Stupid for the UNC to politicise crime

Obviously, they view this as an opportunity to piggyback on a very serious social issue and get political mileage. But it is such a stupid thing to do.

Recently, we heard Dr Roodal Moonilal call for the Prime Minister to “step down” and to call a general election, following the triple murder in his constituency.

It is on occasions like this that you hear them the most, therefore I do not belief they are genuinely concerned about the number of people being murdered in this country, every day.

To them, the higher the murder rate rises, the more they view this as the perfect opportunity to play political football with the issue, which affects one sector of the society more than any other, both as victim and perpetrator.

There is also the call for Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon to resign on the basis of the high number of killings.

Ironically, when the UNC was in office in 2010-2015, five ministers occupied that office as the incumbent was replaced almost every year because the murderous epidemic never really changed.

It has always been the “strategy” of the UNC to use crime to help the party into office, because it’s aware of the emotions that come with crime and in particular murder. Panday did it in 1996 and most recently in the lead-up to the 2010 election, Stephen Cadiz made full use of the opportunity to enter the Parliament and politics following the death of Keith Noel.

What launched Cadiz into the national spotlight was the “high” murder rate back then, with Noel being the 137th victim.

But interestingly or ironically, he was a member of a government that saw the murder rate reach beyond 485 in 2010 and 403 in 2014.

He however maintained his comfortable seat in Parliament, sitting through his full term without a squawk.

The Opposition members’ politicisation of the crime situation today is even more stupid, because with their full fiveyear term in office, the country should have been much better off than it is today, through measures introduced. Now why after one and a half years are they applying pressure on the current Government when they did not create a platform of success for the Government to continue on? Has any of them questioned the foolish decision to squash the idea and vision of Patrick Manning to introduce the offshore patrol vessels? Are there any regrets over this decision now that the “spit” has hit the fan with more guns, ammunition and drugs entering our country, undetected? So Moonilal, Kamal Persad- Bissessar and company, the egg is on your shameless faces.

It’s time to stop the stupid rhetoric, because it isn’t going to result in the electorate putting people like you back into office on a “technicality.”

GARVIN WALTERS Tobago