PM: Don’t blame me… Urges citizens to hold criminals accountable for deadly acts
KAY-MARIE FLETCHER
Senior Reporter
kay-marie.fletcher@guardian.co.tt
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is fed up with being blamed for T&T’s spiralling crime rate, adding he is also tired of people seeking leniency for some criminals.
Speaking at a post-Cabinet media briefing at the Whitehall, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, Dr Rowley said those contributing to high crime should not be given a pass, especially those who harm children.
He also suggested that attributing high crime to officeholders is baseless, while he condemned the real “monsters” responsible for the bloodshed against law-abiding citizens.
“Don’t let anybody fool you, that crime is not being done based on who is in office. It’s done on the basis of whether there are benefits to be had by the perpetrators, and as fast as you stop or suppress one area, they surprise you with new ingenuity and heartlessness,” Dr Rowley said.
Hours earlier, Enrico Guerra and his five-year-old daughter Anika, who were gunned down in Moruga last week, were laid to rest.
As the entire Moruga community mourned the father and daughter, Dr Rowley again said their killing not only saddened him, but he believes only “a devil” could senselessly kill a five-year-old. However, he acknowledged that it was not non-nationals but our own people committing these crimes.
Rowley said he has no empathy for these criminals.
“For a fellow citizen to have seen a child in somebody’s hand or in somebody’s presence and deliberately discharge a firearm knowing that you’re going to kill that child, you are a different kind of devil. Unfortunately, we have those in this country … You will watch a five-year-old child and discharge a firearm into that child’s little body? I am a grandfather of four children, and that one made me feel very sad for the people to have ended up producing that as part of their family.
“And, I have no excuse to make or any empathy to hold out for people like that because you are destroying our society.
“Don’t give them any pass by trying to blame me because I have the responsibility to ensure that those whose job it is to identify and to chase down and to bring them to justice, that they are on the job.”
He added, “That’s my work. But, the people who are doing those crimes, whose son is that? Whose brother is that? Whose cousin is it that will do something like that? … Not a Venezuelan or a Guyanese or a Ghanaian or a Russian. It is someone who we spawn here, who we fed here, who we gave opportunities here.”
Rowley said there must be a limit to the lack of concern people have for their fellow men, as when people die, it’s not one person but a little piece of everyone that dies too.
He also said poverty is not an excuse for committing heinous crimes, and urged young people to take advantage of the many youth-focused government opportunities instead of choosing a life of crime.
“Some people believe they have a right to behave like that and some people believe they have a reason to behave like that. Poverty! So, the way out of poverty is to choose that level of violent conduct that debases all of us?”
Scotland working hard
It’s been a little over a month since Port-of-Spain South MP Keith Scotland was appointed Minister in the Ministry of National Security, and in Dr Rowley’s view, he has been working diligently.
Asked about Scotland’s performance yesterday, Rowley replied, “Minister Scotland is working quite diligently with police, working closely with the police ensuring that the government’s input into policing is very timely and providing the support of the cabinet.”
He added that there are several areas where the state is trying to suppress criminal conduct.
There have been over 416 murders recorded for the year already.
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