Gail Alexan­der

Se­nior Po­lit­i­cal Re­porter

The Op­po­si­tion, Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC), has sup­port­ed at least 35 crime-fight­ing bills in Par­lia­ment be­tween 2015 and 2023, yet the vi­o­lent crime cri­sis con­tin­ues spi­ralling out of con­trol be­cause of “on­go­ing im­ple­men­ta­tion and op­er­a­tional deficits due to an in­com­pe­tent Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter”, says UNC leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar .

Call­ing for Hinds’ re­moval again yes­ter­day, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said, “Some 1,546 peo­ple were mur­dered in 1,007 days un­der Fitzger­ald Hinds, an av­er­age of one per­son every 16 hours.”

Say­ing Par­lia­ment’s record re­flects at least 35 crime-fight­ing bills which the UNC sup­port­ed Gov­ern­ment to pass be­tween 2015 and 2023, Per­sad-Bisses­sar, who has called for Hinds’ re­moval sev­er­al times be­fore, added, “Prime Min­is­ter Kei­th Row­ley’s un­re­morse­ful con­tin­u­a­tion with in­com­pe­tent Hinds as min­is­ter has now moved from gross neg­li­gence to an act of pur­pose­ful evil be­ing com­mit­ted against the pop­u­la­tion.

“Hinds was ap­point­ed Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter on April 21, 2021. (Yes­ter­day) 22nd Jan­u­ary 2024 marks 1,007 days since that most neg­li­gent ap­point­ment. His term as Min­is­ter has seen a ter­ri­fy­ing in­crease in bloody and vi­o­lent crimes of all types.”

Per­sad-Bisses­sar not­ed:

• 1,546 peo­ple mur­dered in 1,007 days.

• One per­son is mur­dered every 16 hours on av­er­age.

• 45 mur­ders are the month­ly av­er­age.

• 605 re­port­ed mur­ders in 2022 was the high­est an­nu­al mur­der to­tal in T&T his­to­ry.

• 575 re­port­ed mur­ders in 2023 was the sec­ond high­est an­nu­al mur­der to­tal in its his­to­ry.

• 681 peo­ple re­port­ed miss­ing in 2022.

• 673 peo­ple re­port­ed miss­ing in 2023.

• One per­son is re­port­ed miss­ing every 12 hours on av­er­age.

• Bru­tal­ly vi­o­lent home in­va­sions where cit­i­zens are beat­en and tor­tured oc­cur dai­ly.

• Rob­beries, rapes, wound­ings and shoot­ings have be­sieged T&T.

• Kid­nap­pings for ran­som have restart­ed.

• Ex­tor­tion of busi­ness own­ers by crim­i­nal gangs and rogue po­lice of­fi­cers is out of con­trol.

Say­ing T&T is in a state of an­ar­chy with the crime sit­u­a­tion, Per­sad-Bisses­sar added, “How many more of our loved ones must be mur­dered, raped, robbed or go miss­ing be­fore the in­com­pe­tent Min­is­ter Hinds is re­moved? Kei­th Row­ley must move im­me­di­ate­ly to re­move Hinds and re­place him with a com­pe­tent Min­is­ter.”