Ingrid Jackson
National Democratic Congress politician, Ingrid Jackson, says Elvin Nimrod should apologize to the people of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique for genuflecting to his party leader, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell.
Nimrod, the Foreign Minister and chairman of the ruling New National Party, knelt before the Prime Minister and called Dr. Mitchell his idol during the recent NNP convention at the Trade Centre in St. George’s.
Jackson, who will be running against Dr. Mitchell as the NDC’s candidate in St. George North West, says Nimrod’s action doesn’t augur well for independent thought and sends the wrong message to young Grenadians.
“I see Mr. Nimrod as someone who ought to be a role model to young people, in particular to young men,” Jackson said. Is he saying to these young men that in order to get things done you must grovel? In order to get things done you have to kneel for it? Mr. Nimrod ought to apologize to the nation.”
Jackson decried the practice of groveling and idolizing, which she says is becoming customary in some circles.
“In St. George North West, where I’m running, some people have come to understand that if you don’t idolize the current MP, that you cant get anything,” Jackson claimed.
“It’s a practice that has become customary. And I don’t even think people understand that that kind of practice is wrong. You don’t need to grovel. Every Grenadian has a right to representation. You have a right to vote, you have a right to be your self and to exercise your choice.”
Jackson, who is a practicing Christian, says no one needs to go around talking about religion, especially in politics. Jackson says Christianity is not something a person talks about, but it’s a “life lived.”
According to Jackson, “If you are a Christian you are a Christian. People would see it by the way you live. They would see it by what you do. They would see it when you’re in office, whether you have integrity and whether you live above board.”
Instead of talking God, politicians need to “live” God, said Jackson.
“I don’t think I need to make a statement that I am a Christian,” Jackson argued. “I think that the life that I live and the way I live with people would say who I am and what I believe in.”