Still, a meaningless apology!

By Ronald Charles

In the wake of the awful, ill-conceived, brave, deadly, foolish, yet politically telling statement that Senator Danny Lugay made on a public platform in Soufriere on Thursday July 3rd 2014, he offered what he says is an unreserved apology regretting his utterances. I have every reason to believe that the gentleman is now regretting his reckless bravado. Some say he was only trying to please his boss by demonstrating that he has what it takes, not only to kick butts and encourage boots on the ground, but, for his belief, he has what it takes to "take out" to "kill" the obstructionists to electoral reform. By his own admission, at a recent meeting of the Electoral Commission, he was staring Senior Counsel Alick Lawrence in the face. Senior Counsel Lawrence is a member of the Commission.

Immediately following Senator Lugay's apology, his self-confessed, novice political boss, also offered an apology of sorts, since, as he says, the damning statements were made in his presence. Of course, not wishing to lose an opportunity to demonstrate an ability to brandish his repertoire of words, he sought to explain away, Danny's lost cause. Arguing it was borne out of frustration over the ever changing machinations of the Electoral Commission. Other commentators and writers have also come out in shameless support for Danny, each of them arguing a case to justify the deadly statements. Put together, they just could not get right, the political diagnosis- the first time.

Those who have come forward to explain away Mr. Lugay's political tomfoolery are not helping his cause in any way. They have not gotten the diagnostics right first time. The Senator is on record offering an unreserved apology as he puts it, yet the political hatchet men of his party are engaged in an unrelenting, must lose war to justify and reason out what was clearly a threat to the lives of certain individuals. They obviously are not in agreement with the "unreserved apology". There has to be a cause they argue. Mr. Lugay will not only lose the shameless public relations attempt "clean-up", to salvage his political soul, he has lost the love and respect of all right thinking Dominicans save for the very few "blood thirsty" supporters of his party.

As a Christian community you must know that an apology does not necessarily absolve you of any blame and or punishment. You must do the honorable thing. There is only one way of demonstrating absolute remorse for your hate-filled political indiscretion – step aside.

A true believer will know that King David, a man after God's own heart, did not only think of killing but actually killed. When he was later confronted with his sins, his kingdom did not seek to explain or justify the sin. The king was remorseful. He sat with sackcloth in ashes and ordered a kingdom wide period of repentance. He was forgiven by God. But he nevertheless had to face his punishment for his sins - division and bloodshed in his household. There are many stories in the Bible when the children of Israel disobeyed God and suffered the consequences at the hands of their enemies. They were deprived of their land, their children and loved ones, made to worship false Gods, enslaved in foreign lands. As a result of their sins they had to fight to survive and so they fought many losing battles against the enemy. But God never gave up on them.

If Danny is truly contrite for the statements he made he must demonstrate just that. He cannot continue to remain hidden behind the long shadows of those who have come to his defense. He must go public and tell his colleagues in no uncertain terms that their attempts to explain away his apology by pointing to the sins of others just cannot work. His folly remains his own. He must be prepared to accept the consequences, and to do the right and proper thing. As long as the "perceived sins" of others remain a plausible explanation in this life threatening circus, then his apology must be treated with the contempt it deserves.

If he really wants to be taken seriously, if he wants people to believe him, if he wants to put real meaning to his apology, he must take action to publicly distance himself from those, who, on a day-to-day basis wish ill for the very same "certain elements – personalities" in society. He must publicly move away from the rhetoric of "boots on the ground" and rather speak the language of the law as it pertains to electoral reform. By his own act he must cease to be a Senator and an aspiring MP. That in itself is painful. There is only one recourse, Danny. Save your political soul. You cannot eat your cake and still have it. It is said that action speaks louder than words.