Mitchell said the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) has investigated cases of tenants renting their homes.

“We have seen and investigated instances where persons for example would have been renting homes from the HDC for $100 a month and then subletting it for $3,000.

We are looking into all those instances and as they arise, we are cracking down on them,” Mitchell assured. He was speaking to reporters at a health fair hosted in his San Fernando constituency at Pleasantville Community Centre.

Mitchell said the HDC was conducting a verification exercise of its tenants. “Subletting is a practice that is unlawful with respect to the lease agreement. These very affordable units provided by government are for persons who cannot do better for themselves and who are looking at affordable housing.” He also said squatters will be evicted from houses, including condemned ones. Last month, 25 families who occupied condemned houses in Harmony Hall, Gasparillo were evicted. “Yes these people took the risk of going into squatting, they were put out with their appliances and sometimes we see children, but there is always another side to the story. What about those persons who are on the application list and have been applying for houses?” He said HDC was also reviewing its allocation policy as there were challenges with the random selection process. “We are looking to move towards creating a fair system, a first in first out type of system.” Unfinished developments, some dating back to 2006, the minister said, have been reviewed and a construction programme is underway

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) community is a vulnerable one. Its members are generally not well-liked, they may not have family support, and the police often dismiss their claims of discrimination or abuse, sometimes ignoring serious cases simply because an LGBTQI person is involved.

One police officer, a corporal, who is also gay, expressed his suspicions that a person or people were targeting members of the LGBTQI community for robbery and murder. He stressed he had no proof of this, but believed that LGBTQI people should be alert.

The officer said over the years he had known criminals to target gay parties, assuming the patrons would have good jewellery and a lot of money to spend.

“Previously they were targeted for robberies, assaults and different crimes, but now the game has stepped up to murder.

It just moved from one level to the other,” he said.

To his knowledge, he said there had been at least five gay men who were killed this year alone: three were Guyanese, one a Jamaican, and one a Trinidadian.

The murders occurred in the west, along the east-west corridor, and in central Trinidad He admitted there had been murders in the community from time to time but he personally began noticing an increase over the past year.

The circumstances also caught his attention because, whereas most murders in the country were committed by shooting, the gay men were either strangled, stabbed, or beaten. There was also the fact that most were from other Caribbean countries.

In addition to the previously mentioned vulnerabilities, he said the LGBTQI community become “easy prey” when they go out, get drunk, spend money, and look to get intimate.

NO JUSTICE The officer said a homophobic attitude has been alive and well for decades throughout the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service. He said officers, especially male officers, did not want gay people around them as if they were afraid being gay was “catching” or a gay man may be attracted to them.

He said he knew of several instances in which gay men were told to leave the police station even before they could make a report, possibly sending them to their deaths.

Even if a report was taken, he said many times there was victim blaming or shaming so that the victim was reluctant to report any crimes against them.

Other times, he said the police simply ignored the cases, refusing to investigate them because an LGBTQI person was involved.

“Why do you think so many gay murders go unsolved?” he asked.

Not wanting to reveal too many details, he recalled a crime that was committed about three years ago in which two men arranged to meet in person after speaking to each other on a gay dating site.

“That was an easy case to solve because everything was online,” he said. “But from the time the police heard it was linked to that (LGBTQI), that was it.” He said the attitude of officers affected him personally as a gay friend of his was murdered last year. Because of numerous eye witness accounts in that instance, a suspect was identified, but he said the police never even brought the person in for questioning.

However, he said the lackadaisical attitude of some officers towards investigating crime was not only directed at the LGBTQI community.

He told Sunday Newsday before he joined the police service he had all types of friends and remained in contact with many of them, making him a well-informed officer.

He said over the years he volunteered critical information on a variety of cases to 800-TIPS, 555 and more directly to senior officers, but no one listened.

