Dear Editor,
It was a long day for those who attended the church service for Winston Murray at St. George’s cathedral. It was longer by far for Mr. Murray’s wife and his family. At the end of the most extraordinary week in recent Guyanese history Winston Murray was laid to rest at Leguan, his native island.
Although the day was the funeral service of a well-liked servant politician, it was paradoxically a uniquely inclusive event, and as such a mortal threat to the conception of polarized ethnic politics.
It was not merely that PPP/C leaders were given the honour of making tributes to a fallen top PNCR leader, or that so many concessions over the character of tributes and allotted times were shaped by a genuine desire to emulate Winston Murray’s fair-mindedness and collegial spirit; the organising committee had masterfully gauged the public mood even to the extent of allowing the one person Murray may not have wanted to speak at St. George’s Cathedral to so do.
The momentum was simply unstoppable, with dozens of ruling and opposition politicians insisting on their right to participate as friends, admirers, fellow parliamentarians or simply citizens rather than politicians.
In 2010 people expect their individual right to grieve to be respected and the leadership that purports to represent the nation to be seen publicly to share in the collective mourning at the highest possible pitch.
It is apparent that the people’s wishes for visible unity were granted; the government must now follow where the people lead. And all roads lead to a government of national unity. F. Hamley Case
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