Neon Warning Sign for PNM

WELL, local elections are done so let’s get back and focus on the murder and mayhem under the mismanagement of this government.

As usual under this Minister of National Security and the Commissioner of Police (CoP), this month the murder toll in the twin-island state of Trinidad and Tobago is on track to overtake last year’s all-time high.

As murder rates rise, more people are being killed than at any point in history. As of August this year, the murder toll is on track to record 700 murders for 2023. Definitely, it is overtaking 2022 – a year that saw 614 violent deaths. The twin island soaked in blood, with a population of about 1.4 million, now has the terrible spot of holding the sixth highest crime rate in the world.

Trinidad and Tobago was once the richest place in the Caribbean, but over the past eight years it has been mismanaged by the destruction of our oil wealth and energy resources, dragged down by corruption, the drug trade and an increase in gun crimes and violence, all under this government.

Photos of people shot and lying in pools of blood all over the country, appear on social media with regularity. Headlines of shootings are the norm. Violence has seeped into every aspect of our lives like an endemic and its reduction and prevention should be targeted now like if it’s a national emergency.

Murderous home invasions have increased dramatically and newspaper headlines constantly report “Bodies on the road” and now more and more the average citizens are faced with robberies at gunpoint.

One headline stated that “Over 2000 robberies in the first seven months” have hit us this year. We are desperate and we have become numb seeing all these gruesome pictures on social media. So much so that it does not seem to affect the average person living in Trinidad and Tobago anymore seeing these bloody corpses lying on the streets.

So after all the hullabaloo for the Local Government Election, the results should have sent a message to the People’s National Movement (PNM) that your future is not secured and a neon warning sign that their performance appraisal is not good.

One wonders how they continue to bury their heads in the sand where our streets are soaked in blood. Nothing is going right for Dr Rowley-led government, the oil industry is declining rapidly, the infrastructure is not being maintained, we have water woes, skyrocketing food prices, high inflation, high crime and high unemployment. Does he magically think they can maintain the status quo with all these problems?

Even our national airline is facing problems at this time. When will the problems ever end? Over a period of August 19 to August 20 2023, 73 pilots called in sick in an effort to get the airline to take notice over their wages not being addressed since 2015. Now the whole of Trinidad and Tobago is aware.

Imagine that since 2015 to now they haven’t received an increase in wages, when the cost of living has probably tripled since then.

So they saw no alternative act which severely affected 4,925 poor passengers who had the misfortune to be caught in this situation.

I really feel for these passengers but I also can not understand why pilots are being treated like this when they have family like everyone to take care of and they have our lives in their hands when they pilot these aircrafts.

Although CAL is a whole other form of mismanagement, I really hope the airline puts something in place to address the concerns of the pilots and mechanisms in place to see that passengers are not affected like this in the future.

The crime crisis is out of hand and with our murder rate set to overtake last year, I just have one thing to say, let’s please get rid of an out-of-touch, egomaniac, self-absorbed man called Hinds and while you are at it get rid of the non-performing CoP as well. The whole country will breathe a sigh of relief if this is done urgently and hopefully, we can increase the government’s awareness to improve T&T.

Let’s hope the people realise the elections have consequences and when elections come around again we stain our fingers this time for real change that can manage our twin island Republic properly.

Yellow is the code.

Neil Gosine is an insurance executive. He is also the treasurer of the UNC and a former chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He holds a Doctorate in Business Administration, a Master’s in Business Administration MBA, BSC in Mathematics and a BA in Administrative Studies. The views and comments expressed in this column are not necessarily those of AZP News, a Division of Complete Image Limited.