“Imagine I, as an officer, am going to senior people and giving them first-hand information about murders, which could have get (sic) me set up… I am part of the organisation, you would think they would listen, but no. It makes no sense. There is no proper follow-up procedure.” He said even if a mat ter was brought to court, the magistrate or judge easily accepts the “gay panic” defence. “The defence is always the same,” he said. “They come around me with that macomere thing and I trip. You pick up a man, he buying drinks and food for you whole night, and two o’clock in the night he says, ‘Hey, leh we go home by me.’ You gone home by the man and then you get gay panic in the man room? And the court accepts it very easily and the prosecution doesn’t force it.” TAKING ACTION Because of these concerns, the LGBTQI community is mobilising for safety and their rights.

The safety campaign calls on the membership to Watch • Send • Stop offer simple messages: Be aware. Watch out for each other. Help find solutions.

Colin Robinson, president of CAISO (Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation): Sex and Gender Justice, stressed that, although they had no evidence that the murders were bias-related, they were aware that the LGBTQI community was vulnerable.

“We just know people of the LGBTQI community are vulnerable in particular ways,” Robinson said. “The police and society are not friendly to us, so the kind of support that other people might have, we don’t have.

There is a cost for us to even report a crime, Sometimes when we do, we lose because we lose the support of family when we are outed.” Therefore, six organisations decided to mount a campaign to try to get more information from the police and encourage then to investigate the cases more fully, as well as to ask people to be more careful and to take care of each other.

These organisations include Womantra, Friends for Life, the Silver Lining Foundation, I Am One, the Women’s Caucus of TT, and CAISO.

Luke Sinnette, a clinical social worker with Friends for Life explained that the campaign involved safety tips such as sending a friend your location when you go to lime, or warning others about an individual. The idea is to encourage LGBTQI people who refuse to report crimes because of negative experiences with police, and to ensure accurate information about the number and nature of violent crimes against LGBTQI communities is disseminated.

“What we know for sure is that because of the vulnerability that gay men face, it makes them a target for criminals,” Sinnette said.

“Being catfished online by would-be criminals becomes easier when we are afraid to find relationships in our everyday life. It also makes reporting or investigating these crimes more difficult if one is not out.

“The murdered young men had the further stigma of being migrants from fellow Caribbean countries. It means that they are on their own and things like family support is often missing. If they have over-stayed, they might not speak out against exploitation by employers for fear of deportation. When vulnerabilities like these begin to add up, people are more likely to be in an emotional state that can make them a target.” In addition to tips and data collecting, Sinnette said support was one of the biggest component of the campaign.

He said if a victim of crime called the “hotline,” he would help them sort out the facts so that the case could be documented.

The next step would be to find out the person’s immediate need and act on it, then to meet the person and try to counsel them and provide support in any possible way.

The police officer suggested that his colleagues be given sensitivity training to encourage them to focus on the offence committed and to make a conscious effort to solve the crime rather than focussing on the person’s race, status in society, gender or sexuality.

He is also asking investigators to reopen some cases in which they knew that the murder victims were gay, examining the cases from the angle of violence against homosexuals, and making connections with similar cases with the hope that they would be solved.

He is also suggesting that investigators begin to collect DNA samples so that when a proper related law is instituted, police would be able to solve cold cases.

He was speaking yesterday at the launch of the Association of Female Executives of Trinidad and Tobago Reach Mentorship Programme held at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s.

He said that with an apparent attack on women, men need to step forward not only to protect but also to support.

He told the nine girls participating in the month-long programme to have faith in themselves. He said that it was undeniable that women face more difficulties than men.

Young, also Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs and Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, told the gathering that he looks forward to working with women and he personally tries to be the equal of women.

“We men are the weaker sex,” he added.

The mentorship programme is in collaboration with the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and the Arts.

Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, in her remarks, said told the girls they may feel that they cannot reach where they want to go or do not even think about it.

She shared a story of a girl who was taller than her friends, a “big horse”, who was a high achiever but felt inadequate and not sure of herself.

She revealed that this girl was her.

She said, “Nobody could believe how that could cut away at your self esteem and how you could feel as if you don’t measure up.” “Little things can affect us. And in this life there are so many things that eat away at us as people. We don’t feel we measure up. And that can keep us back. That can make us think we can never achieve.” She thanked AFETT for having the programme and said she thought it important that the ministry partner with them. She said that many people want to do things but not willing to put their time, money and energy “where their mouth is”. She also reported that the ministry will also be having a male mentorship programme.

