Cor­rup­tion is a dead-end tun­nel for a coun­try, for sports or­gan­i­sa­tions and any in­sti­tu­tion for that mat­ter.

What is the key to a safe, healthy, hap­py, thriv­ing and sus­tain­able Trinidad and To­ba­go? How do we live bet­ter? The key is ze­ro tol­er­ance for cor­rup­tion where af­ter due process the cor­rupt are jailed and not pro­tect­ed so they can en­joy and flaunt the fruits of their cor­rupt ways. The cor­rupt are get­ting away with mur­der. De­cep­tion, greed and bribery thrive while hon­esty and in­tegri­ty strug­gle to sur­vive.

Con­fu­cius once said: "To know what is right and not do it is the worse form of cow­ardice."

When we stay silent or take no ac­tion, we live with the con­se­quences. My moth­er al­ways told us in­tegri­ty is the foun­da­tion of a per­son's life and ac­count­abil­i­ty is the cor­ner­stone. It was part of our fam­i­ly prin­ci­ple and up­bring­ing.

How of­ten do you find your­self play­ing out worse-case sce­nar­ios in your head? Or imag­in­ing your worse fears com­ing true? When we re­peat­ed­ly play out these scenes in our minds, we feed in­to our wor­ries, in­se­cu­ri­ties and doubts. For most law-abid­ing cit­i­zens liv­ing in Trinidad and To­ba­go fear about the per­ceived un­con­trol­lable crime sit­u­a­tion dom­i­nates our dai­ly ex­is­tence. We live, play and recre­ate in fear for our safe­ty and that of our loved ones, friends and col­leagues.

With lit­tle respite from un­abat­ed law­less­ness, this re­al­i­ty is hav­ing a dev­as­tat­ing im­pact on our in­di­vid­ual and col­lec­tive peace of mind and per­cep­tion of our qual­i­ty of life. How do we stem the tide and if at all pos­si­ble, imag­ine our­selves in best-case sce­nar­ios? Can we live, play and recre­ate in peace and safe­ty and ex­pe­ri­ence a bet­ter life?

As long as we re­main afraid as in­di­vid­u­als to speak out against cor­rup­tion and to be in­tim­i­dat­ed - turn a blind eye, shut up and my your own busi­ness, Trinidad and To­ba­go, its com­mu­ni­ties, in­sti­tu­tions and or­gan­i­sa­tions will re­main in a dark place.

Fear of the back­lash that may be en­dured by stand­ing up and speak­ing out will not help Trinidad and To­ba­go. To fol­low the cor­rupt herd in or­der to find so­lace and safe­ty in num­bers is the choice that has Trinidad and To­ba­go where it is right now. White-col­lar crime and cor­rup­tion in all forms and it­er­a­tions are why we are at this point in our coun­try's his­to­ry. With­out a ze­ro-tol­er­ance ap­proach to white-col­lar crime and cor­rup­tion, there is no pulling back from the abyss.

White-col­lar crime and cor­rup­tion are the par­ents of out-of-con­trol and run­away horse that is gun and gang vi­o­lence.

Cor­rup­tion is a sys­temic par­a­site in so­ci­ety. Ca­bals, cliques and car­tels di­vert mon­ey while be­tray­ing the pub­lic in­ter­est. It's the root cause of unas­sail­able eco­nom­ic, in­come and so­cial in­equal­i­ties.

None of us are per­fect, we all have short­com­ings. Each day in our bat­tle to over­come chal­lenges, ob­sta­cles and temp­ta­tions we must fo­cus on what re­al­ly mat­ters. The world will not be a bet­ter, safer, hap­pi­er place if we con­tin­ue to turn a blind eye and make con­ces­sions for cor­rup­tion and white-col­lar crime.

I read a quote a few years ago by George Mac­Don­ald – "To be trust­ed is a greater com­pli­ment than to be loved."

Things that mat­ter most must nev­er be at the mer­cy of things that mat­ter least – Goethe.

Ed­i­tor's Note : The views ex­pressed by the writer aren't nec­es­sar­i­ly those of any or­ga­ni­za­tion that he maybe as­so­ci­at­ed with.