Genocide, Senator?

While Opposition Senator, Jennifer Jones-Kernahan, was correct in bringing to the country’s attention a Ministry of National Security report, which asserted that terrorist and paramilitary groups were operating here and were in possession of “sniper rifles and weapons of war,” she nonetheless erred in stating that: “Our young people are committing genocide.” Genocide, according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, is the deliberate extermination of a race, nation et cetera. When this is stated in the country’s Senate by a Member during a debate the wrong impression can be gained internationally, by those not familiar with the situation here, that civil war exists in Trinidad and Tobago and that one of the races is being targetted for “extermination!”

Senator Jones-Kernahan’s public statement in the Senate last Tuesday is not borne out by the facts, and she has not been reported as having been pulled up for her outrageous gaffe by the Government side, by the Leader of Opposition business or by Independent Senators. Parliamentarians, whether of the Upper House, as is Jones-Kernahan, or of the House of Representatives, should exercise caution in both their choice of ideas and their choice of words, as they may unwittingly give their country an undeserving image in the process of attempting to score questionable points. It would be better for Trinidad and Tobago and its citizens here and abroad should Jones-Kernahan give serious thought to withdrawing her undeserved comment on this country.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Security should consider telling the nation what measures it is taking, or proposes to take, to deal with the reported threat posed by “terrorist and paramilitary” groups, that Senator Jones-Kernahan declared in the Senate last week was contained in a National Security Ministry report, “Firearms Policy 2003: Firearms Act Chapter 16:01.” The report, itself, if correct, has revealed a troubling situation, for it has spoken of armed groups in the society, which “favour the illegal possession of assault rifles, sniper rifles and weapons of war...” And until the Ministry of National Security declares otherwise the country is entitled to assume that what is contained in the report is an accurate reflection of what it (Trinidad and Tobago) is faced with today, and is not the work of a public servant with a penchant for the dramatic. The escalating crime situation in 2003 with the highest number of murders and kidnappings (already recorded) in any one calendar year is well known to the general public, and is traumatic enough.

But until Senator Jones-Kernahan’s revealing of and quoting in the Senate from a Ministry of National Security report last week, the country was not aware, or least not generally, that in addition to “organised crime,” there were “terrorist and paramilitary groups” operating here. Minister of National Security, Martin Joseph, even though he may not wish to go into the specifics of the counter measures the protective services are taking, nonetheless should at least reassure the nation that something positive is being done. The nation should be kept informed of whether any major caches of weapons and ammunition have been found, and of whatever arrests have been made. If, however, the report is largely rhetoric then Minister Joseph must say so. The report, we should not have to remind the Minister, makes uncomfortable reading and has created a sense of unease.