We must overcome our fear of change

Citizens fear criminals and consequently turn a blind eye to criminal activity.

The media fear government and big business will not support their organisation if they report on issues at variance with their modus operandi.

Consequently, we fail to take the obvious steps necessary to improve the quality of life for our citizens. Few will argue that the following must be done urgently if TT is to recover from its declining state: * Restructure agriculture incorporating the land and infrastructure of Caroni Ltd.

* Build an alternative access to Chaguaramas.

* Repair Whitehall, the Red House and President’s House.

* Have special court sessions for dealing expeditiously with gun-related offences.

* Revise the gun laws to allow farmers, businessmen and homeowners an easier path to obtaining legal firearms.

* Have a gun amnesty followed by exceedingly strict gun laws that allow for immediate court hearing, no bail and heavy mandatory sentences.

* Allow non-lethal self-defence devices like stun guns, mace and pepper spray to be legal, thus possibly saving the lives of our threatened female victims of crime.

* Take an aggressive approach to dealing with criminal elements, with zero tolerance for gang activity, loitering and threats to citizens.

* Partner with the business community to arrive at a comprehensive tourism model that allows for a restructured Carnival package, manufacturing and marketing the steel pan, nature hikes and secured access to campsites on State lands, restructuring the Gasparee caves, development of Chacachacare, improvement of our beaches, and marketing culture and sports.

* Partner with the business community to arrive at new manufacturing, food processing, engineering services and downstream industries from the energy sector as part of an economic diversification plan.

* Restructure local government to allow communities to be managed locally, thus reducing the levels of bureaucracy attached with central government management.

* Rebuild the water distribution network to change from a dependence on pumps to gravity, thus reducing overall cost and ensuring a reliable supply of water on a sustained level.

These critical decisions and many more are possible and will benefit all of TT is we were to ever move away from the fear of perceived ethnic domination that is spread to allow the continuance of a system structured to empower and enrich a few.

Steve Alvarez via email