“This is what is going to change our young people.” She said that with 25 per cent of the population under the age of 18 they will not be able to reach all of the hundreds of thousands but they can reach some. She added that while saying that young people are the future of the nation is clich? if the young people do not produce “who will be the parents of the future generation”.

“At age 15 I never thought about parenthood. At age 22, I was a parent,” she said.

Returning to the programme she said that the mentors, who have pledged their time, effort and energy, will help the girls express what is inside of them and “can give you a key to unlock your future”. She said when the administration took office Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley had made a call for volunteerism and AFETT “has done that”.

AFETT president Tricia Leid reported that they previously had the initiative in the Gasparillo, Santa Cruz and Palo Seco community centres and thanked Young for welcoming them into his constituency.

She said mentorship provides opportunities for girls to be leaders in the communities, to extend learning outside the classroom and to change them from girls into independ

Speaking on Friday during a community outreach meeting in Sangre Grande, West made it clear that the PCA was an independent, non-political organisation.

“We operate independently. It is only the President (Anthony Carmona) that can revoke my appointment and that of the other members. We feel very secure in our positions,” he said in response to a question during the open forum.

West said since his appointment in November 2014, there has never been any political interference in the operations of the PCA.

Earlier, in opening remarks, West, an anti-money laundering specialist attorney, told the gathering at the North-Eastern Community Centre that there has been an increasing number of complaints against police officers in the Eastern Division between within the past few years.

He said between 2014 and 2016, there has been a three-fold increase in the number of fatal shootings by police officers in the Eastern Division.

West added there also has been a three-fold increase in non-fatal shootings in the Division.

“So, as a PCA, we want to bring down the number of fatal shootings by police officers because at the end of the day that is what is important when dealing with the issue of serious crime,” he said.

In the same breath, West also commended the work of Senior Superintendent Garth Nelson and the police officers in the division which is said to have recorded the highest criminal detection rate in the country Nelson said last week that out of the 37 murders in the division last year, 10 resulted in prosecutions.

He attributed the division’s success to the work of officers and citizens In an attempt to extend its reach to citizens, West also announced that the PCA will be going high-tech through the purchase a new App within the next three months.

“Persons will be able to download the App for free and fill our complaints and send it to the PCA,” he said.

West, who showed slides of alleged police brutality within recent months, said people also will be able to take videos of infraction involving police and send it as an attachment to the PCA.

West also said there were gaps in the existing PCA legislation, which, he feels, must be urgently amended to provide greater efficiency.

For example, he said there must be mechanisms in place to allow PCA investigators to be on th scene of an incident within two to three hours of it occurring.

West said PCA investigators also should be empowered to intercept firearms at a scene as well as recommend that victims who are likely to be threatened be placed in a witness protection programme.

Saying there was a backlog of more than 1,000 cases pending before the PCA, West said attempts were being made to reduce the case load.

He said a new team has been established to deal with current matters.

“So, we have been trying in different ways to make it efficient without compromising our integrity,” West added.

The PCA director revealed that between January and March, the PCA has received some 67 police- related complaints, from the various police divisions, 11 of which were fatal shootings and four, non-fatal.

When it was initially reported that Tobago resident Dwayne Hovell was missing, many feared the worst. So often have we been through the routine: family members report a loved one missing. There is a protracted period in which the police implore members of the public for clues. And then a gruesome discovery is made. Most recently, many of the victims have been female. The nation braced itself when the headlines in relation to Hovell were published. The police triggered a search. Even a Cabinet minister, Minister of Tourism and Tobago West MP Shamfa Cudjoe, a family friend, took time out of her busy schedule to express concern.

So when it was ascertained that Hovell is alive and well and has simply been spending time in Trinidad, a sigh of relief could be heard.

But this case nonetheless teaches us many lessons.

According to Hovell, he needed some private space.

“All I did was travel to Trinidad without telling anyone,” the man protested. “I had planned this but it had nothing to do with any disagreement between me and my wife. I just needed to breeze out without telling anyone…and I did just that.” No one has a right to intervene in the private family affairs of anyone else. But as with everything there are exceptions. In this case, things crossed a line when the police were called in, when a nationwide search was mounted, when even a Government minister and MP got involved.

