ATTORNEY Wayne Sturge is blaming the Government for rampant violent crime despite over $66 billion being spent on national security in the past ten years, in a statement on December 29.
“The level of fear, horror, terror and anxiety that has been visited upon the citizens of our country during the terms of this present administration is unprecedented,” said the UNC prospective candidate for Toco/Sangre Grande.
“Under Prime Minister Dr Keith Christopher Rowley, and Fitzgerald Hinds as Minister of National Security, 2024 has recorded the highest number of murders in a single calendar year. Every 14 hours, a family has to endure the loss of a loved one to an act of violence.”
He said 2023 and 2024 each saw 600-plus murders in Trinidad and Tobago. Further, 2015-2025 had the most people murdered in any decade in TT, he added.
“Nowhere in our country is safe.”
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Parents fear for their children as kidnapping for ransom again rears its ugly head, Sturge said. Customers leaving banks fear being the target a waiting bandit, he added. Citizens are virtual sitting ducks in their homes in an all-time high of home invasions.
Business owners fear robbery and they surrender to extortion demands, fearful for their own safety and their family’s.
Sturge said owning a car makes you a target for potential robbers.
“Attending a wake, wedding or simply buying a doubles makes you a potential victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
He asked how had TT descended so rapidly and steadily into this abyss.
“There can be no complaint that we lack resources.”
Referring to the Government’s budget statements since 2016, he said in the past decade it has spent $66.9371 billion.
He said that was taxpayers' money, not the Government’s.
“We are the shareholders and we are entitled to ask what has been the return on our investment.
“The return on this investment has been the highest murder rate in the history of our country. The most demotivated police service. A broken criminal justice system. The highest levels of serious crime ever recorded. The return of kidnapping for ransom.”
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Sturge complained of porous national borders and alleged many crimes were committed by migrants.
“A broken immigration system unable to treat with the influx of migrants invading our country.
“A prison system that has been transformed into a breeding ground for new recruits into criminal gangs.”
He said the lives of the members of the protective services were at a greater risk than ever before.
“Rape, incest, domestic violence and crimes against our women and girls are at a level never before seen.”
He said with this poor return on their investment, voters must remove those responsible for this state of affairs.
Sturge said the people deserve better and should use their franchise to demand better.
“If there is a singular reason why this Government should not be returned into office, it is the lack of will, ability and competence to secure the safety of our citizens.”
Sturge listed several failings of the Government, naming porous borders, poor evidence-handling, and questions over the running of the police service.
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He recalled the Prime Minister blaming porous borders on the cancellation of a contract to buy offshore patrol vessels (OPVs). The Patrick Manning administration had ordered the OPVs, but this was later cancelled by the Kamla Persad-Bissessar government.
“Today, after ten years in government and after spending $66.9371 billion, our naval assets are in an unprecedented state of disrepair, which has resulted in the borders being open to be transgressed on a daily basis by pirates, migrants, drug traffickers and those involved in the transport and sale of contraband.”
He scoffed that the Government did not have the competence to manage “even a dinghy.”
Sturge said since 2016, the Government had promised a border protection agency, but after ten years and $66.9371 billion spent this agency never materialised.
“Another broken promise of a rudderless administration!”
Sturge said a main reason for delay in the criminal justice system was the inability of investigators and prosecutors of crime to promptly produce exhibits as evidence in prosecutions.
“For the past ten years we as a country have been promised a new, modern and fully equipped forensic science centre,” Sturge said. “After ten years and after spending $66.9371 billion, this has proven not to be a priority for this Government.”
While the police service was charged with the protection and safety of citizens, he lamented a collapse of the system to promote and discipline officers in both the first and second division. “The level of despair and disenchantment throughout the police service has never been greater.”
He lamented the police service now has the most ever officers suspended on full pay for years, reducing its sanctioned strength to an all-time low, despite needing these officers.
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Sturge chided the Government for disbanding the Special Operations Response Team (SORT), after the death of those responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Andrea Bharatt in 2021.
“The Rowley administration is responsible and must take responsibility for the state of crime and criminality that pervades our country today. They are collectively responsible for what we are enduring today. This is the product of their governance.
“You quite simply cannot buy competence, ability, will and a desire to care.
“Dr Rowley has failed the citizenry, his Government has failed, and their plans and policies have failed.
“Our country deserves better, our people deserve better. To do otherwise places each citizen in a game of Russian roulette where each of us sees our days as numbered.”
Sturge urged people to do their duty to themselves, each other and their children, “as the clock winds down on the Government’s term.”
