Rowley: Some people have gone mad

PRIME Minister Dr Keith Rowley has expressed frustration with the increasing murder rate. In a burst of emotion at a PNM rally at Diamond Vale, Diego Martin on Thursday, Rowley asked: “How long, oh Lord, how long do we have to endure this?”

“Some of our citizens have gone stark raving mad and are hell-bent on making national news everyday,” he said.

“We are spending $2 billion a year in this country to find every gun and catch every gunman before he shoots, and we pick up 1,064 guns out of their hands last year, but that didn’t reduce the murder rate.” He lamented that killers are now using “stone and knife” to murder.

“In recent days, we as a people have felt the pain of the families that have experienced what has happened in La Brea and in the Croisee (San Juan) and elsewhere.”

At La Brea, four people were murdered recently in one massacre, namely Michael Scott, 69; Abigail Chapman, 42; Olivia Chapman,16, and Michaela Mason, 14.

Anita Bahadur, 27, a mother of four was stabbed to death by her estranged boyfriend at San Juan on Wednesday and Stacy-Ann Campbell, 29, a pregnant mother of four, was bludgeoned to death on Tuesday with a brick at Mayaro by a mentally ill man. Rowley urged the police to stay the course.

While saying TT is now in dark days, Rowley expressed confirence of TT having a bright future, with an economy being based mainly on local and Venezuelan oil and gas.

“A lot of advice we have got from you the people is to stay the course and take the ship of state to safe and calm waters. We are doing that.”

From the start to end of his earnestly-delivered speech, Rowley pressed the theme of better days are coming which, several times, elicited applause from supporters inside the packed community centre. “These are very difficult times but we are not without hope and some resources.” Admitting it is now “a particularly difficult period” he said he must do work that will not bring him popularity nor shouts of joy.

Alluding that you can’t please everyone such as his critics, he said if the Angel Gabriel came to take everybody to Heaven, some would complain his wings were too short. Promising the development of neglected areas such as the South and East coasts and East Port of Spain, he said the country is moving forward. “The largesse is over, the grand theft is over and the ‘gimme, gimme’ is over, as we put our shoulder to the wheel.” Rowley said a lot of good things are happening in TT, as he urged citizens to take grater personal responsibility in their lives and take pride in their country, community and neighbourhood. By this means, all the negativity in the mass media will recede, he said. “The PNM is far from perfect, but did a good job to keep TT as one of the best places in the world.”