Dev Hurnam has been committed to the assizes. I suppose it is old news now. In any event, the man says he is innocent; the magistrate doesn’t agree nor does the DPP’s office. The lawyer has asked for a judicial review and the DPP is contesting the request. All is well, justice is being done.

But is it? Hurnam says it’s not. I suppose it had to be expected; there’s one man who has constantly claimed that there was a conspiracy against him. He either suffers from a persecution syndrome or there are many things we are unaware of. So then what?

Letting the matter rest just because we are tired of hearing the man moan or because we feel it is not our problem would be akin to abdicating from our duty. The duty that befell on our shoulders when we took our first breaths on this soil. Can we trust the institutions of this country? Are they performing? And what do we do about it?

Only two weeks ago, there were about a thousand names on the prospective candidates’ list of both political blocks; it seems everybody was fighting to be given a chance to run for elections. Great, isn’t it? So many people fighting to defend and, represent us? So many people who care about our sorry plight? So many people dedicated to make our lives better, to give us pride again in this country we call home? Isn’t that enough to give us our hope back again, that same hope that human frailty has nearly destroyed?

Unfortunately it is not about that, is it? How many people are actually getting into active politics just because of everything that comes with it? How many could not care less about their neighbour’s plight on a daily basis but suddenly start getting interested the minute their name is put on the list? How many of them stand there and pretend to be listening to people’s sorry tales while privately thinking about the nice dinner they’re about to have in that nice posh restaurant? To which they would not have been invited if they hadn’t got a ticket? Too many, too many…

So what do we do about Dev Hurnam? Nothing I guess, the matter is before the courts. In any case, it is not about Dev Hurnam, it is about asking a most legitimate question. If those who aspire to lead do not feel provoked by this issue, we have a problem.

And those to whom it will befall to look into the matter will not get away with abdicating like their predecessors happily have. The list is long out there. So our prospective rulers should come back on good old terra firma and start working on how to make this country work. Because, for those who didn’t realize, that’s the main reason why politicians run for elections.