By Johnny Coomansingh
It was like just yesterday when Trinidad and Tobago, this English-speaking, twin-island democratic state received its independence. The little round piece of flattened brass emblazoned with the crest of a new nation given to me in primary school is lying somewhere, maybe lost in the mud.
My eight-year-old hands were all messed up with the bar of chocolate I received as a “gift” from the government. The sun was very hot that day and we all know that chocolate doesn’t last long in hot weather. After that day, there was no repeat of such “presents” except for the skimmed milk and wheat biscuits that I was blessed to receive every day. No more special “gifts.”
In fact, on August 31st 2023 we celebrated 61 years as an independent country. O, there was, as my patois-speaking friends would quip, a grand z’affaire in Port of Spain with all the protective services decked off in their finest regalia in a military march to show that “We free.” Free? Free from what? Colonialism? It’s nice to mentally entertain freedom. I could only wish that we would be free of the daily murders here in Trinidad. So far, the “score” for murders stood at 576 for 2023.
On the Crime Watch program aired on February 27, 2024, on television, it was reported that murders have already climbed to 82 for the year. If anybody agrees that “We free” then they implicitly adhere to the statement: “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” Freedom is much more than just thinking or daydreaming about it.
So what have we now? We are on this journey; all of us began that journey of “independence” in 1962. Quite a few of my friends and colleagues are now “pushing up daisies.”
In terms of the political rancour in our society, the racial tension is appalling, not to mention the exponential growth of violent crimes in Trinidad. Young men and women have turned to gun slinging, banditry and terrible home invasions as though they have been graduated and certified to harass, rob, maim and sometimes kill their victims. Is this freedom? Is this the independence that we worked so hard to obtain? Do we still believe that we were “Forged from the love of liberty” as the first line in our national anthem conveys? The crime, violence and illicit drug running in our country are extremely elevated to the point where we are considered to be one of the most violent of countries in the entire world. Some reports indicate that we are number six in the world for crime; number six!
In “Traveling Lifestyle” www.travelinglifestyle.net
the question was asked: Is Trinidad And Tobago Safe? Travel Advisory 2023. Why is there the need to ask such a question? Traveling Lifestyle (2023) states:
“Most governments have issued warnings against travelling to Trinidad and Tobago. The United States of America has listed the country as a “Level 3: Reconsider travel” destination.
Similar warnings can be found on the government websites of other countries…The United Kingdom, for instance, warns its citizens about high and increasing crime levels in Trinidad, while stating that incidents of violent crime are rare in Tobago. Visitors, however, should still be careful…World Population Review states that Trinidad and Tobago is rated sixth in the world when it comes to crime, while Insight Crime notes that the murder rate has increased by 22 percent in 2022 compared to 2021.
While most of the violent crime in the country is due to gang activity and drug trafficking, criminals also often target tourists since they are regarded as lucrative prey. Tourists are not only robbed but are sometimes also kidnapped for ransom money. Highway robberies are another threat. Other forms of violent crime that tourists should be aware of include murder, assault, and rape.
That’s the reality! It seems that our country has bred a high number of miscreants (“vultures”) who are bent on perpetrating and propagating the ignominious scourge of criminality. Are we independent yet?
More than the most evil aspect of our independent underdevelopment, which is crime, I will never be able to wrap it around my mind that for 61 years so many of our citizens are still crying and begging for a regular supply of potable water. When will this ever happen? It is abundantly clear that somebody is getting filthy rich with the sales of pipe fittings, water storage tanks and water pumps.
Even though Trinidad is considered to have rainforest climate, the paucity of potable water is appalling. Although we could boast of having the largest pitch lake in the world, what we have is an abundance of pothole-riddled roads. If all the potholes are repaired, we are left with a hump, a lump that causes a bump while driving. Dodging these potholes, lumps, humps and bumps while driving could have detrimental effects on other drivers and pedestrians alike. In some places, roads are formed inside of the potholes. It is as though no one can do anything right. Here’s a stanza from my poem titled Pothole Paradise:
“Choose your pothole!
On your car let it take its toll
In Sangre Grande, in Arima, in San Fernando
Chaguanas, Manzanilla, Couva and Mayaro
Not to mention the “roads” in Barackpore, Brasso and Caparo
In Tamana, Tunapuna, Barataria and Port of Spain
Disdain!
The disease is everywhere, the nastiness to show
Potholes right next to the RC Cathedral you know.”
Coupled with all these atrocities, our health sector seriously needs an overhaul. For the life of me, I cannot understand why the elderly or anyone for that matter must wait for hours on hard seats before they receive medical attention. My 94-year-old mother was also a victim of this scenario, waiting for more than three hours before she received some attention. Something is wrong here, very wrong!
Many of us shout and tout that “Trinidad is nice. Trinidad is a paradise.” It was Sir Ellis Clarke, a former president of Trinidad who quipped: “We like it so.” O yes, it is so for those whose eyes are blinded, dimmed or myopic to this ongoing scenario of political inefficiency and insecurity.
Trinidad has been blessed with petroleum, natural gas and the largest lake of asphalt in the world but why is our economy in shambles today? Why are so many young men and women turning to crime? Why are our roads so deplorable?
For the past 61 years, we have not done well, our grade is “fail,” and if we are still singing “We free” and “We independent,” then we have been taught to be extremely complacent as we continue with the repetition of “We like it so.”
