Resh­ma Ra­goonath

Peo­ple's Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) leader Dr Kei­th Row­ley says par­ents must take re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for their chil­dren and not en­cour­age crim­i­nal con­duct in their homes.Row­ley made the state­ment last night as he ad­dressed a PNM meet­ing at Lisas Gar­dens Bas­ket­ball Court, Cal­i­for­nia, Point Lisas.The PNM leader, who was in a no-non­sense mood, told sup­port­ers that he had "no sym­pa­thy" for par­ents who know­ing en­cour­age their chil­dren to par­tic­i­pate in crim­i­nal acts.He said this wor­ry­ing trend is an in­di­ca­tion of the state of moral and spir­i­tu­al val­ues in T&T.Row­ley said he grew up in a home with five broth­ers and they were taught to re­spect the law and not once did the po­lice have to come call­ing at their door. He said his fa­ther taught them to re­spect the po­lice.

The op­po­si­tion leader lament­ed that par­ents are not tak­ing re­spon­si­bil­i­ty to teach their chil­dren re­spect and man­ners."Par­ents do not pass re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for your chil­dren on­to oth­ers," he said.

He called on sup­port­ers to take con­trol of their homes and their chil­dren. Row­ley ad­vised young peo­ple in the au­di­ence to re­mem­ber that there are no short cuts in life and a life of crime should not be an op­tion.The PNM leader, who led a walk­a­bout in the area ear­li­er in the af­ter­noon, said T&T is go­ing through a cri­sis of man­age­ment and it is up to them to turn this coun­try around. He said the lo­cal gov­ern­ment elec­tion cam­paign has been "long and gru­elling."

Row­ley told sup­port­ers not to dis­miss the im­por­tance of the lo­cal gov­ern­ment elec­tions."You need to come out and vote, bring your friends," he urged.Row­ley said vot­ers have to send a mes­sage to the gov­ern­ment that they are not pleased with the di­rec­tion T&T is head­ing.The op­po­si­tion leader said Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar's at­tor­ney Is­rael Khan's let­ter to the In­tegri­ty Com­mis­sion is an in­di­ca­tion that there is a "lev­el of mad­ness" tak­ing over the coun­try.He said Gov­ern­ment is bound by law to an­swer any ques­tions or in­ves­ti­ga­tion by the Com­mis­sion.