The Coun­cil for Re­spon­si­ble Po­lit­i­cal Be­hav­iour is call­ing on all po­lit­i­cal par­ties, their lead­ers and sup­port­ers to give the high­est val­ue to re­spect, tol­er­ance and peace­ful re­la­tions among dif­fer­ent cit­i­zens in Trinidad and To­ba­go.

In a state­ment yes­ter­day, the coun­cil said it had not­ed, with grave con­cern, racist state­ments made by some mem­bers of the pub­lic and the feel­ings of eth­nic ten­sion and harm that these state­ments have in­flamed. It said it con­demned “all forms of overt and covert racism.”

Ac­cord­ing to the coun­cil, con­ver­sa­tions about na­tion­al is­sues “should be con­duct­ed in a man­ner that avoids racial stereo­typ­ing, vi­o­lence and con­flict.”

It said the elec­tion was con­duct­ed peace­ful­ly and “such peace should be main­tained, re­gard­less of dif­fer­ent po­lit­i­cal opin­ions and loy­al­ties, or pre­cise­ly be­cause such dif­fer­ences re­quire that com­mit­ment to peace and eth­i­cal con­duct are held in com­mon.”

The coun­cil is call­ing for all in the so­ci­ety “to re­spect hu­man rights, tol­er­ate di­ver­gent opin­ions and up­hold cit­i­zens’ right to make po­lit­i­cal choic­es and to avoid lan­guage and ac­tions that pro­mote hate, racism, den­i­gra­tion and dis­re­spect. We call on all par­ty lead­ers to send this mes­sage to the na­tion.”

The coun­cil is al­so call­ing on all par­ty lead­ers to abide by the com­mit­ment they would have agreed to un­der Sec­tion 1 of the Code of Eth­i­cal Po­lit­i­cal Con­duct. That sec­tion states: “The par­ties, coali­tions and their can­di­dates agree to: Main­tain the high­est moral prin­ci­ples and eth­i­cal stan­dards with re­spect to their con­duct dur­ing the cam­paign, the elec­tions and the post-elec­tion pe­ri­od.

“Pro­mote and en­force re­spect, tol­er­ance, har­mo­ny and peace amongst their sup­port­ers and the gen­er­al pub­lic dur­ing the cam­paign, the elec­tions and in the post-elec­tion pe­ri­od by be­ing pos­i­tive role mod­els. Re­frain from prac­tices that pro­mote di­vi­sive­ness in the so­ci­ety and com­mit to the re­moval of any struc­tures (be­hav­iour­al, cul­tur­al, so­cial or or­gan­i­sa­tion­al) which re­in­force di­vi­sive­ness. Con­fine their crit­i­cism of oth­er po­lit­i­cal par­ties to the poli­cies and pro­grammes, past record and work.”

The coun­cil said, “As we pre­pare to col­lec­tive­ly weath­er a dif­fi­cult pe­ri­od ahead, re­sult­ing from COVID-19, the coun­cil hopes that cit­i­zens will make these val­ues their pri­or­i­ty and the ba­sis for na­tion-build­ing that im­proves all of our lives.”

The coun­cil mem­bers are: Dr Bish­nu Ra­goonath (chair); Bish­op Clive Ab­du­lah (vice-chair); Leela Ramdeen (sec­re­tary); Dr East­lyn McKen­zie; Dr Olabisi Kuboni; Broth­er No­ble Khan; Dr Gabrielle Ho­sein; Dr Bev­er­ly Beck­les and Ralph Pe­ter.