Murder on the rise

THE EDITOR: Whenever an adverse comment is made with respect to the present state of affairs in our country there is a tendency to compare the actions of the present administration with the actions of previous governments.

In a recent editorial on crime it was stated ‘that everything that this and previous governments have tried has been a dismal failure’.
The following statistics illustrate the factual situation:-
PNM 1956-1986 — Average No of murders per year — 70
NAR 1985-1991 — Average No of murders per year — 70
PNM 1991-1995 — Average No of murders per year — 115
UNC 1995-2001 — Average No of murders per year — 110
PNM 2002 — Average No of Murders per year — 196
It has been suggested that the drug trade is responsible for the murders in our society. If this is the case then the above data suggests that during the period that the PNM governed, the drug trade flourished. The present Government must pursue the issues of crime, health and education with the same alacrity and tenacity that it pursues other matters as the decision to move the Parliament, the Commission of Inquiry against the previous administration at a phenomenal cost to taxpayers, without any success.

D BREAU
Port-of-Spain