Brathwaite: Stop paying lip service

FORMER Attorney General, Adriel Brathwaite, yesterday said that paying lip service to deal with crime is not the way to go either at the local or regional level.

He was one of the guests from the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) on a popular radio station yesterday afternoon where he noted that there has been talk of addressing the crime situation, but no real action and with suggestions that all is well in the country.

“So we have someone gunned down outside a school, with school children around and we don’t have a discourse in this country in terms of what is happening in our school system, what is happening in terms of crime. Instead, what we are hearing is that we need to address crime from a regional perspective.

“...But that has always been the case. I dare say that one of our biggest challenges in terms of the issue of crime from a regional perspective and if the Prime Minister as present Head of CARICOM can do anything, is that CARICOM prime ministers speak and don’t do what they are supposed to do.

“Our most significant entity, in terms of addressing crime and security issues, which is the Implementation Agency for Crime and Security, even today, struggle to pay wages; struggle to implement any serious strategies. So you can go ahead and you can have as many conferences in April in Trinidad as you want,
but at the end of the day, unless we as a region put our money where our mouths are so that people can implement these meaningful strategies, then we are going to continue this downfall.”

He lamented that the same problem exists in Barbados. “We are not seriously addressing criminal issues that are driving our young people to criminal behaviour in this country. We talk about the number of murders and yes it concerns all of us, but we don’t have to wait until a tourist is shot in Barbados, because we are seeing them more and more in our communities. So we know at some point in time we are going to have negative headlines, which will have more of a negative impact on our country. But we have to stop paying lip service,” he charged.

Brathwaite said he always took issue with present Attorney General, Dale Marshall, for criticising initiatives undertaken by the last administration, even though he knew they were well-intentioned.

“I used to say to the present Attorney General that I was always saddened that even initiatives that he knew very well that were well meaning, well thought out, he criticised. Even the police station that he opened a couple days ago, he thought it was too lavish for police officers.”

Brathwaite said that the Government must stop talking about the past and encouraged the moderator to invite the DLP back onto the show to spend time talking about the future. “Because that is what is most important as far as I am concerned,” he said.