By Johnny Coomansingh
About five years ago, I tripped, fell, and damaged myself on a sidewalk in Arima, Trinidad. Tuesday May 06, 2024, my wife rolled her ankle when her shoe got stuck in a hole on the sidewalk. Many people who experienced the same have ‘cussed,’ complained, explained, and written letters to the authorities (The Borough Councils, the County Councils and relevant members of parliament, council people) to repair the sidewalks because too many people fall prey to the decrepit nature of what is referred to as the ‘pavement.’ Not only the pavements but maintenance of anything in this country appears to be a foreign concept.
It appears that something, a critter or some ‘beast’ keeps biting off the edges of the sidewalks in Arima and elsewhere. I have come to realize that I have to install some eyes on my shoes to ‘see’ where I am going or be a ‘seerman’ in such a critically dangerous place. You don’t hear the minister of works and transport or any other minister for that matter complaining about such landscapes. They do not pass anywhere near those sidewalks. I guess the statement in George Orwell’s Animal Farm is true and correct: “All pigs are equal but some pigs are more equal than others.”
Apart from the broken up and nasty sidewalks, vendors and hustlers of miscellaneous items, from vegetables to haberdashery, occupy quite an amount of space on some sidewalks sometimes making the path so impassable that people have to step out into the roadway at their own risk, even into a puddle on rainy day. Although nature bequeathed Trinidad with the largest acreage of asphalt in the world, a naturally existing material that could be used to fill potholes, I now consider potholes in this country as a literal plague. It seems that becoming a decrepit country is easy as pie. Nonetheless, it’s not all that I have to say. Looking at Trinidad and Tobago today, an author could now produce a book on “How to Become a Decrepit Nation.”
Facebook keeps asking: ‘What do you have on your mind?” I replied today with the statement: ‘What do I have on my mind? Okay, Facebook, please ask the people of Trinidad and Tobago if they could take five more years of murders, gun-slinging, crime and banditry. Ask them…’ With the continuous murders occurring in the country, we wake up on mornings to mourn, to read and contemplate about the bad and evil happenings in Trinidad and Tobago. Good news is scarce because I gather that the bad news is outstripping the good news every day!
I was consternated, yes, as the word implies, ‘afflicted with or marked by anxious uneasiness or trouble or grief,’ when I read this statement on the Internet a few days ago: “The crime rate in Trinidad and Tobago is 30 percent higher than the global average.” This statistic made it abundantly clear that the overall rate of crime in this democratic, English-speaking state, is 30 percent greater than the average crime rate experienced across the entire world. On a global scale, therefore, the fact is that criminal activity in Trinidad and Tobago is rampant and more or less, unbridled.
‘Are we there yet?’ is one of the questions many children ask their parents when they’re going on a long road trip. Oh yes, in Trinidad we are already there. Way back in 2011 in my peer-reviewed article titled: ‘Crime and Violence; the Tourism Product Rotting Away in Trinidad and Tobago’ published in the Pakistan Journal of Criminology, (Vol. 3, Nos. 2 & 3), I echoed:
“Apart from the dilapidated conditions of many roads, road signs, bridges and barriers especially in rural areas, many historic buildings are left to rot away and crumble to the ground. Dangerous landslides are everywhere. After heavy rains, muddy water and debris rush down the hillsides of the Northern Range to Port of Spain and other cities below. Many beaches are littered with garbage left by beachgoers. Traffic jams are ceaseless and lines at public and private places such as banks are unending. Coupled with these yet tolerable factors, Trinidad and Tobago is experiencing an unprecedented crime problem. Murders are occurring on a daily basis and banditry and police corruption are rampant in the system. Illegal drug running remains an extremely serious problem on the landscape. Several countries including Britain, the United States, Canada, and New Zealand have issued travel advisories to their citizens concerning the worsening crime situation against tourists in Trinidad and Tobago.”
That was then. What about now? It was just 12 years ago, but I am of the view that it’s more terrible today on these two islands. Although many citizens are still parroting that ‘Trinidad is nice. Trinidad is a paradise! It’s just an imaginary element of yesterday when anyone could have walked the streets without fear. We are nearing an average of 50 murders per month in 2024! Extant on the landscape is an air of cognitive dissonance. Some citizens believe that everything is alright with Trinidad and Tobago; why make a fuss? According to my graduate studies in political geography, I am led to conclude that Trinidad and Tobago is a failed state, a literal ‘Banana Republic,’ a place where no one is safe and nowhere is safe.
There is a story to tell about Tilo Kruse, a 20-year-old, young, white German tourist who is now presently visiting Trinidad. He came to walk, to explore the island of Trinidad. He began walking from the village of Toco in the north to the village of Icacos in the South. On his 16-day pilgrimage, along the way on Toco Road, he was accosted by bandits somewhere near the village of Matura. The headline of a news article written by Kejan Haynes and Carisa Lee published in the Trinidad Guardian newspaper on May 01, 2024, read: ‘German TikTok traveller robbed but still has faith in good Trinis.’ Here’s part of the account that Tilo Kruse gave to the reporters:
“I don’t want to make this video but I have to because I want to be honest with you guys. Today I got robbed,” Kruse began in his latest video. He then went into detail explaining that two men ran out of the bushes and began assaulting him. He said they wrestled on the road until a passing car picked him up and took him to the police station to make a report…‘I still continue my journey. I still believe most people in Trinidad are good. There definitely are some criminals out there and I don’t want those criminals to ruin the reputation of good Trinidadians,’ Kruse said.”
Kruse is very lucky that he was not maimed or killed. Thank heavens for some good people who assisted him on his journey. A blog on the Internet revealed it was clear that terrible crime is getting worse year by year. Robberies, car thefts, wanton home invasions, kidnapping and human trafficking is the norm. Murders were limited to gang warfare but it’s now being spread to normal civilians. By 7:00 or 8:00 pm, you need to be indoors with your house locked. Either you have been affected by crime or a relative or a friend. Trinidadians glorify gangster culture from the United States and Jamaica.
A friend of mine who is an attorney ‘reprimanded’ me for the article I published in the Pakistan Journal of Criminology. He intimated that I should not have written and published such things about Trinidad and Tobago. He summed it up as though I was bad-mouthing the land of my birth. I kindly told him that I am a researcher and a writer. Moreover, as a cultural geographer, I know for sure that the Earth does not lie.
My mission is to report the truth about the etic (outsider accounts) and emic (insider accounts) scenarios; the true sense of place as it concerns Trinidad and Tobago. The reality of our demise must not be kept secret. Sweeping our sad affairs under the carpet of what Trinidad and Tobago has become is not the answer. Knowing that we have a problem is; but, the first step in finding a solution to the decrepit state of this country.
