By Hudson George
I am very much disappointed in some Grenadians, the way they are behaving as the Coronavirus spread globally. I just cannot understand why they are trying to make the pandemic disease a political issue in Grenada, even though in developed countries medical scientists are struggling to eradicate the virus in order save lives.
There is a possibility, it could be natural, politics or too much emotions that are the causes but it is sad to see how some educated Grenadians are trying their best to create an atmosphere of fear and hopelessness among the general population, even before Grenada recorded its first Coronavirus case on Mar 22, 2020 when a visitor from Britain was tested positive for the virus.
And the funny thing is that after the government reported the first case of the disease on Grenadian soil all the critics became silent.
They stop protest on social media about their great concern for the health and safety of Grenadians in Grenada because the infected person is a British citizen who arrived on the island with the disease.
I can only assume that some of them were hoping for the virus to affect local citizens on Grenadian soil in order to create an atmosphere of fear among the general population to trigger anti government sentiment.
However, I just cannot understand their intention is to mix politics with a newly unknown dangerous disease.
I can remember when the disease started to spread in the Caribbean, some Grenadians were phoning me and asking me, if the disease have already hit Grenada. Some of them were even giving fake news about how many people they heard about who were infected by the virus and the government is covering up the medical results as a secret.
However, when I told them that it is impossible for the government to cover up a pandemic disease in a small country as Grenada without anybody else knowing.
Unfortunately, most of them became upset with me and accused me of supporting the government because deep inside them they wanted to hear bad news coming from Grenada saying coronavirus is killing Grenadians because the government was not prepared to deal with such a major disaster.
Most of them had the belief that because they are living in North America and Europe they were safe and protected from the virus. They really thought America and Europe were fully prepared and well equipped to curb the disease, until they release that in reality their chances of becoming infected with the disease is at a higher risk than people in the Caribbean islands, as we can see presently the number deaths in America and Europe.
Then again, I remember some of them who told me that the government should stopped Chinese nationals from coming to Grenada, even before the disease started affecting people in North America and Europe and the World Health Organisation (WHO) did not declare the virus pandemic. And when I told them that it was too early for the government to close the doors on Chinese visitors, they accused me of supporting the government.
In addition, as weeks gone by, some Grenadians back home were making demands, asking the government to discuss the situation with members of the National Democratic congress (NDC), which is the second largest political party in Grenada, even though the NDC does not have and elected member of parliament in the lower house. So it was more melee again, even though their idea had some good merits to it.
Now the latest political controversy is between Grenada’s Prime Dr. Keith Mitchell and St. Vincent & the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves about inter-island shopping between Grenada Grenadines islands and St. Vincent Grenadines islands as both countries have their own different approach dealing with the pandemic virus, plus a little bit of envy and grudged trading competition.
And the funny thing is that, there are some Grenadians who are applauding Ralph Gonsalves wild card behavior. Therefore, one can say that there is never a dull moment in Grenada’s politics. All because Grenadians are too politically arrogant, emotional and still struggling to accept the democracy that is written within the constitution.