Hovell may have told his wife he was going to spend time in Bethel, but he did not appear to anticipate that his mother would contact his wife stating he was missing. We wish Hovell the best and acknowledge his right to run his own affairs. And we will, for the moment, take his account at face value. Even so, it is plain that this is not how people should manage their dealings. In this day and age, it is important to let relatives and loved ones know our whereabouts. If we plan to “breeze out” that basic information can also be conveyed.

Failure to do this creates difficult situations. And those situations can potentially get the police involved and result in a wastage of police time and police resources.

And this leads to another issue.

Once the matter becomes so dire as to reach the national attention, did the individual concerned not then have a duty to contact the authorities? Everyone has a right to privacy and to conduct their business as they please. But in the context of a society plagued by crime – where it is felt that mothers, fathers, daughters, sons and loved ones might easily disappear with little resolution – false reports are serious offences.

The moment an individual sees a report in relation to himself engaging police attention when it should not be, that individual has a moral (and possibly legal) duty to notify the police that he is alive and well so that they can call off their search.

Delay in doing so represents a stunningly cavalier approach to the welfare of society as a whole; it is downright irresponsible.

The same resources devoted to track this person down could have been deployed to another case involving an individual who is in genuine need.

We hope, therefore, this case serves as a warning to all concerned that they must conduct their daily lives in a manner commensurate with their personal autonomy, yes, but balanced by utilitarian considerations.

Sometimes we must do what is in our best interest, but we must always be mindful of the need to support the greater good, and in the specific case of Hovell, he must recognise it is one time when breezing was not cool.

This is now a matter for serious national debate which in my view should include Peruvian public intellectual, Augusto Salazar Bondy’s view: “Underdevelopment is not just a collection of statistical indices. It is also a state of mind, a way of expression, a form of outlook and a collective personality marked by chronic infirmities and forms of maladjustment.” A bit harsh, but words deserving attention.

My interest in this country’s progress was sparked by bpTT’s pulling back construction of its million-dollar Angelin gas field from this country.

No doubt, significant employment, financial and engineering capital are being lost to us. bpTT explained: “Given the compressed project timelines and other competitiveness factors for the Angelin project, local fabrication is no longer a feasible option.” Quite a wellgreased explanation.

With righteous indignation, La Brea MP and former energy minister, Nicole Olivierre quickly said that La Brea lost out and “part of the reason is their constant protest action which has discouraged investors.” In other words, Ms Olivierre was saying the “constant protests” reflect a maladjusted set of counter-productive attitudes – enemies of progress.

She talked about the loss of taxes and 150 to 175 jobs to this country. “It is only a small group of people protesting and blocking roads and of course no investor wants to set up in La Brea then have delays to their work.” Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley did rightly emphasise that our business and labour sectors should realise that we compete not only among ourselves but moreso with the outside world. Last Thursday, former Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Mariano Browne, warned: “No one owes this country a living. This country has a culture of how not to work. We have a poor work ethic.” That is, attitudes and behaviours geared more towards underdevelopment than towards progress and development. The value of labour to a developing country is known.

But we now face hard times. Adjustments – especially psychologically – are needed all around to help pull everybody over the hill.

The “enemies of progress” are all around, moving Colin Fortune to write: “In truth, we have created a very corrupt, deviant culture and the rot of our indiscipline has become unbearable. The decline must stop. We must change course.” (Newsday, April 7).

After one appearance to another in Parliament, our state companies, from the Land Settlement Agency, Petrotrin, Educational Facilities Company, Caribbean Airlines – all around – it’s the same sad story of corruption, incompetence and no public accountability – all enemies of the country’s progress. Hear Valentine Young: “Instead of progressing and moving forward, we have delved into darkness. The ones that were given the mantle to rule failed us miserably. They squandered and pillaged our economy with nearly nothing much to show for the economic windfall we were blessed with – after 50 years of independence.

