Christine Sahadeo must face facts

THE EDITOR: Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Christine Sahadeo’s assertion that perceptions of racism, inequity and injustice are being fostered among the East Indian community and do not reflect the social reality is quite contemptuous and absurd. Such a position articulated so boldly with an East Indian audience must have been calculated to shock them into disbelief that in the face of glaring statistics, dead bodies and paid ransoms, a Government Minister could summon such stupidity.

What are the facts we should ask of Mrs Sahadeo? Well the facts that are since the term of office of the PNM in December 2001, kidnappings have increased from manageable single digits to runaway figures.  The other thing is the police response. The first approach of the police is to determine the authenticity of the crime. Their attitude is to dismiss reported abductions as internal family squabbles, drug deals gone bad or a case of rebellious children trying to extort money from their parents. This has cost at least one life: Pixie Lakhan, who must never be forgotten.

Law enforcement officers have admitted to treating her disappearance as a case of eloping. Had they done their jobs, a sexual predator may not have taken two women’s lives, Mrs Sahadeo. Then the police are so ill-equipped. They have to borrow cars from families as they did in the abduction of three-year-old Saada Singh. They have to beg for equipment to trace calls. They cannot depend on the Minister of Finance to invoke legislation to trace ransom withdrawals and deposits. So with the Government’s inaction, kidnapping has become a new business activity.

When security mechanisms exhibit such glaring failure where they are so needed, but demonstrate astonishing efficiency in quelling anti-Government protests (read exercises in democracy) one must ask as to whether there is a plot of one kind or another. Now the nation should really wonder at Mrs Sahadeo when reflecting on the hostile police beating inflicted on anti-crime marchers on October 6, 2003 in Chaguanas. Such an assault on the democracy is reminiscent of the assault of the British on the salt march of the Mahatma.

SHIVANNA DIPNARINE
Port-of-Spain