State of emergency needed to end crime
THE EDITOR: Like Nero, fiddling whilst Rome burned, the Manning Government in its efforts to portray Port-of-Spain as a suitable site for the capital of the FTAA, has for many months trivialised the crime wave in this country. BWIA has been beggared by flying half-empty planes on uneconomic routes to portray Trinidad and Tobago as a hub of the Americas, while passengers are subjected to a propaganda film featuring the PM and his rose-coloured Vision 2020. But, now that the co-chair Brazil has withdrawn from the talks to establish the FTAA and the USA has downscaled its efforts, eliminating the possibility of the FTAA coming into being in the foreseeable future, perhaps the time is ripe for action. The Minister of National Security has stated that the crime problem is concentrated in specific areas, which he can identify, and the Commissioner of Police has said that the Force knows who the kidnappers are, but have insufficient evidence to detain them under ordinary circumstances. This suggests that what is required is a limited state of emergency in certain areas, under which the usual constitutional protections against random search and seizure and detention without trial are suspended. The PM, having declared a limited state of emergency covering a couple of blocks in Port-of-Spain a few years go, in order to prevent the then Speaker of the House from attending Parliament, is well aware that this can easily be done. Additionally, as more than one columnist has underlined, it is now a matter of public record that taxpayers’ dollars are being used, through programmes like URP and CEPEP, to finance organised crime and make the poor dependant on a particular criminal gang. Instead of simply calling for more "Government boots," the business community must insist that this be stopped, but this cannot be done unless a bona fide system of welfare payments for the needy is put in place. We have the financial and human resources, in the form of lots of educated youths seeking employment, to do this through the expansion of the NIS or otherwise. If these things are not done, ordinary law-abiding people could as well resign themselves to living in a state of anarchy or fleeing the country. JOHN SMITH
Carenage
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"State of emergency needed to end crime"