On Tuesday, a month after the People’s Roundtable was formed, the convener announced its first-ever public event in January.
David Abdulah, who is also the political leader of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ), told reporters the “civil-society crime summit” is set to be held over two days.
The first is on January 9 at the Cipriani College of Labour and Co-operative Studies in Valsayn, and the other on January 11, in Tobago, at a venue to be announced.
The roundtable, launched on October 24, comprises 13 civil-society organisations and aims to mobilise communities to lobby the Government to effect change.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Abdulah said the roundtable had held several meetings in the past month to finalise the two-day event.
“Crime and violence is one of the five thematic issues on our list of national issues. We have chosen this issue because crime and violence are affecting virtually everyone in TT, regardless of your age, gender, social class, race, religion, or the community in which you live.
“As we said in our first public statement, crime is robbing so many of our people, especially our youth, of their lives; of citizens of their peace of mind and body, and businesspeople, farmers and the self-employed of success.”
Abdulah said the roundtable had noted several commentaries, editorials, and statements by other civic organisations and individuals who have expressed dismay at the stance of those elected to high public office, namely parliamentarians.
“In spite of all the calls being made for this coming together, the parties and their leaders seem more interested in quarrelling and shouting at each other rather than collaborating in order to improve the security and safety of citizens,” he said on behalf of the group.
“As responsible members of civil society, we could not sit back and allow things to continue like this. Assuming that they can finally get together and meet, which we believe is necessary, this by itself will not be sufficient, given that the crisis of crime has gone too far for this to be tackled without the involvement of the citizenry.”
He charged that someone had to “step up to the wicket” and take on the responsibility of bringing significant sections of the country together not only to have “a real conversation about crime and violence,” but also to develop a consensus on what can be done to bring about a real change in the situation.
He said the People’s Roundtable is prepared to initiate this conversation.
Abdulah did not name any parliamentarians. However, the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader have been at odds over bipartisan crime talks.
Abdulah added that the summit will be structured to enable people from many backgrounds and experiences to listen, share and arrive at consensus on the problems facing the country.
The group intends to invite other civil-society organisations and people.
At the end of its deliberations, the team plans to summarise the proposals and consensus, to be called the Citizens’ Crime Plan.
"T
