THE EDITOR:
A RECENT Express editorial decried a second obvious resort to vigilante vengeance by the populace in the burning of the house in which baby Amy met her shameful death and quite rightly stated that society will soon break down if our accepted mores are not strictly adhered to -- i.e. innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Unfortunately, these two episodes also clearly demonstrate that it already has; and provide evidence of the desperation of a populace which no longer has faith in our police force ever getting the perpetrators into a court of law.

And who can blame them, with the statistics at hand?

The solution of murder cases is steadily falling in inverse proportion to the number of murders occurring.

We have an opposition in disarray, which the media keep harping on -- virtually blaming them for the disastrous state of affairs existing in the nation.

Worst of all, we have an inept and clearly inefficient administration riding roughshod over accepted practice vis separation of powers and the entire judiciary under attack.

They now seem intent on muscling in on the SEC, which is business and trade.

Why should anyone then expect the populace to respect law and order when they no longer see the “system” working?

A goodly proportion has been persuaded by recent events that the integrity of the judiciary is at stake anyway so the next step is to take matters into your own hands.

Tribal but elementary given the lack of cohesive leadership and the groundswell of fear at an ever-deteriorating situation.

With the murder tally worsening daily (despite claims by the administration to be getting to the root of the problem) this is, unfortunately, a quite plausible and expected result of the political ethics manifest in our nation since 2001; beginning with then President A.N.R. Robinson’s decision to hand governance of the nation to Patrick Manning in the 18-18 impasse, based on “morality, spirituality and the rule of law” but on nothing in our constitutional law beyond his being the person most likely to “command the majority” in Parliament in the venerable President’s estimation.

When Manning failed to demonstrate this in April, 2002 President Robinson took no decisive action and permitted the situation to remain in limbo until -- and only because money was running out, not for any moral reasons -- Manning was forced to call an election, which should no doubt have been called in April, 2002.

So much for morality.

We have seen what has happened to “the rule of law” since Manning’s elevation -- heads rolling daily under a hail of bullets (benignly referred to by the administration as “gang warfare”) and now the head of the judiciary, a supposedly independent body responsible for the maintenance of law and order, under attack for the second time.

If Manning had such good grounds for bringing the first impeachment a year ago, why was the situation permitted to remain in arbitration at conciliatory talks for so long anyway?

Some may be tempted to speculate as to whether this latest move is back-up. Confidence in integrity, at any level, is at an all-time low.

At one and the same time, we have top officials stating publicly that they lack the “temerity” to question certain other high officials of the ruling party named by Vernon Paul as being implicated in what can only be termed a dastardly political plot, if his assertions are proven correct.

And, unlike the CJ matter, no progress on the investigation appears to be forthcoming.

I am, at this point, tempted to ask why we have, at no small cost, a President!

Is it a purely ceremonial position?

We are faced with a multi-faceted problem, the varying aspects of which are interrelated and point inexorably in a single direction.

The solution, therefore, is dependent not merely upon analysing, identifying and acknowledging the source of our problem -- but having so done, how forcefully, effectively and promptly we are prepared to deal with it.

THE EDITOR:
IF we do not help our youths now, we would have to pay the price of losing the next generation.

A six-year-old raped, brutalised and murdered.

Two teenaged boys 13 and 16 years of age charged for this savage act of crime.

The matter came up in court twice but because of their age the police attempted to hide their identity.

The crowd, comprising of parents, family and friends of the six-year-old demonstrated their anger calling for justice and revenge.

On one side, you have a set of parents and family in grief for their six-year-old child while on the other, two sets of families in shame and disgust and possibly thinking that these two boys may never see the outside world again.

Our country is now at risk of not losing one but another two of our future generation.

What are our community leaders doing to stop this new type of hideous crime in our country?

What is the Ministry of Education doing for children who drop out of school?

Are school supervisors going to allow teachers to send home children who did not do their homework and be unsupervised while their parents are at work?

Should all adults play a role in the event a child in uniform is seen out of school during school hours?

