IF MARK WERE YOUR SON

The Editor: I sent an article to the Press entitled “If Tessa Were Your Daughter?” exposing the disparity of treatment by the relevant authorities in instances of kidnapping. The official reaction seemed to be based on the social status, the pigmentation, the race, the political connection of the victim or the victim’s family. It is said that a country deserves the government it gets — because it is the people who put a government in office.  And when I speak of government I mean the whole of Parliament — the Upper and the Lower House, the governing party and the Opposition.  It is obvious that society is paying a heavy price.  Sadly, it is the innocent who suffers most.  Like other bad habits we adopt, we may call the slaughter of the innocents “Collateral Damage” in the war against crime.  Crime is winning! Can you imagine what it is to be a mother or a father, to nurture your son until he reaches the prime of his life, to see him enter medical school and look forward with great expectation when he will emerge a qualified doctor in the footsteps of his father?  What sacrifices the parents must have made and what expectation of great joy they held in their hearts?  Mark Rattan’s life was snuffed out at the hands of those who want something for nothing!

It is like tending with love a rose plant and waiting for it to bloom and fill the air with fragrance.  Then all hopes and expectations are cruelly dashed when a criminal hand cuts it down.  Why?  Who is responsible for the deplorable state of our country?  All those who have remained silent are partly responsible.  I have never remained silent.  And I have taught my children that life has been given them not merely to garner wealth and learning selfishly for themselves, but to use their life and their talent in the service of others, especially those most in need. What exemplars have we had among those who occupy high office in this land?  We have sunk today to the lowest ebb of morality in public affairs.  It all began since the early days of our independence.  We were promised “Morality in Public Affairs” by the so-called Father of the Nation — Dr Eric Williams.  We seem to have succeeded in whittling down morality in both public and private affairs.

Williams had said that if he put up a crapaud for election it would win.  Race has become the cornerstone on which politicians hope to gain and retain power.  They know they can do what they like and not be challenged, race being the sole criterion on which elections have been fought since 1956- on both sides.  The difference is that those who sit in the saddle have the power to oppress the losers.  Our electoral system must be changed. The nomenclature “Police Service” is a misnomer.  We are still in effect a colonial Police Force.  Even Ferdi Ferreira in a recent article in the Press had to denounce the rudeness of so many of our policemen.  They do not regard themselves as servants of the people, but as masters, vested with power to abuse.  They almost invariably are prepared to curry favour with the government by an abuse of their authority against those in opposition to the government.

Sometime ago the police said two Barbadian fishermen had been released from charges of fishing in our water.  A political source from which the instruction emanated was named.  Then suddenly the policeman suffers amnesia.  The veracity of the statement as to who was the source was denied. The Press reports that a senior policeman’s desk drawer was found to contain $350,000 of marked ransom money.  Not another word is heard about it. Over the heads of several present and former members of the Opposition in the House of Representatives dangles the Sword of Damocles — charges of corruption.  Transparency International in its latest report says that today we have sunk even lower in the perception of corruption. When governments of Third World countries start to shower money like raindrops in a monsoon, then there is bound to be a deluge of suspicion that corruption is rife.  Suspicions of kickbacks and bribery flood the public mind.  Unless we can manage the intelligent use of money in our private life, we certainly cannot do so when entrusted with the public purse.  Hence the public perception reflected in Transparency International’s last report.

Balgobin Ramdeen,
Attorney-at-Law
Port-of-Spain