USELESS MINISTERS

MARVIN Gonzales, who is usually a tough-talking Government Minister, merely expressed “grief and disbelief” over the horrendous beheading of little Amarah Lalitte.

Ayanna Webster-Roy, Minister of Gender and Child Affairs, whimsically said that “all forms of abuse must be eradicated.”

Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley, who took leave from his cross-Atlantic retreat to comment on selective issues, was silent on the murder of the innocent child and other citizens.

National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds remained mum, typical of his response to the orgy of crime.

Acting Prime Minister Colm Imbert characteristically responds only to matters of his Finance Ministry, especially if an expert disputes his upbeat statistics.

As difficult as it is to sound more futile and inept than the relevant government ministers, the Children’s Authority gave it a good shot.

CEO Sheldon Cyrus was quoted in a media release as stating that children should not be used as bargaining chips in relationships.

Cyrus clearly expects marauding criminal-minded adults to dutifully ponder his sober parental advice.

It’s similar to Rowley’s occasional rebuff of gangsters, whom he confidently presumes will pay attention and gently toss aside their murderous weapons.

The useless Government rejoinders to the dreadful killings of Amarah and others dramatically illustrate an administration horribly out of depth with Trinidad and Tobago’s encroaching anarchy.

There were no pronouncements on renewed police vigour to stamp out the crime scourge, or improving the pace of justice, or boosting surveillance and intelligence-gathering.

There are still no efforts to seal off the wide-open borders to block the importation of illicit guns and drugs.

There is no accountability on Rowley’s much-ballyhooed $100 million for retired law enforcement officers.

The “menu of measures” that Government ministers previously heralded in Parliament each Friday is no longer on the agenda.

The assurance of an “all-of-government” approach to crime-fighting – proclaimed in the 2015 PNM general election manifesto – has gone the way of all flesh.

So, a gun-toting criminal could calmly walk up to mom Crystal Harricharan, empty his cartridge, and saunter off, with no fear of being nabbed in a police crackdown.

That scenario has become a frequent occurrence, each time extracting horror and sorrow from a tortured society.

Heinous murders, home invasions, brutal attacks and other savage crimes as so embedded in the national culture that there are increasing parallels to strife-torn Haiti.

That fellow Caricom land, with a population of 11.5 million, has had 1,600 murders to date in 2024.

Little T&T has seen some 170 people slain.

Haiti has no elected officials and virtually all its national institutions are non-functional.

T&T’s hapless leadership is an idle bystander, offering neither innovative anti-crime measures nor hope to a besieged country.

Instead, amid internal PNM election jockeying, ministers are lifting their profiles through absurd utterances in the media.

Gonzales briefly set aside his bitter political character to voice his “utter disgust at the way (Amarah’s) young life was snuffed out.”

Webster-Roy adopted the lofty moral tone that children “should not be used as pawns in family conflicts.”

They, no doubt, expect such platitudes to comfort a beleaguered land, in which citizens fear becoming murder statistics.

The insipid statements further expose an administration that has lost the battle against crime.