Grantley Adams laid the foundation for free education, which was later completed by the late Rt. Excellent Errol Barrow, never in their wildest dreams did they contemplate that the beneficiaries of that great social revolution would today be the subjects of ridicule by a politically lost DLP. There is no doubt that last Sunday’s fiasco had its origin in the DLP’s butcher stall at George Street and that Ellis was only the political surrogate.

 

The DLP has been for some time engaged in a politics of innuendo in which charges of corruption is continuously leveled but never backed up by a thread of evidence. It should be clear to all that after all the millions of dollars of investment in our social capital any success shown by our people is attacked by this new DLP lead by a man who best fits Calvin Coolidge example of an “educated derelict”.

 

The question for Barbadians is this. How do you treat to an opposition party that wants to lead this country in a competitively regional and global arena where the accumulation of wealth and financial resources of our people is critical to developing new enterprises and expanding our pool of entrepreneurs? The success of our people has been the bedrock of our society. Today the politics of Thompsonmania threatens that stability.

 

It is sad when the party that Barrow built can now find itself in a state where its lack of vision and foresight now causes it to see itself and its members suspiciously.