960 MURDERS UNDER HINDS

Last year, the murder rate skyrocketed to 605 with a further 56 missing without a trace, making 2022 the deadliest year in our nation’s history. We are only 14 days into 2023 and 22 people have already been murdered.

Since Keith Rowley ridiculously appointed Fitzgerald Hinds to helm the Ministry of National Security, an alarming 960 people have been murdered. In addition, violent assaults, woundings, robberies, carjackings, rapes and home invasions have also exploded.

Rowley and Hinds have failed to produce a working and data-driven plan to tackle violent crime and restore public confidence. Hinds is a weak and absurd appointment that Rowley must now move on from for the good of the country.

What manner of weak man would keep on a failed minister after so many horrific murders and violent crimes purely because his fragile ego does not allow him to accept that he made a poor appointment?

Or is it that in Rowley’s petty mind, he believes the Opposition, media, business, civil society and citizens who have called for Hinds’s removal will gain some sort of victory over him if Hinds is fired? This is not a matter of win or lose, it’s about doing the right thing to protect our citizens’ lives.

I call on Keith Rowley to set aside his petty stubbornness and not allow 2023 to be even more bloody and violent than 2022. For the safety and security of the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, Fitzgerald Hinds must be fired.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar, SC, MP
Leader of the Opposition

14th January 2023