Doing Nothing is not an Option

As the nation heads into its third year subsequent to the 2021 general elections, the public remains dumbfounded regarding what steps are not being taken to address the ongoing homicide rate. Our PM has shown continued signs of disgust by the way he throws his hands into the air while seeking advice from any source. The sad part is, he has been given advice which could have made a difference but the other side of the PM totally ignores the advice, so to many of us he needs to amend the different behaviour of his double personality. The K-9 Unit was the first bit of advice proposed but stumbled away when he should have bitten the bullet. Doing nothing was not an option.

The PM needs to revisit the situation in Ecuador which started like St Lucia and today it is out of control where gangs consider themselves above the law. Talking from personal experience here at home, such signs are already on the horizon. Two brazen vagabonds have consistently visited a top pharmacy on more than one occasion threatening the staff and saying no one can touch them. Some three years ago the announcement of homicides raised eyebrows, but today, it has become an accepted norm. This is scary as the gang leaders take note of these changes and go one step further as we have witnessed by the current scale of homicides.

There are qualified St Lucians who have the skills to make a difference but for some reason or other, the will does not reside within the powers that be. A perfect example at hand is the services of Mr Giovanni James also an Attorney at Law who has the expertise to make a difference but has been sidelined for nothing other than political partisanship. In 2021 K-9 Unit was disbanded with three trained dogs and their handlers who were well trained and paid for by state funds but the PM’s limited understanding of the importance decided to eliminate the contract for supposed cost cutting measures not remembering his own words that one life lost is one too many.

The PM must understand he’s running a country and not a Ti Boutique so hopefully his past errors will resonate and better sense will prevail.