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All lives matter, Mr Aboud - Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

THE EDITOR: After ten years of year-on-year murder rates being pushed to their limits, president of the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA), Gregory Aboud, has now found it necessary to call out the police on their incompetence.

It took the murder of a lawyer/state prosecutor to capture his attention; much like the attention given to the fire in Arima where the MP and her children were victims. He mentioned how many calls he received within the 48 hours after the lawyer's murder.

We continuously leave the barn door wide open and are only ready to act once the horse bolts. This reactionary mode serves the power structure all too well. It allows friends, party financiers, and family members to 'eat a food' at the treasury.

I have tried to recall a time in this nation's history when the authorities have been proactive. I have been unsuccessful. We have never been known to be a proactive people.

Sadly, this modus operandi not only applies to the criminal justice system, but to every state sector. After all, much like the principles on which Big Pharma functions, there is no money to be made in prevention. This approach, coupled with our nine-day memory, works well to the benefit at the top of the power structure.

For the record, I am neither friend nor foe of Aboud and DOMA. But does Aboud honestly think that calling on individuals to "get out from behind their desks and find out what is happening" would solve the crime situation? In his call, he assumed that the individuals 'behind the desks' are knowledgeable on relevant matters.

I put it to him that if those individuals had a clue on what was taking place, they would have resolved the relevant matters years ago. He apparently missed the absurdity in calling on the same people who were instrumental in getting us to this point, to get us out.

Sitting behind one's desk, in an AC office, outfitted with all the trimmings of being a boss is the safest place to hide. Thus, even if these people jumped out from behind their desks, they have nothing to bring to the frontline. Many, I daresay most, have no idea how they ended up behind a desk in the first place.

The CoP is a prime example, being hoisted from a position of anonymity to top the shortlist. Perhaps gender is a qualifying factor which only her selector knew of. And she is just one in a long line of examples.

I am of the view that the head of DOMA picks his issues rather selectively; seemingly only when they reach his doorsteps. As recent as November last, when all evidence pointed to the murder numbers reaching new heights, his concern then was not about anyone coming out from behind their desk.

It was about the Port of Port of Spain and goods being cleared in time for Christmas sales. The almost 600 dead and/or missing people were not a concern for him.

That Aboud remained relatively silent on the first 623 murders (according to one count) should be cause for concern. His refusal to condemn the present regime is glaringly evident. That he finds it fit to even call on the

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