“[…] As at June 1993, police reports revealed that there were 13 rapes in Central Trinidad. Five of the 13 rapes had been committed by East Indian men, and one of the seven women raped by masked men was of African descent. “[…] Forward to 2023, a religious leader of …
Read More »Dear Editor: T&T’s crime rate is down to attitude of lawlessness, not social injustice
“[…] We may want to pin it on social injustice or income inequality, but the truth of the matter is that the people of Trinidad and Tobago have a protracted and sustained attitude of lawlessness. “It is why I believe that ‘Discipline’ was inscribed as part of our national watchwords—because …
Read More »Daly Bread: Many Emperors, no clothes—T&T suffers from decades of poor governance
During an Easter Sunday break from my column, I was forcibly struck by the disconnect between the official messages about Easter from those clothed with high constitutional authority and the grim reality on the ground. Many persons would have been engaged in pleasurable activities over the Easter weekend. However, the …
Read More »Noble: “Kill everyone!” The link between school dropouts and societal violence
“Kill everyone!” was the instruction Dole Chadee gave Joey Ramiah, who then murdered four members of a single family. How could people be so heartless and cold-blooded? It was a long time in coming. Nothing was ever done to dismantle the networks that brought cocaine to our shores since life …
Read More »Dear Editor: Why hangman, Gods, and arming citizens won’t address T&T’s “escalating crime rates”
“[…] Trinbagonians have consistently failed to address the root causes of their [crime] problems, remaining trapped in unproductive cycles. It may be startling for them to learn that they themselves contribute to their own situation. “But a divided nation is a nation to be ruled by the monumentally corrupt. That …
Read More »Noble: Gazing in the mirror—will T&T move forward in faith, or face danse macabre?
All nations tell stories about themselves. These narratives tell us where we came from, who we are and where we want to go. Consequently, they change as the storytellers provide contesting viewpoints. The thread is twisted by grief, sentimentality, pride, or shame. Bare facts form only part of the saga …
Read More »Daly Bread: Re-imagining possibilities; communities must put heads together in 2023
To all my readers, good morning this New Year’s morning. Can we reach out to each other and resolve to make the ritual “Happy New Year” greeting mean that we will co-operate on a sustained basis to mitigate the adverse effects of the neglect of our needs and partisan political …
Read More »Daly Bread: Accountability gymnastics from National Security and TTGF
Murder, murder everywhere but certain elites continued blindly to cling to the status quo and sections of the business community uttered platitudes. Then, as the murder count soared past 500 with a multiplicity of murders, the Government finally “did” something. That something was a whole day meeting with the heads …
Read More »Noble: What the police cannot do—how to address T&T’s angry climate
We, as a nation, are perched at the point of tipping into anarchy, but all is not yet lost. The choice is ours to make. There is no magic bullet or pill to take away our pain. Only a sense of determination, commitment, and a clear vision will drag us …
Read More »Dear Editor: What would be cost in blood of Dr Deyalsingh’s plea to arm “the citizenry”?
“Dr Varma Deyalsingh has suggested ‘arming the citizenry’ with guns when he addressed the 3rd Sitting of the Senate […] on 13 October 2022… He was cursorily cautious to include with ‘proper checks and balances’. Knowing what those proper checks and balances would be and how to keep them ‘proper’ …
Read More »Noble: Guarding the guards—“poor people [dying] to protect property from other poor people with guns”
This week, the shooting to death of the two security guards, Jeffrey Peters and Jerry Stewart, and the four bandits reminded me of Mahatma Gandhi’s quote: “The future depends on what we do in the present.” It is highly disingenuous to wring our hands and bemoan the state of our …
Read More »Daly Bread: And so it has come to pass; T&T suffering from breakdown in legal control
No, no Mr Jacob, Acting Commissioner of Police, you cannot expect us to be patient and bear with the police in tackling crime. During the 20 years of these weekly columns, violent crime—particularly murder and the impunity with which it is committed—has been a high profile subject. As long ago …
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