Tancoo: How many more have to die before the Prime Minister reports for duty?
With approximately 550 lives lost to murder in 2023 to date, crime has long spiraled out of control under the Keith Rowley administration, worsening with each passing day, yet the Prime Minister continues to be unable to rouse himself to urgent action. That is an indisputable fact, according to Oropouche West MP Dave Tancoo.
He lamented, “the alarming statistics and the daily trauma experienced by law-abiding citizens are incontrovertible evidence of the current reality.
We are seeing entire families being wiped out by gunmen. Children are not spared the criminal rampage and are being massacred side by side with their families.
Unfortunately, not even this is enough to urgently compel the Prime Minister to put aside his personal and political hang-ups and do his job.
The Prime Minister has done everything to sidestep the issue, including his childish attempts at misdirecting the conversation, and has refused to engage with the Opposition in a direct and serious manner, to meet with us so we can share our experiences in implementing successful national security strategies and policies”.
Tancoo says it is beyond rational comprehension that while Keith Rowley has taken T&T’s problems to the world on his many fruitless trips, religiously and regularly making time to go golfing and even attending Christmas parties, he cannot find the time to accept an invitation by the Leader of the Opposition to personally lead a team from the Government to discuss the intolerable level of crime that has our business community and our citizens fearing for their lives.
“His failure has facilitated the loss of lives of our citizens including very young children; his failure has resulted in the loss of investor confidence, and higher business operating costs; costs which are passed on to the average citizen. His failure to deal with crime has also facilitated the most troubling and growing culture of gangs and violence in our nation’s schools. How many more have to die before the Prime Minister reports for duty?”
Tancoo lashed out at the Prime Minister for “divesting his responsibility to lead bi-partisan discussions on to his juniors”, and asked, “surely he is able to put aside his pride and ego to unite with the Opposition in defence of our nation?”
MP Tancoo implored the Prime Minister, “I am calling on the Prime Minister, in this season of miracles, to show the citizens and the business community even the smallest amount of goodwill. Present yourself and your team to the discussion table so that we can quickly work together to save lives, bring the criminal reign of terror to a lawful end and salvage what is left of our besieged economy”.