Caroni vs kidnapping

THE FACT that kidnappers have now turned to little children for their victims must move the authorities, indeed the entire society, to mobilise fully against this new outrage. To snatch children away from their families and the comfort of their home environment and to keep them as helpless captives while ransom demands are made is a callous and emotionally-wrenching crime that can traumatise these youngsters for a long time, if they manage to survive. Obviously, the kidnappers believe that abducting children is not only easier to undertake but they also realise that the agony of parents about the safety of their little ones would make them even more anxious to meet ransom demands.

They two children who were kidnapped over the last week were fortunate in being reunited with their families. Indeed, the effort of a combined team from the Anti-Kidnapping Squad and the Defence Force in rescuing eight-year-old Adriana Ramsingh from her abductors several hours after she was held on Wednesday must be commended. When they found the frightened child in a shack at Mount D'or, Champs Fleurs, her hands and feet were bound and her mouth was sealed. How the AKS managed to find Adriana so quickly has not been revealed but we would like to believe that the Squad has achieved something of a breakthrough and is now better equipped to respond to this particular kind of crime. In any case, we feel that our society, all its decent, law-abiding citizens, must now place themselves on a kind of national alert to assist in dealing with the crime of kidnapping. We must all consider ourselves the eyes and ears of the police in the effort to stop kidnappers in their tracks and bring them to justice. More so than any other form of crime, dealing with abduction requires this kind of public help.

Because of its frequency and the menace the crime of kidnapping now poses, it is important also for our society to deal in an exemplary way with those convicted of it. kidnappers should be put away for a long time. That is why we consider it the height of irresponsibility for the Opposition to withdraw their support for the Kidnapping Bill which is due for second reading in the House today. Opposition members only discredit themselves when they attempt to hold such vital legislative measures to ransom in their effort to force a national debate on the issue of Caroni's reconstruction.

One understands their concern about developments in the sugar belt where they have always enjoyed majority support and their right to seek a debate on this issue is undeniable. Instead of pursuing the parliamentary means available to them to have such a debate the Opposition has adopted a tit-for-tat approach which inspires doubt about their commitment to the national interest. Indeed, it would seem that they are prepared to put whatever concerns they may have about Government's VSEP offer to Caroni workers above the urgent need to attack with full force the crime of kidnapping which affects the entire country and occurs quite frequently in their own constituencies.

The UNC Opposition cannot be so unconcerned about its own credibility that it would adopt such a capricious, myopic and blinkered stand. The Kidnapping Bill, which fixes a penalty of 24 years imprisonment for offenders, makes the charge unbailable, widens the scope of the offence and strengthens mechanisms for investigating the crime, represents a critical step in the effort to deal with kidnappers who are now turning to our children. The charge of "irrelevance" has been levelled at the Opposition; not to support this Bill would provide adequate justification.