As we continue to stumble in our attempt to build a Nation, it is tragic that race too frequently emerges as a weapon of first retort in political, social and economic discourses. In a society such as ours, race has become the ultimate measure of divisiveness and the existing vacuum resulting from leadership by default continues to understate the volatility of this problem.

Neither major political party is blameless for this assault on the fabric of our National character, and with a burgeoning mass of functionally illiterate citizens, the problem is compounded many times over.

If we are not now prepared for the challenges of this new millenneum, we may never be. The marketing ploy dubbed "vision 2020" must include "constitutional reform" which could result in the removal of the last vestiges of Colonialism which to this date, fort-two years after Independence; has provided us with a modicum of emancipation, most of it being physical.

Only collectively as a People can we survive as a Nation. Failure to embrace this observation will eventually result in "demolition by division" of a people who showed some promise but succumed to the avarice of our times. The clock is ticking.