National Front Alliance calls for cancellation of Mash
Stabroek News
February 3, 2003
The National Front Alliance (NFA) says it is in support of the cancellation of Mashramani celebrations at this time.
And referring to a similar call by Pat Insanally recently made in the letter columns of the Stabroek News, party leader Keith Scott asked: “What really is there to celebrate?”
Scott observed at a recent party forum that Guyanese are living in dangerous times and they have two options: “We can continue as we now are, living out our sorrow in passive and helpless anger, or we can say, ‘Enough, we shall put an end to this criminal violence which is ruining our lives and the lives of our children’.”
According to a copy of the address made available to this newspaper, Scott charged that “the government is weak and timid,” and contended that “this country is in a state of anarchy.”
According to the NFA leader, the government has failed to protect its citizens and failed to ease the country’s economic burdens and it has not shown the flexibility needed to deal with the opposition.
Moreover, he cautioned that any “succeeding force that takes power by the gun will also fail.”
While acknowledging the bravery of the police in trying to maintain law and order in the present circumstances, Scott asserted that the time had come for them “to reconnect to the people.” “They must win back the confidence, trust and friendship of the people.
They must regain their humanity by the complete elimination of extra-judicial killings, by reinstituting good detective work, and by respecting the very rule of law they have sworn to uphold.”
