The traditional year-end wish list column has become so trite and predictable that I cannot find the energy to do one this year.
In reviewing my previous year-end columns I noticed that most of the wishes remain unfulfilled as T&T has moved from bad to worse in several critical areas.
We have progressed from a murder a day to one in every 20 to 22 hours. People write, as we expect, condemning this year’s figures and expressing hope for improvement in the new year.
For the last six years however, the seamless transition from the previous year’s murder rate into the new year’s bloodshed seems to have gotten easier with time.
The current trend has raised fears that we may soon graduate to the stage where 2,000 people are murdered every five years.
Young men no longer live to take care of their parents or children (if they were lucky enough to experience fatherhood). The internal sickness that seems to have afflicted our once carefree society has spread to the point where it has crippled our normal daily life. Everyone is exposed and feels naked and vulnerable. Easy targets who can easily become a mere statistic at any time.
Economic fortunes and a buoyant economy have done precious little to arrest the social decline because the wealth has not trickled down in sufficient measure.
The Government is yet to understand the difference between handouts that fuel a dependency syndrome and the empowerment of citizens who can utilise State resources to create sustainable personal wealth.
People skim through the small Laventille murder articles and quickly turn the page because it is yet another gang-related murder that doesn’t touch and concern the rest of society.
Newspaper editors could easily cut and paste yesterday’s Laventille murder story onto tomorrow’s newspaper with the minor adjustment of the name change.
There is no compassion as the pain and anguish of the mothers in Laventille continues to be ignored despite the fact that their loss and pain is no different to any other mother who has lost her son to crime.
Instead of declaring a limited state of emergency and flushing out the criminal elements from their nests in the North, the Government’s inaction allowed them to migrate and spread their wings so the police are now complaining that if they plug one leak in the North three more spring up in Central and South while their backs are turned.
The upshot of all of this is that our crime-infested society is slowly disintegrating. People are leaving and many are thinking twice about remaining. Most leave with a heavy and unwilling heart but feel they have no choice as the criminals have driven them from their own homeland.
The current police service cannot solve the crime crisis. Superintendent Chandraban Maharaj did his country a great service by going public with his concerns about criminal activity within the police service itself by senior officers who facilitate and promote the illegal gun and drug trade.
The addition of more SRPs will further dilute the quality of our policing.
The criminal justice system will continue to malfunction unless adequate resources are immediately invested to salvage and preserve what is left of public confidence in the administration of justice.
Last week, a defendant accused of the PriceSmart robbery was freed because the police officer did not show up in court for a second time.
A friend called to report a robbery that was in progress and was actually asked by the officer “which side of the road yuh livin’ on?” because they fell in different police districts.
Millions of tax payers’ money have been spent in paying compensation to citizens whose constitutional rights were violated by police officers.
The Ministry of the Attorney General actually represents the police officers in these cases and knows who the culprits are. Amazingly, no attempt is made by the Attorney General to ensure that these officers are disciplined or removed.
At minimum they should be made to repay the monies paid to their victims by the State as a result of their illegal abuse of the power. No one monitors calls to the E999 service or police stations in general to ensure quality customer service.
In the same way WASA promptly arrives on your doorstep within six months after a road is finally paved to dig it up and run a pipeline, so too it is only a matter of time before the tentacles of criminals elements reach into the so-called crime-free safe zones.
Urgent fundamental changes are necessary to save T&T in 2008 or else many more will leave our beautiful shores.
By Anand Ramlogan 2007-12-29