BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – This question was on the lips of a large number of nationals over the weekend prompted, no doubt, by the occurrence of five murders over the last seven days and the awareness of the severe measures against crime being taken recently by Trinidad and Tobago.
Calls for a declaration of a State of Emergency and calls to bring in the RSS by the Opposition Parties and by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce respectively have not borne fruit.
Both the Prime Minister and the Commissioner of Police have indicated that such measures were considered but they did not think we had reached that stage for such extreme action.
This has led some to ask, “What more do we need to indicate to us that we are in a “crisis stage”? How much worse must it get?
Gary Spaulding, Senior writer for the Jamaica Gleaner stated on Sunday that taken on a per capita basis, the murder rate in St. Kitts was far worse than that of Jamaica. He wrote:
“Put into a per capita context, St Kitts and Nevis' murder rate is much higher than Jamaica's, despite the fact more than 700 persons have been murdered locally since the start of 2011.
In 2009, after a total of 23 killings recorded, St Kitts and Nevis was dubbed statistically, the murder capital of the world.”
It has indeed gotten worse because St. Kitts Nevis has now recorded a total of 27 killings, equalling its record of 2009 but in this case while still in the 8th month of the year. How much worse must it get?
In Chartsbin - http://chartsbin.com/view/1454 - which gives Current Worldwide Homicide/Murder Rates, it is indeed alarming to see how St. Kitts Nevis compares (per capita) with other countries around the world – even the most notorious ones.
Comparative statistics for the year 2008 indicate the following:
St. Kitts Nevis 35.25 per 100 000; Spain 0.91; France 1.35; U.S. 5.22; Puerto Rico 20.25; Canada 1.67; Germany 0.8; Mexico 11.59; Nigeria 1.29
While other countries in the Caribbean are reporting decreases in their crime rates (notably Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago), St. Kitts Nevis is reporting increases.
Jamaica has seen a 40 per cent dip in crime levels between 2009 and May 2011. Barbados reported crime for the period of January to April of this year is down by 8.1 per cent as compared to the same period last year.
Although witnesses to crimes are allegedly being gunned down in this twin island state, yet the Police feel that information from the public is the lifeline that will help them solve the many unsolved murders remaining on their books.
While other countries were not prepared to accept the fact that crime was on the increase regionally and resorted to drastic action, some in St. Kitts Nevis repeatedly state that the reality is that crime pervades the region.
While Governments usually have to convince the Opposition of the need for imposing a State of Emergency, in St. Kitts Nevis, the Opposition Parties are trying to convince the Government of its necessity.
There is enough evidence to indicate that the alarm being experienced by the nationals of St. Kitts and Nevis is indeed justified but so far, to them, the war being waged is mainly a war of WORDS.
Yesterday (Monday Aug.22) Trinidad And Tobago’s Attorney General Anand Ramlogan declared war on the criminal element in that country.
“I want to say to the bandits that the war is on,” Ramlogan said as Trinidad’s first day of a limited state of emergency took effect from midnight on Sunday.
In St. Kitts and Nevis many are asking, “When will the war begin?”
