Thoughts on Nomination Day

Thursday of this week was Nomination Day in Grenada; the day set aside for all the people who have interest in forming the next government to come forward to be officially registered as a candidate for the next general elections on November 05.  This week’s editorial was motivated by some of the comments made online by people outside of Grenada who see the road to choosing a government as more serious business than what they saw on Thursday in every parish. The day, which was not a public holiday, saw many people parading on the road in true Carnival style. This has led us to ask –Are all these people out of a job? If the answer is yes well the government certainly has work to do. Then again, if all those people do have jobs -were they granted the time off and on what basis?

Someone shared that there are just too many people that get away with breaking rules and even laws. Didn’t the president of the Public Workers Union saw it fit to call an emergency meeting to again warn government workers that there are grave consequences if they participate publicly in party politics which includes wearing of party T-Shirts, chanting and distributing messages? Then why is there a post that even a candidate’s behaviour is up for scrutiny? It is said that he is an official ‘Rules Breaker’. Under the People Representation act, it states clearly that a candidate seeking Nomination to contest general elections in Grenada cannot be -the holder of a Public Office. So, shouldn’t he know that he should not appear on NNP platform campaigning for months while being a Public Officer? As a senior worker he should know the required protocol when it comes to resigning from Public Office. It is said that he only gave a day’s notice as opposed to the required one month. If this is at all true, in the interest of the young people looking on, wouldn’t it be nice for that man to come forward and explain why that action was necessary? Let’s pay attention to that ‘don’t care a damn’ culture that we inadvertently pass on to the youth of the nation. If that man should win his seat next month, he will be in Parliament making laws; so it is important for him to show us very early that he respects rules which are in place for ‘the greater good’.

While Nomination Day saw over 40 candidates nominated on Thursday; it was not celebration time for everybody. At least two parties were negatively affected by not sticking to the required rules this time around. The Parliamentary Elections Office was quite often in the media making the requirements for Nomination Day quite clear; but unfortunately, one person missed the message while two others turned up two late. Washington Edwards from the Renaissance Party which has been in general elections before, explained that it was upon reaching the office to be registered that he was made aware that he needed the signatures of the six people who have recommended him to at least try to get into government. He returned at least twenty minutes before deadline time only to discover that his receipt as proof of payment at the treasury was missing. By the time that was rectified it was too late as the registration office was closed. Another party, the CHGCP, is blaming the parades on the streets for causing unexpected traffic chaos which delayed the candidates for St Andrew NE and St George NE. Reports are they reached the office five minutes too late and were refused entry. It is not clear as to whether the money paid into the treasury could be reclaimed since they would not be candidates in the next general elections.

While some people are still quite pleased with the burst of energy they saw on Thursday, others are wondering about its role in the seriousness of choosing a government to run a country. On the serious side, we have heard calls for public debates among candidates to help voters to make up their minds. We know of at least one party making public its manifesto. The others seem to think that theirs are not so important and can be published in due course. It is always said that our people do not like to read; but, how many politicians have seen it fit to correct that by coming up with programmes to create an interest in reading which is a much needed ingredient for success? They seem not to care of that shortfall and sometimes joke about ‘the best way to hide things, is by putting it in a book’. So, there is a breakdown in serious discussions on what can be expected from political parties, should they get to form the next government. The method of attracting votes now seems to be based on manipulation, bribes and pettiness with a man declaring publicly that he will not vote for a candidate because of the way he wears his tie. How many people are patriotic enough to care about Grenada as a whole? How many people can settle down to nation building together even though their political party did not win? This may be hard since through the years party politics have divided the country to the point that we have lost our sense of togetherness in nation-building.

We leave you with the thought that choosing a government is serious business!

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