The same rhetoric and folly in 2023

THE EDITOR: The start of a new year often brings with it a sense of hope and change but in reality it’s simply a continuation of the year gone by. Or, at least for most, the continuing fight to survive.

As the Prime Minister put it in his New Year's message, “As we make this festive cross-over, I feel assured that most of us are doing so with a sense of hope that this new year will be far more productive, fruitful and peaceful than 2022.”

I enjoy reading the messages from our leaders – the President, Prime Minister, among others. The messages are quite theoretical and unsurprising. I am not sure many people pay attention to the contents anymore as they really just spew a lot of nothing. It’s all rhetoric and folly.

The year 2023 has already started with six reported murders on the first day. It just feels like the icing on the cake after 600 plus murders were recorded in 2022. That is a record no government should want to have under its tenure.

In addressing this, the Prime Minister outlined some of his team’s plans.

The first is the utilisation of the considerable resource allocation to this sector. Sigh! Again we hear the same thing. No stone unturned to deal with the crime situation? Is this the plan? The folly! We have all heard this before. Let’s beef up policy and policy activity? To what end? Rhetoric and folly!

The second measure is “the public health consideration of criminal conduct in our society.” What does this even mean? My first thought is that a state of emergency is on its way. It would be laughable if that’s the plan of the Government though, as it has significantly criticised that same measure when the People’s Partnership was in office in 2010.

Then there is the plan for a “renewed attempt at parliamentary intervention in support of the work of agencies and institutions.” Whatever happened to the anti-gang law that the Government said it needed to fight crime? How many criminals have been apprehended and prosecuted under this law? Is it that it doesn’t want bail for alleged criminals? This again?

Just a reminder that bail is not mandatory for everyone who applies for it. It is based on the evidence and the judgment of the magistrate or judge.

And for more rhetoric and folly comes “a continued identification and urgent support for 'at-risk' groups and expansion of the many youth development programmes.” That again? Whatever happened to all the other programmes? Are they failing or have they failed? Pumping more resources into what?

And that’s not all. There will be “improvements in sustained and effective law enforcement.” Maybe an effective Commissioner of Police?

Though one would like to have hope, we have already started 2023 with the same rhetoric and folly from the leader of the Government. If those five items outlined are the plans for 2023, then I am sorry to say we are going to continue to be in trouble.

RISHI HARRYNANAN

via e-mail