THE can of worms needed to be opened.

But while most people will be jamming former national football captain, David Nakhid, for his comments on the Syrian Community, truth is, the worms started sliding out of the can in August with a multi-million dollar drug bust on Monos Island.

It was followed almost immediately by a fire at the AS Bryden warehouse which set tongues wagging.

Now, we’ve known that drugs have been passing through the country for decades.

It’s institutionalised and the underground economy is obviously bigger than the formal economy represented by the petty $34B which the Minister of Finance talks about in his annual Budget presentation.

And fingers are obviously pointing at the nouveau riche in this country who have amassed so much wealth that it has further entrenched the class divide in this country.

With the middle class struggling and almost gone, it’s a straight case of very rich and poor in this country.

But it’s not just delinquent members of the Syrian community; the other big men in the drug trade are escaping our attention while we point fingers in one direction only.

DAVID NAKHID

JACK WARNER

DR. EDWARD KOURY

These are the people who own half of the real estate in the country-who are selling houses and land at exorbitant prices and all you need to do is take a look at the real estate classified ads and you will know what I mean.

The same people are selling one lot of land for over a million dollars on the mountain in West Trinidad, and these aren’t just Syrians.

So, while we carry on about the big financiers of the local drug trade, we must be careful that we don’t miss the boat, so to speak.

After all, while everyone in town has been crying out against the “Syrians” there are the others who are laughing.

Truth is, after the news of the Monos Island drug bust first surfaced, every man-jack in town was talking about the war between two rival sections of the local Mafia.

And then there was the beheading of Dr. Edward Koury, nephew of Health Minister John Rahael, which led to widespread speculation that he may have been a victim of that kind of war.

What’s wrong with thinking that way?

We’ve had local examples.

Remember when the head of Thackoor Boodram was delivered to Dole Chadee in a box?

Remember the killing fields of Caroni when bodies were dropping like flies in the battle between Chadee and his enemies?

And how the bodies of his henchmen Tooks and Bulls were found dismembered in a shallow grave in Caroni?’

It was all part of the drug scenario indelibly marked in our history.

So, when another headless body surfaced, within months of a major drug bust, it was natural to assume there was more in the mortar than the pestle.

But all of this really is leading to David Nakhid.

What does the former national captain have to do with TnT’s drug trade?

Well, to give him Jack’s Jacket, he’s a custodian of the rights of the people of this country, much more than those who boast about how much money they have spent to take us to the 2006 World Cup.

And after hearing David talk at a news conference on Monday morning, I had no doubt about what’s happening in the local politics.

After all, there is a concerted move to unseat the People’s National Movement (PNM) from power, because some of the party’s financiers are not happy with the actions of the arrogant Prime Minister, Patrick Manning.

Knowing they have no future with Basdeo Panday either, they have opted to push a whole new movement, and FIFA Vice-President Jack Warner seems to be at the forefront of that.

Now I am more than willing to see Bas step down.

But when a puppet is put in his place, who will not have the interest of the people at heart, what can we do?

Nakhid, who has drawn battle lines with Warner, is calling him a “House Negro”, who’s speaking for a certain class of people.

Now you might say that David is controversial, but the truth is, check his history, for every time that he’s figured in controversy.

He comes out with a clean slate.

The Nakhid that I know is a man who acts on his conscience and time has proven that, even to his detractors.

So when he came out batting for the people who are under economic oppression in this country, it was heartening to hear someone who is relatively young at 41 years old, stand up for our rights.

Because there are not many people who will do that with sincerity that is so badly lacking on the national landscape.

Anyway, I found an article which described Nakhid’s contribution to soccer in the United States which heralded his character.

He was inducted in the Stafford H. Cassell Hall of Fame.

And I end this column with this quotation: “There are many qualities of Nakhid that make him a worthy addition to the Stafford H. Cassell Hall of Fame besides his accolades and statistics.

Peter Mehlert, Stafford H. Cassell Hall of Fame member and former coach of the AU men’s soccer team and Nakhid during his tenure at AU, praised the midfielder for his work ethic and strength of character.

“Off the field,Nakhid was a double major, establishing early on AU’s dedication to its student-athletes performing in and out of the classroom.

“He was an extremely intelligent, articulate and thoughtful individual,” said Mehlert.

According to Mehlert, Nakhid could comfortably talk about soccer statistics one minute and discuss Third World economy the next.

“On the field, Nakhid was always fighting for calls and the “fairness of all players, including the young players who often were not treated as fairly as the stars,” Mehlert said.

So, welcome to the national debate on crime, David; we need as many voices as we can get.

There are not too many men with balls, in this town!