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| Hon. Shawn K. Richards |
Fellow Citizens, during the last two weeks the various news broadcasts have been replete with instances of gun crimes. It has been difficult to keep up with the frequency of these events, just as we heard about one there was another in the news.
This week alone there have been 3 gun " related crimes in the Federation. Adding to the grave nature of this crisis gun crimes have not been the only ones. Just this last week a woman was traumatized by an armed robbery in Independence Square. I was shocked to hear this news item as she was so terrified she requested that her voice be altered.
This crime is part of a sickening trend that has seen persons attacked in Central Basseterre in full view of passersby. We can remember the recent robbery of a Delisle Walwyn employee in the Circus as well as two robberies late last year that resulted in the victims being shot on Liverpool Row and opposite the National Museum. The question must be asked. Why have our criminals become so brazen that they can attack people in the middle of town during the daylight hours?
This tragic state of affairs has become wearingly common. Whenever one reads the daily paper there is at least 1 news item about the arrest, trial or conviction of a young man. This year has already seen at least 5 murders. That is one per month. Where did this come from? We did we start to raise young men with such little care for their own life or the lives of others? I am heartbroken when I stop to consider what our beloved country has come to. We do not have the option of taking this lightly. This is our home and if we cannot live here, we cannot live anywhere. ~~Adz:Right~~
This sad development did not occur in a vacuum. Unfortunately it is a painful example of sowing to the wind and reaping the whirlwind. As a country we cannot put our heads in the sand and refuse to acknowledge the very obvious roots of this epidemic of gun violence. We can all remember when, not very long ago, there were virtually no guns in our Federation.
We can all remember when St. Kitts and Nevis were known as the most peaceful country in the Eastern Caribbean. We can also all remember when this descent into lawlessness began. It was certainly no coincidence that it was in 1995 not 1993 that the Labour Party announced in its manifesto that law and order would be its first priority if elected into Government. We can all remember that in its manifesto of 2000 the Labour Government claimed that law and order has returned to the Federation. Can this unprecedented and skyrocketing crime rate really be called a return to law and order?
In the wake of the brutal double murders of Mr. & Mrs. Lorenzo Greene in December of 2005, the PAM leadership attended a meeting with National Security officials to discuss a united way forward in combating the rise in crime. That turned out to be a cynical attempt to merely give the public a false sense of calm as nothing concrete resulted from that meeting. During the following year 2006 as we saw murder after murder to the tune of an unprecedented 17 there was no public effort on the part of this Administration to address the issue of crime. It was too much for Government officials to even offer condolences to the families. This Government likes to claim that it is in the forefront of development and progress for this country but more murders than at any other time in our history is neither progress nor development.
This intolerable situation cannot be allowed to continue. It should be self - evident that no society can function much less develop and prosper when its most important resource, its young people have such an appalling rate of attrition. This cannot be swept under the rug and ignored. We cannot continue to behave in a disinterested manner as the death toll rises. This is the time for action. We cannot allow ourselves to become accustomed to a society governed by violence rather than by law or our society will disintegrate. The PAM again calls on the Government to convene a Commission of Inquiry into this epidemic of crime. The PAM stands ready and willing to co - operate with all social partners in any effort to combat this scourge. This is not the time to dabble in inconsequential political games.
