‘Don’t let anyone make your vote feel as if it is a crime’ – Mickela Panday
STOP the madness in this general election season.
Patriotic Front political leader Mickela Panday asked that of political supporters but more so from the leaders of other political parties.
During an address at the Chaguanas South Secondary school on Saturday night, Panday called on the political leaders to stop encouraging divisive talks and smear campaigns.
She said, “Every day we see it. Lies. Slander. Racial Incitement. Threats. All flooding social media. And the worst part, it is being encouraged. Encouraged by people who want to lead you.”
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Panday asked, “Lead you where? Into hate, into fear, into silence?”
She said, “I say tonight, in the name of every citizen who wants better. This madness must stop. We are better than this.”
Panday said when the general elections were over, people still needed to live together, going the same places together yet some allowed themselves to be divided over colour, party and flag.
“This is not leadership. This is manipulation,” she said.
Panday said campaigners were clashing in several constituencies, not over policies or ideas but T-shirts, slogans and who could drown out the other with the most noise.
“If these people behave like this now, when they are begging for power, how do you think they will behave when they win? Stop taking tablet for other people fever.”
She said power would not humble individuals but embolden them to rule over citizens as though they belong to them.
Panday said, “Not one political leader has stood up and said to their supporters, stop the nonsense that you are carrying on, on Facebook with, on Twitter or whatever they on. How many of them have publicly condemned this? What example are you setting for the youth of this nation?”
Many especially those in the public sector and person working for state agencies were being threatened with their jobs if political support was not swayed in a particular direction she claimed.
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Panday told supporters, “Don’t let anyone make your vote feel as if it is a crime.”
“You vote is not for sale,” she added.
The political leader said the Patriotic Front was born out of a desire to restore dignity back to the political arena and to remind citizens that public service was about service.