Where are we heading?” (Express, April 6) Part of the answer comes from the appearance of the Estate Management and Business Development Company (EMBD) before Parliament last Wednesday. In perusing the company’s audited financial statements (2008-2010), it was found that “in some cases, contracts started off at millions but eventually ran into billions which the EMBD management could not explain.” And you know, once again, nobody will be called to publicly account! The EMBD were not able to present audited accounts for 2011 to 2015.

Public Accounts Enterprise Committee member Shamfa Cudjoe noted that a particular EMBD contract started at $67 million and zoomed up to $334 million! The new EMBD chairman complained: “I find it difficult to understand how an organization can be awarded a $6 million contract and end up with a $600 million contract?” The enemies of our progress are all around.

Businessman Richard D Lau bitterly complains: “What is the city of Port-of-Spain doing about illegal vending, vagrants and violence? This is serious. Get the agencies mobilised to bring back order on the streets. The vagrants are doing damage to the city. In many places the stench is horrible. They defecate on the streets.” (Express, April 6). We anxiously await the Tamarind Square vagrants’ court judgment.

T h e enemies of progr e s s are all around.

Our attitudes to deve lopm e n t m u s t change.

Police reports say that 57-yearold Richard Daniel was murdered sometime around 1am.

His body was found in a bedroom in a house at Hope Trace by the owner of the residence, his friend Augustus Solomon. Daniel, who was from Diego Martin, Trinidad, stayed at the home when he was in Tobago conducting his business as a wholesale fruit vendor.

Solomon said he awoke to use the bathroom when he noticed the door to the guest room, which Daniel occupied, ajar.

He said he turned on the bedroom light and called out to Daniel who was lying on the bed. Upon closer observation, he said he noticed blood on the bed. He then alerted the neighbours before calling the Scarborough police.

After examining Daniel’s body, District Medical Officer Dr Diandra Clinkar ordered it removed to the Scarborough Mortuary.

Investigators said Daniel was likely followed home by his attackers and were working on the theory that he was a victim of robbery. Investigations are ongoing by officers of the Tobago Homicide Bureau.

Daniel’s daughter, Kizzy, who resides in Tobago, distraught over her father’s death, said she was awaiting the results of the autopsy. She was told by police that they were uncertain as to what kind of weapon was used, as the wound to the head could be either from a gunshot or a stab wound.

One neighbour said Daniel would usually travel to Tobago weekly and supply fruits to small vendors around the island. The neighbour said she heard nothing untoward during the night and that it was only when she saw the police at the house, she realised something had happened. With Daniel’s murder makes it the fifth homicide on the island for the year, the other four murders remain unsolved.

On February 11, Abiela Adams, 15, a national footballer and third form student at the Signal Hill Secondary School, was found with her throat slit on the roadway near a garbage dump at Solemn Lane, Fidelis Heights (North), Courland.

An autopsy by forensic pathologist Dr Valery Alexandrov at the Scarborough Mortuary showed the cause of death as a smashed windpipe and a wound to the neck caused by a broken bottle.

On February 5, Junior ‘Copper’ Roberts, 34, of Buccoo New Road, Buccoo was shot to death whilst driving his car east along Auchenskeoch Road, Buccoo, around 9.35 pm. Reports were that several gunshots were heard and Roberts’ vehicle spun out of control and ran off the roadway into the bush.

On January 19, father of one, Dale Boucher, of Bethesda, Plymouth, was shot to death. Residents reported they heard loud explosions and on checking, found Boucher, also known as ‘Dale Crooks’ and ‘Redman,’ dead on the road. An autopsy showed that Boucher was shot in the head.

On January 5, Kurt ‘Tibbs’ Clarke, 46, of Lambeau, was shot dead along Prospect Road, Orange Hill.

Police reported that at around 8.30 pm, Clarke was driving his Nissan Almera when a car pulled up beside him and its occupants shot at him.

Clarke died on the spot.

On April 5, bpTT announced on its website that local fabrication of the Angelin offshore platform would not take place in TT due to “compressed project timelines and other competitiveness factors.” “Although the Angelin platform will not be fabricated in Trinidad, bpTT is committed to maintaining an option of fabrication in-country for future platforms and will be working with local service providers on key competitiveness factors such as productivity,” bpTT stated.

