Toil and trouble from Mr Hinds

WHILE Fitzgerald Hinds was Minister of Youth Development and National Service, he got into hot water for making remarks on social media about a beggar.

“I don’t like the idea of young, apparently fit men begging,” Mr Hinds said in a 2020 post, recalling a story of turning the man away empty-handed. “I don’t like it when they tell me how much they want.”

The Laventille West MP was, even by that stage, a veteran of the political gaffe. But it was the nature of his portfolio – ostensibly involving inspiring youth – that made his unsympathetic, presumptuous and tone-deaf remarks harder to swallow.

After the Prime Minister made Mr Hinds Minister of National Security last April, some hoped the gravity of the role would result in a changed approach to communications from him.

Mr Hinds has not changed.

In Parliament on Monday, the minister repeatedly referred to a minority report submitted by, among others, Chaguanas East MP Vandana Mohit, as “almost naked” and “skimpy.”

When Ms Mohit, who was present in the chamber, forcefully objected, Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George cautioned Mr Hinds, warning that his language might be considered unparliamentary.

He persisted.

“Madam Speaker, I was nowhere there,” the minister said. “I was commenting on the skimpy report.”

These remarks relating to a female MP were bad enough.

But add the fact that Ms Mohit, who made history as the youngest mayor of Chaguanas, is one of thousands of women in this country who have been subjected to efforts to embarrass her through leaked photos or otherwise, the remarks were deeply inappropriate.

Hiding behind the fig leaf of unsubtle innuendo (Mr Hinds repeated his offensive jibes no less than five times), the Minister of National Security once again demonstrated a complete inability to read the room. He showed no contrition even when the Speaker warned him a second time to move on.

In the process, the Laventille West MP has demonstrated a total disconnect between himself and the mood of the country right now, when there is deep anguish over the fate of women being victimised and killed, it seems on a daily basis.

The Prime Minister’s wife has been moved to speak about waking up fearful not for herself but for the women of this country generally, citing the recent week in which four were murdered in as many days.

The State is even being sued by some who believe it has failed to protect women.

Crime is squarely within the ambit of Mr Hinds’s portfolio. But, in another off-key remark on Monday, the minister defensively declared: “I don’t have a magic wand.”

No one is expecting Mr Hinds to cast spells, but surely, as well as giving demonstrable evidence of effective performance, he can learn to speak with tact and empathy to a nation – especially women – living in fear.