Rowley fiddles while Trinidad burns

Upsurge in Murders and Criminal Activity currently plaguing our Country

After five years of declining murder rate and criminal, our nation is once again experiencing a dramatic upsurge in homicides and crime following the general elections. While the newly elected PNM government have made the prioritized the replacement of persons on State Boards and other key government positions with their friends, financiers and supporters, the nation has been left unguarded against a criminal element that is growing in both confidence and audacity every day that this matter continues unaddressed. These criminals have realized that while the PNM are getting their laurels adjusted into their new chairs, an opportunity has arisen for which they can take ample advantage of. It can even be said that they feel a sense of empowerment since they have not yet found any reason to respect this new administration, and as such our national security forces, as our entire nation, is now under siege.

This has resulted in our citizens being forced to re-experience the terror and fear that was once synonymous with the previous PNM regime, which ushered in one of the darkest and bloodiest decades in our nation’s history. During the time, 2001-2010, our murder figures rose from less than a hundred per year to nearly six hundred at its peak, which on its own, inundated our police force and allowed petty crime to occur both unimpeded and, to a large extent, unnoticed. As such, many business owners were also forced to liquidate their assets and flee the country in fear of being either robbed, kidnapped or murdered in trying to protect their families and property, which resulted in loss of jobs for their employees and loss of revenue for the government. But more than this, it resulted in the loss in confidence in the government and protective services to protect our nation and gave the criminals the necessary impetus to reign over a demoralized and desperate society.

While we now wait for the PNM to implement measures to hopefully bridle this current upswing however, the “national security apparatus” detailed in their manifesto to “control” crime is nothing more than the same failed experiments that they have executed in the past to little avail, such as the controversial ‘Special Anti-Crime Unit’ that was reportedly using illegal wiretapping and other surveillance tactics to spy on state agencies and officials. What we need however, is for the government to act swiftly to fill the security vacuum that is being creating by their stagnation and show an interest in protecting lives if national security threats are to be averted.

This escalation of crime and murders affect communities and individuals in a manner in which they feel that they can no longer trust the police to protect them, which creates vigilantism and increased violence when people decicde to fight back. This PNM needs to assume the responsibility of their office and immediately implement measures to decrease the murder rate before it reaches a point where it can no longer be contained. Because asking the nation to “Let’s do This Together” does not work if the government isn’t doing anything at all.
Thank you,

Dr. Fuad Khan
Elected Member of Parliament for the San Juan/Barataria Constituency