But interviewed yesterday, Hosein said the decision to locate the platform abroad and not in locally represented “the loss of an industry and not just an opportunity.” “An opportunity such as Angelin would have bought hundreds of jobs directly and perhaps thousands indirectly to the La Brea area and would have pumped significant amounts of resources into the La Brea area at a point in time when the State would not be able to provide these resources itself,” he said.

“This to me is a tremendous blow to the economic welfare of Trinidad and Tobago and when next a platform will be built in Trinidad, one does not know,” he said.

“Also the fact that Trinidad may have developed a bad reputation on account of losing this particular platform may not augur well for the prospects of Trinidad and Tobago in gaining any opportunities that may emerge from Guyana or Suriname to build platforms because our labour market in this segment of the economy may be seen as disruptive and uncompetitive and that to me is the externalities aspect of this whole falloff from the Angelin project going abroad,” Hosein said.

He said the tripartite body which comprised the State, the trade union movement and the business sector should work towards the creation of a more conducive industrial relations environment as the economy could not afford to be losing such valuable investment as the diversification thrust in the other sectors did “not seem to be working.” He said government should attempt to renegotiate with bpTT to have the fabrication of the Angelin platform return to Trinidad and Tobago.

“I think if it is possible at this point in time the State should intervene and try to negotiate with bpTT to change its decision because the people of La Brea, which carries one of the highest unemployment rates and one of the higher poverty levels in the country, will be seriously affected,” he said.

Economist Indera Sagewan-Alli, however, said while she agreed with JTUM leader Ancel Roget that a safe industrial relations environment was essential she noted that trade union leaders should be careful that the “wrong message” was not being sent to the international community regarding Trinidad and Tobago’s industrial climate.

“We really have to be extremely careful and extremely cautious in terms of the kinds of signals that they send, not just the domestic space but the international space because we are in an environment where exploration is critical and exploration is facilitated largely through multi-national companies, global companies and bpTT is just one of them that has been here for a very long time and has vested interest,” she said.

“But what about all those companies that they are trying to attract and if the message that we are sending to foreign direct investment is that the industrial climate in Trinidad and Tobago is not prepared to be cooperative, is not prepared to negotiate, then it is the wrong signal we are sending and we can’t afford that.” Sagewan-Alli warned that jobs will be lost.

“The very people that Mr Roget is attempting to protect could be on the breadline as a consequence of the impact that statements like these can have.”

On Friday, Ramdeen said, “I wrote the minister and gave him until Monday at 4 pm to process the application and give a positive response to these parents because they have not sat and done nothing.

They have done everything, they have mortgaged their house, taken a personal loan, they have gone to everyone they can go to in order to save their child’s life.” If this does not happen, Ramdeen threatened to take the ministry to court.

Speaking to members of the media at the Rotary and Rotaract Clubs of St Augustine West Health Fair at the Sforzata Pan Yard yesterday, Deyalsingh made three points as to Ramdeens’s claim.

He first noted that the Children’s Life Fund Act states there is a limit of $1 million per child. He distributed a copy of an excerpt from the November 12, 2010 Hansard where the People’s National Movement (PNM), namely Paula Gopee-Scoon, asked the People’s Partnership (PP) government at the time to amend Clause 21 (4) so that more than $1 million could be granted in “exceptional circumstances” if recommended by the Children’s Life Fund board.

Health Minister at the time, Therese Baptiste-Cornelis, explained that the $1 million limitation was put into effect to ensure there was no abuse of funds, and because Permanent Secretaries could not approve more than that amount.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar then said that grants over $1 million would have to go to the Cabinet and be “tendered out” so her Government would not increase the amount.

Deyalsingh went on to say that the fund’s application was accessed by the Life Unit. “The Act clearly states that the Children’s Life Fund is only to be used for life-threatening illnesses…

That is not for Mr Ramdeen to determine.

It is for a clinical panel to determine,” he said.

He added that, under the PP, over 20 applications were refused, mostly because the illnesses were not considered to be life-threatening.

