And Still I Rise

Desperate times they say call for desperate measures. And so Trinidad's Prime Minister Kamla Bissessar has announced a limited state of emergency in crime "hot spots". This limited state of emergency, a response to Trinidad's rising crime rate took effect from midnight (sun 21st). There is still no indication as to when it will end or the hours of this limited state of emergency. I have never heard of

1) a limited state of emergency or

2) a state of emergency not brought on by national disasters,war etc-unless Trinidad has decided it's warring against itself.

While I agree that escalating violence in the region is cause for great concern this move strikes me as being panicky, ill thought out and silly. It may be that there will be some short term gain but when this limited emergency is lifted I am sure it will be business as usual. So rather than place limited state of emergencies and interfere with people's basic rights Caribbean leaders better sit down and identify what is driving this upsurge of violence in their respective islands. Having done this they can/should put programmes in place to arrest this situation. It is quite possible that we have lost a significant portion of our youths to organized crime but surely the aim is to prevent their ranks from swelling. Limited states of emergencies may sound good, they may look as if Government has balls but its really a limited response to a dire situation.