Some hopeful signs

The information from daily reportings of various traumas in a country, whether from government actions or personal behaviours, can become a surround creating a feeling of hopelessness in the citizens.  The impacts from these traumas – sometimes an action, but frequently a negligence or omission – are formidable; they seem to occur in every area of life; they are relentless in their frequency; just when we think we’ve heard the worst, we learn otherwise. It is a scenario that can generate despair or even shame in a people, and there have been voices here recently expressing such concerns clearly and simply; writers refer to being “tired” of it, or “fed up.”  In the midst of the gloom, however, and gloom it is, there were some hopeful signs of late.

This week, we have the very unusual occurrence of a politician – in this case, APNU MP Joe Harmon in his 2013 budget address – actually saying something complimentary about a PPP Minister – in this case Irfaan Ali.  In a time when political postures, on both sides of the aisle, are set in concrete (sometimes even fortified by Rebar) Mr Harmon’s declaration,