Twenty-three year ago in Trinidad and Tobago, a radical Muslim group staged an attempted coup on the democratically elected government of the day. The standoff lasted for six days, during which time the Prime Minister was shot, 24 people were killed and the capital city looted and burnt to the ground.
The criminals, the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen, never paid for that crime against the nation. The amnesty signed under duress was inexplicably upheld by the local courts, although it was thrown out by the Privy council. The criminals were, and still are, free as birds.
Many of the businesses in the capital did not survive. Some took their family members and left for greener pastures, others took loans to rebuild a city that many would say the government and authorities had forgot.
Fast forward to the present: this same criminal organisation held a march yesterday to remind the citizens of their “victory” that day. These criminals, who now hold property and riches, marched through a city that they almost destroyed 23 year ago, when they should either be behind bars, or dead.
They marched through a city that businesses had to struggle to rebuild. A city that is now fraught with crime, poor infrastructure, and smells of piss and shit. A city that is seemingly forsaken by the same authorities who approved that march. Such a slap in our collective faces!
We’ve really reached as a nation haven’t we? The officials who approved this disgrace should be removed. But I shouldn’t have expected any better. The lawlessness that we see take place every day in Port-of-Spain is an indication of the mentality of the T&T population to just take it as we get it.
We as a nation have failed if we can allow the power that they people seemingly wield.
The Trinidad Express had as its headline, “Outrage”. And we should all feel that way.