Safest for 20 years and economically successful,no bloodshed like many were expecting.I must mention that since UNC took power a record amount of drugs have been seized,yesterday a massive haul was detected in a small Marina in Central TT ,detection on the march.One man was arrested.To date $172 million dollars have ben caught coming in from Venez,Murders dong.Not bad!

@granite

Fri 3 Jan 2025

 This article is more than 1 year old

Trinidad and Tobago’s streets are a bloodbath. Yet all our politicians offer are platitudes

A state of emergency has been declared amid unprecedented gun violence, but no one in our stagnating government is taking responsibility Just before the new year, Trinidad and Tobago’s government declared a state of emergency after a weekend of gun violence.Trinidad and Tobago, a country of about 1.5 million people and once the wealthiest in the Caribbean, has been plagued by decades of poor economic and social leadership, gang violence, home invasions, murders and corruption.

In a press conference teetering on the edge of absurdity, the minister of national security, Fitzgerald Hinds, and acting attorney general, Stuart Young, attempted to “elucidate” and to justify the government’s declaration of a state of emergency in response to escalating crime. Notably missing was the prime minister, Keith Rowley, whose absence was dismissed with the baffling claim that his presence would have been “inappropriate”. Equally glaring was the lack of accountability from Hinds himself, who remains in office despite presiding over the worst years of escalating crime in the islands’ history. Asked if he would resign over his record, Hinds allowed Young to dismiss the question for him.

The message to citizens was clear: while the government grapples with rampant crime, the party will go on – constitutional rights notwithstanding. This state of emergency feels less like a solution and more like an attempt to sidestep the hard questions of leadership and accountability.

In November, Rowley accepted an extremely generous pay rise for himself and his ministers, an increase that comes at a time when public servants, including overburdened port workers, are pleading for overdue adjustments to their wages amid the unrelenting surge in the cost of living.The country has been governed by the same party, People’s National Movement (PNM), for 47 of the 62 years since independence, which has shaped the political, social and economic realities of the country today and locked it in a cycle of stagnation. Political accountability appears to be an alien concept, with Rowley consistently deflecting blame rather than addressing systemic failings.But this is the kind of unfettered speech we have come to expect from this prime minister, who has been called out for misogyny and racism, equating women to golf courses that must be “groomed” and citizens of east Indian descendent as the “recalcitrant minority”.Rowley’s leadership certainly often lacks professionalism. He recently attacked a local economist, decrying her analysis of the foreign exchange dilemma as “jackassness”, while admitting to only having read the headline. The report claimed that $25bn (£20bn) had “gone missing” from the country.

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The above was what T&T citizens had over a year ago....