BASSETERRE St. Kitts - FORMER Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas believes that crime is one of the leading challenges facing the country and that it could have an adverse effect on the nation’s stability.
Economic instability, he noted, is one of the spinoffs that would result from the crime problem and that could have a major effect on the Federation.
Kicking off his new radio programme, ‘Ask the Leader’ on KYSS FM today (Jan 10), Dr. Douglas explained that crime continues to be at the forefront of the Federation’s problems.
“I think that a threat to our economic development, the threat to stability, the threat to the survivability of our nation is affected by crime. And so, for me, crime is the pressing issue that confronts our country at this particular time.”
The country, over the years, has found it difficult - especially those within the law enforcement arena - to deal with gun-relation crime.
Just last year, St. Kitts and Nevis recorded 31 homicides and a fatal wounding of a police officer.
That number is an increase over last year’s count.
Dr. Douglas noted that 2017 would be a challenging year for St. Kitts and Nevis and the wider Caribbean because of the globalization of several policies of USA President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, and one of the most striking is that of the promised deportation of illegal immigrants.
He however pointed out that there is no evidence to his knowledge that those returning to St. Kitts and Nevis over the years with criminal backgrounds from the United States would have played a part in the increased criminal activity within the Federation or the Caribbean region.
“I would say, however, that this is an issue that is ongoing. I would expect that at some point when the Caribbean leaders, especially at the Summit of the Americas, or maybe more directly an invitation by the CARICOM Secretariat to the president to visit them at their meetings, I believe that this is a matter that is going to continue to surface.”
The former Minister of National Security stated that it is an issue that had surfaced in the past, noting that it is not expected to go away, taking into consideration “some of the recent policies that we have seen pursued in Jamaica, not only by the US Government but also by the British Government…”
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