By Spokesman Newsroom
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Wednesday 28th August 2024)-Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Dr. Terrance Drew highlighted the absence of the People’s Labour Party (PLP) at the recent Crime Symposium during an edition of The Roundtable with reporters on Tuesday 27th August 2024.
Dr. Drew noted that while all political parties were invited, the PLP did not have a representative at the event held on Friday 23rd August. “It has to be all of society approach. To that end, that is why I invited NGOs and different community groups and persons from across our Federation, and all political parties were invited that these parties include People’sAction Movement, PAM, and PAM had their representatives and their leader and deputy leader, CCM had its leader, and who is also the leader of the opposition.
NRP also sent a representative. He added: “The only party that did not have a representative there was PLP. And of course they too were invited. In the spirit of making sure all hands are deck, we encourage PLP to participate in this national effort so that all of us can be at the table, contribute to dealing with the issue of crime and violence, which have been plaguing our nation for many, many decades.” Dr.
Drew outlined the government’s innovative approach to crime prevention, which includes setting up the first-ever department dedicated to citizen security. “We are setting up the department to deal with citizen security, the first of its kind in our country, so that the issue can be dealt with from a broad perspective, from a public health perspective,” he stated.
He spoke about the upcoming ‘90 days campaign for citizen security’, set to launch soon, as part of a broader strategy involving diverse stakeholders.” “..Our new campaign, the 90 days campaign for citizen security, a whole society responsibility will be launched very, very soon,” he noted. Dr.
Drew explained the public health perspective on violence, likening it to a disease that spreads among vulnerable individuals. “ I invite our citizens to look at violence as a disease. Just like almost any other infectious disease, violence behaves just like that.
And the body of scientific knowledge, the human endeavor that deals with violence or deal with diseases rather, is public health,” he said. He also referenced past studies on violence, including a 2002 World Bank report, noting that the recommendations had not been fully implemented in the Caribbean, leading to the current situation.
“In 2002 the World Bank did a study on violence and a number of recommendations were given. That is 2002, this is 22 years later,” he said.
