Crime talks a waste of time?

THE EDITOR: Prime Minister Rowley gave a measured address at the opening of the Caricom regional symposium on crime.

Two parts of his address stood out.

One was when he said that "today, if there is one aspect that we, we all may be guilty of is that the problem of criminality and violence was not dealt with sufficiently in a much earlier timeframe – in the homes, in the schools, in the prisons, in the courts and, I dare say, in the parliaments...We allowed slow, moderate, deviant behavioural trends to increase..."

Was this a "blame Kamla" scenario again?

Does he mean from the aftermath of the 1990 coup when the PNM was returned to power in 1991-1995?

Does he mean when the UNC was in office from 1995 to 2001, during which, in June 1999, Dole Chadee and eight of his henchmen were hanged?

But it was also under the UNC when corporal punishment was removed from schools, with legislation pioneered by then education minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in February 2001.

Does Rowley mean between 2001-2010 when the PNM was in office? Does he mean between 2010-2015 when the People's Partnership was in office? Does he mean from 2015 to the present with the PNM in office and crime escalating to levels never seen before, especially murders and home invasions?

Does anyone remember former police commissioner Gary Griffith begging the PNM government to stop funding criminals?

On September 13, 2020, Indar Dhaniram wrote a letter in which he stated that the massive indiscipline in schools started with the removal of corporal punishment and the failure to replace it with any other form of discipline (Express).

In May 2022, Justice Frank Seepersad pleaded for a "school-violence prevention and response plan for educators" (Newsday).

We do not have to look too far for solutions. All we need is political will, which currently seems non-existent.

The second part of Rowley's address was when he correctly indicated that "morals and values are now considered flexible. Their lines are blurred."

I was stunned a few weeks ago when some young people told me that they really have no consideration of right and wrong. They do whatever they want regardless of societal norms.

This is a powder keg waiting to explode.

So, is the Caricom special symposium to address crime as a public health issue a waste of time?

LINUS F DIDIER

Mt Hope