Finally, he said the fund was “to provide support up to $1 million based on medical reports and estimates received.” Therefore, applicants had to provide supporting documents to determine if they meet the criteria.

He stressed that the fund was not set up to reimburse persons for medical expenses they had voluntarily incurred. “To do that it means that anybody goes for treatment, supplies a bill to the government and you have to pay.” “In the midst of all of this, the UNC is playing with the emotions if a family and a threeyear- old girl and I don’t intend to do that. The Life Fund would do its work.” Deyalsingh said while he and PM Dr Keith Rowley empathise and sympathise with Luke’s parents, the ministry could only act within the confines of the law.

He added that if persons begin to threaten litigation, fewer people would be willing to serve on the Life Unit or the Children’s Life Fund board for fear of being sued. The sick children would be the ones harmed by the move.

And we are offered no sense of leadership to reverse these failings.

Certainly on no government front do we see any initiatives which might promise stability, far less confidence for the immediate or medium term future. And the same is obvious on all business fronts. Business seems to be as badly adrift as our government right now, and regrettably this sector seems to have adopted a stance that silence is more golden and beholden than expressing concerns and working towards solutions to our many failings. Indeed, much of our business sector is now more focused on acquiring foreign exchange to salt away overseas, than using their export earnings to fund raw material imports.

How many of us remember, several months ago, a senior member of our manufacturing community righteously demanding tranches of increasingly scarce foreign exchange to keep his manufacturing business going. When it was suggested that the business fund its raw material imports out of its finished goods export sales, the businessman was indignant.

Apparently his export sales income was his personal money, not to be put back into sustaining his business! When the price of oil is riding high and we have lots of money to waste everywhere, that attitude may not be critical. But now that we are earning so much less from petroleum—partly due to lower prices, but mostly due to our appalling mismanagement of the sector—we cannot afford to keep using limited petrodollars to fund private sector imports, which when processed locally and then exported sees that foreign exchange salted away in private accounts.

Now, I know that there are local companies who export finished goods, and use their exports to finance ongoing imports. And this is as it should be. But there are also those who claim, as the business under discussion here, that they have the right to hoard their foreign sales and demand that the Central Bank provide them with fresh tranches of our dwindling petroleum foreign exchange.

Our country desperately needs to control our outflow of foreign currency, which is siphoned out by imports, exports like the above, and the drug trade. But control is not on the agenda, mostly because both of our political parties are complicit with and beholden to the current selfish business ethics in our land.

The above demonstrates that white collar crime is so much of the norm in this land that we accept it as part of our lives. From the Clico debacle, through all the wastage on incomplete projects at Petrotrin, no one ever is brought before the courts for losses of hundreds of millions of dollars.

We do not even really discuss it.

Certainly not like how we discuss street crime, gang crime and the ever rising threat of radical Islam.

That threat, a major concern to other countries, is not recognised here for what it is. We see it, or pretend that we see it, as street gangs killing each other for drug and contracts turf. We know that from the time of the Muslimeen uprising and killings of 1990, both the PNM and the UNC when in government have supported and courted the radical Muslim sector, with contracts and protection from prosecution.

And this is still in effect, with the current government begging the various warring gangs to be nice while declaring dead people to be charged as terrorists.

Make no mistake about this: It is the ongoing State support and even funding of criminal gangs, including those which send jihadists to Syria for training and then return here to wreak havoc, which has created the current gangland situation. PNM, UNC , PNM, PP, PNM—all have courted and funded the gangs and the extremists.

And now there is no one left who can deal with the situation— killings, kidnappings and cocaine.

And while all the gangland wars rage outside of the securely gated communities, the government cannot function in any sphere of management of our country. The debacle of the ferries for Tobago, the ongoing collapse of our infrastructure, the rusting incomplete bridges and retaining walls on rural roads, the breakdown of discipline in our schools, far less in our communities, the ongoing inability to provide water to the population, all indicate that we are a failed society, a society in collapse.

What is keeping us from at least acknowledging this? We cannot continue to just hope and pray.

It is time acknowledge where we are, so t h a t we can start to rebuild a just a n d f a i r and effective society.