MSJ: SoE shows there is no change

MOVEMENT for Social Justice (MSJ) political leader David Abdulah says the state of emergency (SoE) that was declared on December 30 is a sign that nothing has changed in Trinidad and Tobago. He made this comment in his New Year's message to the nation.

A signed proclamation by President Christine Kangaloo declared the SoE.

A statement from the Office of the Prime Minister said Kangaloo declared the SoE, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister in accordance with Section 8(2)(c) of the Constitution.

Acting Attorney General Stuart Young and National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds elaborated about the SoE at a subsequent news conference at the National Security Ministry's office on Abercromby Street, Port of Spain on December 30.

They said the SoE was called to deal with intelligence from the police about reprisal killings by gangs on a large scale, using illegal high-powered firearms.

Abdulah said the SoE is a classic example of there being no change from one day to the next.

"While the SoE may suppress certain criminal activities and push some of the gangs 'underground' for a while, it doesn’t change the reality of the existence of the conditions and factors that gave rise to 2024 having the highest number of murders in our history."

He compared the SoE to a “feel good” moment at Old Year’s Night fetes.

Abdulah said, "But when it ends we could well be left with the type of hangover that some will experience on New Year’s Day after consuming too much the night before."

Violent crime, he continued, is only one of several emergencies TT is facing.

"White collar crime, money laundering and trafficking is another. The economy is in a bad state as evidenced by the problem of forex (foreign exchange).

On the latter, Abdulah expected nothing will change on January 1 "as there will be no new streams of forex since we haven’t expanded exports while we continue to increase our consumption of imports."

He said, "The reality of the lives of very many of our citizens is a real emergency."

Abdulah added the only meaningful resolution citizens can make for 2025 is to have "a revolution of the mind."

This is something which Abdulah and the MSJ have repeatedly advocated for many years.

He repeated that such a revolution will cause people to " see the need to change the system; to challenge the status quo; to fundamentally reform the institutions from the education system to the criminal justice system to the way the economy is structured and controlled to benefit the few and not the many."