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Posted: Monday 7 November, 2016 at 5:09 PM

Astaphan sees no hope in sight on current crime trend

Dwyer Astaphan
By: Terresa McCall, SKNVibes.com

    BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WITH each life lost to senseless acts of violence, the need for a solution to be found and agreed as well as acted upon has become most urgent. 

     

    G. A. Dwyer Astaphan – founder of Operation Rescue and former Minister of Government – said the problem is a multi-faceted one that requires a multi-faceted approach. However, he said he does not see any signs of what is required are being done. 

    “Sad to say, I don’t see much relief in sight. The bloodletting continues. This thing is a multi-faceted problem that requires a multi-faceted approach. I don’t see the signs of the multi-faceted approach. I don’t see it. I don’t see the criminal justice side being vigorous enough, I don’t see the social intervention side being vigorous enough and I don’t see a coordinated effort by all of the decision makers and all of the social and economic stakeholders and the general public…I don’t see it happening.”

    Astaphan’s comments come in the wake of this morning’s (Nov. 7) shooting incident when a young man was gunned down in Cayon, taking the Federation’s homicide toll to 28.

    “Every life lost is a life that can never be regained. We have reached a point where we do not value life, we do not give each other an opportunity to reach old age, but we are deciding that we are angry, we have a grievance and we’re gonna kill you. This is a toxic and dysfunctional society that we life in. We are toxic and dysfunctional as a people and we have our heads buried in the ground expecting the Government or just the police (to address it). It can’t be done that way! 

    “Government and the police do have a role and I believe there’s room for improvement in their role. But social partners, families, parents, adults, economic partners, we all have a role to play and that conversation needs to be had. It needs to be an honest conversation and we need to find resolutions which are there. Some will be done in the short, some will take longer but I do not see any indication that we are on the right path.”

    Over the past several weeks, Leader of the Opposition and former Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas has been calling for the Government to lead the charge in hosting a national conversation on crime.

    Astaphan told SKNVibes that was the right call to make and that he has been making the same call even before Dr. Douglas.

    “I have been calling for a national conversation for a while, for a long time, long before Dr. Douglas calling for one. So the call is right and I would not exclude anybody. If I were the Government, I’d have one and I’d include all the social and economic stakeholders, the political parties, church groups, unions, the different organisations, young people; have everybody in the room and have a conversation. Why not?”

    While there has been no official word from the Government on neither Dr. Douglas’ or Astaphan’s call, the latter disclosed he would say that the Government has not heeded the requests.

    “I wouldn’t say the Government has not heeded the call. Maybe they just have not articulated their response yet, but I cannot say they have not heeded the call. If a month or two pass by and we hear nothing, then we might be able to more reasonably conclude that that they are not heeding the call.”

     
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