Crime Symposium a Con Job says Alexander

By Sue-Ann Wayow

FOOLISHNESS, stunt and a con job.

Those were the words used by political leader of the Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP) Phillip Edward Alexander to describe the recently concluded crime symposium with focus on violence as a public health issue.

Alexander, in an address to the nation on Tuesday, said violent crime was not a public health issue but a governmental one.

Mentioning the names of regional prime ministers including Ralph Gonsalves and Mia Mottley, the PEP leader said, they were only invited to the symposium for photo opportunities with Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley who has been failing at every level of crime prevention, having no idea what he was doing.

He also said that suggestions made at the symposium by the foreign prime ministers could not apply to T&T including the no bail for murder charged as there were different reasons why crime exists in the different Caricom countries.

Alexander said, “T&T’s crime violent crime problem is not part of any regional issue and certainly is not a public health issue. Our crime is a combination of a failure of  governments to govern and a corruption of  our  entire  system of governance from the very top to the bottom.”

With corruption at all levels of state agencies, he said there was “a contract mafia” that has facilitated the destruction of any chance of Trinidad and Tobago being a lawful nation especially as there was a Prime Minister being used as a puppet by his party financiers.

“Trinidad and Tobago is a crime scene at the government level,” Alexander stated.

Key questions that needed to be asked were:

Referring to reports in which army ammunition was found at crime scenes, Alexander said that the army seemed to not be capable of securing their own bullets.

He continued, “Now, we want to be kind, so we are saying that somebody is either stealing or buying soldier bullets and using them in the commission of crimes because we don’t want to look at the frightening spectacle that soldiers trained by the State may now have become assassins and are committing murders for hire in Trinidad and Tobago

“And God forbid, in a country this broken, that 6,000 standing man army trained and armed to the T, should it turn on the people of Trinidad and Tobago, what do we do next?”

With inequality in the education system and food production and social ministries being “after thought” ministries, Alexander said he did not need Caricom but a well capable government.

“I need a government of Trinidad and Tobago that’s willing to face the reality that the solutions to the problems that plague this country is mind numbing poverty,” he said.

Alexander said, “The political choices we have made in this country is the reason where we are where we are.”

PEP’s plan 

He outlined the PEP’s plan for crime reduction which included tackling poverty, creating homes, creating jobs, building the nation, community by community.

With food at the core of human existence, Alexander said PEP would focus on increasing local food production and protecting it. 

He said, “A PEP government would pass into law that if you are in possession of any food in bulk for sale, you should have a receipt or a licence or some other document to show the source of this food. If you don’t, then the only thing we could assume is that you stole it.”

All  farmers, vendors, suppliers and wholesalers would be licensed.

Making home ownership easy for the average worker, loans would be offered at zero interest rate and zero downpayment for up to $1.5 million.

Primary school children will be placed in secondary schools based on a grade point average and there will no longer be a distinction between “prestigious schools” and others.

Alexander said, “If you get all our communities to work, our nation will work.”

A PEP government would also have only five ambassadors to the UN, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas to take Trinidad investment to the world and bring foreign investment to Trinidad and Tobago.

Border security would be the number one priority, working closely to enhancing and improving Customs and Excise at the legitimate ports and building a port in Pt Lisas.

There will also be the establishment of an Internal Affairs Unit of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) to identify and treat with rogue cops and a justice system that works with a timer 

Alexander said, “Police will have to do policing and not just put people in a cell.”

With that timer, persons must be charged 24 hours after arrest or go free, there will be a six month time frame from charge to prosecution or the case collapses and once that case starts, there will be a one year period for civil matters and up to three years for criminal matters 

Alexander said, “The reason you want to put a timer on matters is so that the court system is not used to facilitate people who are collecting appearance fees for cases destined to go nowhere. If you are putting a charge on somebody’s life, you better be able to follow through and prosecute it or let it go.”