Or question the student if you are not satisfied and call the community police?

My call to all adults is to save the next generation, whether we are victims or not, we are all involved in the security and safety of our community and we must play our part to ensure that all citizens enjoy peace and tranquility in our family life.

We are now living in dangerous times where evil is stalking the land.

Our freedom is taken away from us an we cannot go about our business as usual.

Crime in our country is at its highest peak causing our reputation to decline at the most rapid rate.

Every citizen must stand up to this challenge of the crime virus we are all facing today.

If we run, it would surely run after us and take over our country as a storm.

We cannot escape life challenges by not honestly dealing with the problem.

Failure to confront this virus will demonstrate weakness of the mind to face the challenges of life.

The time has come when every civil-minded citizen, including elders, teenagers, right thinking individuals must come forward and save this country from damnation and destruction.

The Ministry of Education should set up a system in which schools report immediately to the ministry any problematic child that may need immediate attention.

The Ministry of Social Development should set up hotlines in every community so that families with problem children can call for assistance if the parents cannot control them.

Vision on a Mission Programme should be extended to interview all prisoners leaving prison at least two weeks before their term ends.

This is in order to counsel them back in society as a normal citizen also, to ensure some arrangement for shelter and financial support.

Crime Stoppers programme should also be extended into communities in TnT.

The same type of system used by Crime Stoppers call-in programme can be used for information on any crime committed can be copied by the Ministry of Education and Social Development for children with problems.

All radio and TV talk shows must join the fight against crime and start the journey to bring back our youths on track.

Stop promoting Trinidad as people from different parts of the world.

Start to promote “one nation, one people, one love.”

Crime is everybody’s business and no government can do it alone. More guns, police vehicles and blimps would only assist in making it a little more difficult for criminals.

We must help our youths now in order to save the next generation.

THE EDITOR:
I UNDERSTAND that more officials are obeying the Integrity Act, which clearly indicates that if the laws that exist in the country are seriously enforced, more people are likely to obey them.

A sample of declarations filed by 10 top public figures including nine politicians, according to one report, showed that they had avoided making the blatant omissions which occurred last year when at least eight government ministers submitted incomplete declarations.

The eight ministers had failed in some way to send in a full four-page declaration form containing a proper date and signature.

It is unfortunate that former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday had to set a precedent.

Politicians and other public officers, who are required to comply with the Integrity in Public Life Act 2000 will be more careful when filling out their declarations.

Some of the officers who did not comply in the past with the Public Life Act, must count their blessings for not getting similar treatment to that of the former prime minister.

We need to make sure, though, that the law applies to all because people here and abroad will get the impression that the country is riddled with discrimination.

The Integrity in Public Life Act 2000 is one of the best laws that has ever been enacted in this country because it clearly requires more transparency and accountability from politicians and other high ranking public officers.

I have no doubt that more officials in our schools, public service and State Enterprises will be transparent and accountable if leaders in these departments are hurled before the courts and charged for corrupt practices.

THE EDITOR:
HAVE you noticed recently that high officials in the country are having a problem with the truth and common courtesies?

Now this is either because they are not hearing properly or they just don’t care; and I am inclined to believe the latter.

We had our distinguished prime minister refuting remarks about his heart surgery in Cuba, when the whole country heard him on television and in Parliament, give the reason why he had to go there for his operation.

Then we had the CEO of the Home Development Corporation, Noel Garcia, telling us, on television again, that 98 per cent of the residents of East Port of Spain were in favour of the relocation plan and they only had two objections, only to discover that well over 200 of the residents have in fact objected to the relocation plan.

And the latest one, Keith Awong, chairman of the National Gas Company, who just did not show up for his meeting with the Joint Select Committee of Parliament and instead sent a note to the chairperson, Senator Mary King, informing her that Hamilton would answer questions about the company.

Is there any wonder why the youths of today are so unlawful, disobedient and disrespectful when they see examples like these, just to mention a few, from individuals who should know better?