Saith: Govt will continue to seek crime solutions

Government cannot and will not throw its hands up in the air and say “we can’t deal with the crime problem.” It will continue to “seek ideas, initiatives, discussions and consultations” as it searches for a resolution to spiralling  crime, Public Administration Minister Dr Lenny Saith stressed yesterday. “It must be dealt with, and it will be dealt with,” he pledged. He was speaking at a post-Cabinet news conference on the crime epidemic which has now taken the death toll to 102. “The question about crime transcends whether you are a minister or not,” he said, adding that ministers, like everyone else had children, family and therefore the same interest and distress about crime.

Saith said the Cabinet as it met at Whitehall was not aware of the shoot-out on the Brian Lara Promenade yesterday. But he said any Government, conscious of its responsibility for the safety and security of its population, had to be concerned about the current level of criminal activity. “Where you have an increasing level of crime, especially where lives are being lost, and families being disrupted, it is cause for concern,” he said. On the issue of the Police Service Reform bills which have been brought back to Parliament, Saith said Government wanted the bill passed and was prepared to continue doing whatever it had to do to try and achieve a  meeting of minds (with the Opposition) so that the bill can be passed. He said he agreed with the business associations that Government and Opposition had to find ways to ensure that critical legislation was passed in the Parliament. “But it takes two to tango,” he said.