Mr PM, You are to Blame

HELLO! Hello! Apologies for my absence, the fam and I needed a little vacation… the walls of the house were closing in and I was days away having “children all up in my grill 24/7″ psychotic episode.

Upon returning home and having kept up with the grim reports of all that is Trinbagonian news, I had a chaotic basket of topics to choose from, all of which I had mentally prepared to put on paper. There was my experience at the passport office part two, coming home through immigration where there was one officer working, potholes, water woes, getting my property tax assessment and the coat of arms debacle.

I will say a thought regarding the coat of arms, my problem isn’t replacing the ships with the steelpan ( Iactually support the idea), my issue is the amount of public funds that will need to be spent on the change during a time where that same money could be used to repair the aforementioned roads, water delivery systems and improving our public healthcare system so that people won’t have “travel abroad” for medical treatment.

I was ready, until, oh boy, until Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, at Wednesday’s Post Cabinet Press Conference lamented that he is not to blame for the nation’s crime situation.

Come Thursday “Don’t Blame Me!” graced every news paper and soured everyone’s morning. I have thoughts, so let’s go.

Dr Rowley, you are to blame. The government, which you head, is to blame. The prime minister before you is also to blame, the government she headed is also to blame. The prime minister and government before her also bear blame, as does the one before, and so forth.

The blame for the state of our nation carries far beyond one prime minister and one government.

For generations our governments have failed to manage and control crime. Dr Rowley and all other leaders can blame the gangs and the “devils” of society, but one must understand that these elements grew from neglect of true governmental duty in vain and desperate attempts to retain power and appease the voters.

No government has ever launched a proper investigation that ends with the appropriate punishment for corruption amongst their peers.

This has never been done within the public service, where a “small bribe” at first has grown to large “kickbacks” or as I have recently heard “kick fronts.” Think of the amount of people who got drivers’ licenses, Town and Country clearance, contracts for the provision of goods and services, mining licenses and so forth, not through the correct channels but through the bag of cash method.

Alleged governmental cooperation with criminal elements via contracts, housing or simply being left alone in exchange for votes has ever been addressed.

Every government loves to boast about new crime fighting initiatives but fails to root out corrupt members of justice and police service, making these fantastic, groundbreaking initiatives moot.

No Government has dropped the hammer on allegedly corrupt practices by customs officers who let containers of guns, ammo, drugs and other contraband into the country, feeding the murder machine. Doesn’t matter how many scanners you buy, if officer X is getting a paid off, his container will sail through easy-peasy.

Speaking of our borders… every government has bought our Coast Guard, new high-tech boats and ships. Only to later starve them of the correct training, money and resources to maintain them, and hell at one point it was alleged the CG didn’t even have enough money to put fuel in them.

We see our leaders still hold their high paying jobs with all the perks, even if they have proved to be ineffective at their jobs, even if they have criminal matters in the court system. We see them live with immunity from their failures, and their bad behaviour.

We see them use race and religion to hold power, further fracturing our population. We see them ignoring our most vulnerable, only to powder their bottoms every election, tickling them with the good life for just long enough until the votes the counted and winners declared.

All of this has led us to become an undisciplined society, one without any civic pride. We have become dependent, jaded, cold and uncaring. We simply followed the examples set for us, and now it’s reached a boiling point that has become uncontrollable.

You see Dr. Rowley, you hold blame, as does everyone who has held a position in government.

The inaction of you and predecessors have turned us into the “devils” you speak about. Until you and your colleagues own up to your contributions to the demise of our society, we shall continue to self-destruct.