Submitted by the Mahogany Coconut Group
In almost every sphere-the economy, education, agriculture, health, national security, and transportation-we are living the logical outcome of over 50 years of policy failure.
As in the case of Dudus and Trenchtown in Jamaica, our communities have developed into hot spots because weak and ineffective politicians have entered into dangerous alliances with community criminals in order to control the vote.
Sunity Maharaj, Trinidad Express, Sunday, January 24th. 2016
Last Thursday’s murder, assassination, slaughter or whatever horrific description we choose to give it, of two teenage school boys in Trinidad and Tobago, brought home to our T and T brothers and sisters, the level to which their country has declined in the last two decades. Apparently, these two youngsters were dragged out of a mini bus and murdered in broad day light. The short lives of De-Nelson Smith and Mark Richards did not reach their full potential and once more our Caribbean has been robbed of much needed talent.
For some time now, the Mahogany Coconut Group, has eschewed political posturing and has concentrated on highlighting both the negatives and positives of the Caribbean region. We have maintained that the destruction of the environment and the rising crime, in the region represent a threat more dire than any underperforming economy. We have said that replacing destroyed features of our environment will perhaps be impossible but replacing lives is totally impossible.
We have witnessed in almost total shock how the criminal element in T and T has effectively brought the law enforcement professionals (police) to their knees. There seems to be a total disregard for life. Unfortunately the criminal element has also been very active brutalizing women and inflicting much harm on children. The simple truth is that the country is under persistent siege. The Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Rowley, has been forced to deploy the army to deal with the so-called hot spots of crime. It is a sad spectacle that a fun loving and hospitable people are now prisoners in their homes. They are afraid to even do such basic tasks as putting their garbage outside their homes.
However, as the erudite Sunity Maharaj, quoted above, we are aware that criminal activity is not unique to Tand T. Her point is that social decay when it first appears must be dealt with swiftly. Her mentioning of Jamaica is therefore instructive. In Barbados, its citizens are witnessing an upsurge in gun related crimes and murders. Should the authorities there refuse to take stock and root out the criminal element, MCG is convinced that country will suffer a similar fate. Indeed the entire region needs to destroy its criminal element now before it is too late and too many lives are taken.
Unfortunately, we can say without fear of contradiction, that the two paragraphs quoted at the beginning of this article/post can be applied to the entire region known as CARICOM.
A word to the wise should suffice.
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