Caption: Dinesh Rambally
CHAGUANAS West MP Dinesh Rambally says that if Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley does not take responsibility for the crime situation, he must resign.
In a release on Thursday, Rambally said, “As the murder toll in Trinidad and Tobago continues to climb, I am compelled to address the Prime Minister’s recent statement, where he says, ‘don’t blame me’ for our national security crisis. This statement could only be described as callous and detached from reality.”
He said in the wake of the deaths of a five-year-old Anika Guerra and her father Enrio Guerra, it was inconceivable that the prime minister, who is also the head of the National Security Council, would respond with anything less than full accountability and actionable solutions.
Rambally said, “Yet, here we are, faced with the prime minister’s nonchalant dismissal of the very real fears and grievances of Trinidad and Tobago’s citizens.”
He was responding to Dr Rowley who at a press conference at Whitehall on Wednesday, said, “Don’t let anybody fool you, that crime is not being done based on who is in office. It’s done on the basis of whether there are benefits to be had by the perpetrators, and as fast as you stop or suppress one area, they surprise you with new ingenuity and heartlessness.”
Rambally said, faced with Dr Rowley’s nonchalant dismissal of the very real fears and grievances of Trinidad and Tobago’s citizens, his response to this escalating crisis has been nothing short of a masterclass in contempt.
He said, “ His desire to cling to power without being held accountable is not just an affront to those of us who are grappling with the grim realities of daily violence, but also a stark betrayal of the trust placed in him by the people. Our nation’s security apparatus, under his stewardship, has clearly failed to deliver the safety and justice we desperately need.”
Rambally said, “It is disheartening that, instead of taking responsibility for the failures in policy and management, the Prime Minister seems more interested in retaining his position than addressing the needs of the citizens he is supposed to serve. If he insists on avoiding accountability, then perhaps the most responsible course of action for him would be to step down.”
