Cit­i­zens for a Bet­ter T&T (CBTT) con­demns the al­leged as­sas­si­na­tion plot against Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar and three of her Cab­i­net col­leagues. CBTT be­lieves that the threats should not be tak­en light­ly be­cause it's a stark re­al­i­ty that at­tempts have been made in the past to kill politi­cians in the line of du­ty.The Prime Min­is­ter may be right in stat­ing that drug lords are be­hind the plot. They are dan­ger­ous peo­ple who will at­tempt to de­stroy any­one who threat­ens their turf.Some years ago, a drug lord, now de­ceased, mur­dered his own nephew who worked with him be­cause he felt threat­ened by this close rel­a­tive. I re­mem­ber meet­ing an al­leged drug lord at a bank's Christ­mas fete. I must con­fess that I was not pleased be­ing in­tro­duced to him.

CBTT mem­bers en­cour­age this Gov­ern­ment and fu­ture ones to con­tin­ue to go af­ter drug lords and traf­fick­ers be­cause they con­tin­ue to do un­told dam­age to the lives of peo­ple and by ex­ten­sion the coun­try.The drug trade is a bil­lion-dol­lar busi­ness and many young and old cit­i­zens are in­volved in this il­le­gal ac­tiv­i­ty. Crimes will con­tin­ue to plague the coun­try once a con­cert­ed ef­fort is not made to put a dent on the drug trade.The Gov­ern­ment should not be in­tim­i­dat­ed by drug lords and their co­horts. They should be held ac­count- able for their il­le­gal ac­tions and im­pris­oned for life with no pa­role if found guilty of par­tic­i­pat­ing in the drug trade.

The job of erad­i­cat­ing this il­le­gal ac­tiv­i­ty is a tough one but the Gov-ern­ment has done well so far by seiz­ing large quan­ti­ties of drugs un­der the state of emer­gency. Hope­ful­ly, this at­tack on the drug trade will con­tin­ue af­ter the SoE has been lift­ed.The law should be tough on any­one who threat­ens the life of a Prime Min­is­ter. Those found guilty must face the full brunt of the law.Un­like many oth­ers, we are giv­ing Prime Min­is­ter Per­sad-Bisses­sar the ben­e­fit of the doubt. The threat to her life is a se­ri­ous mat­ter and should not be treat­ed light­ly.

Har­rack Bal­ram­s­ingh

CBTT