David mark finally calls for national conference

After many years of grandstanding and claiming that nothing of such is needed, Senate President David Mark, on Tuesday called for the convocation of a national conference.

Mark, while welcoming senators from their seven-week annual vacation, said every matter about the union of ethnic groups that made up the country should be opened to discussion but warned that the dismemberment of the country should be a no-go area for the conference.

Senator David Mark said:

“We live in very precarious times, and in a world increasingly made fluid and toxic by strange ideologies and violent tendencies, all of which presently conspire to question the very idea of the nation state.

“But that is not to say that the nation should, like the proverbial ostrich, continue to bury its head in the sand and refuse to confront the perceived or alleged structural distortions which have bred discontentment and alienation in some quarters.

“This sense of discontentment and alienation has fueled extremism, apathy and even predictions of catastrophe for our dear nation.

In view of the discontent in the polity and present global realities, he said that the country could not continue to shy away from discussing national issues.