A threat to assassinate Government Ministers: Fact and Fiction

The Government is addicted to terror plots and this one carries the unmistakable sub-title of an Islamic plot against a Hindu theocracy. And despite its alleged hand in uncovering this assassination plot, the US is not too troubled. That is uncharacteristic of the Americans since Islamic terror plots and political subversion by drug cartels have spawned billion-dollar spending by the US, and reams of policy paper. But the US has not issued a travel alert to warn its nationals of Trinidad and Tobago's potential danger and it has made no extra effort to secure its vital LNG supplies. Trinidad and Tobago supplies 40 percent of US LNG imports, critical in this winter. So either the US has lost interest in fringe radicals and drug cartels or our Government needs addiction therapy.

Political distrust is more heightened since the emergency and curfew. People want to believe but there's too much distrust. Why would anybody want to harm the political leadership? So far they are doing a pretty good job themselves. Towards the end of the last Government's shortened term, the country increased its watch on the state companies, wary of carefree politicians and their friends who believe that state coffers are instant jackpots. Around traditional feeding troughs the country increased its surveillance and every day the media subjected the politicians to analysis and fact-checking, alert to spin doctors and propaganda. And the Government has been caught, more than once, with increased frequency.

The fact is that when it comes to political threats, no high precision rifle can kill political ambition like the ill-conceived $300 million giveaway. No subversive material convinces of ineptitude as a super-sized DNA bill and more legislation which attacks fundamental rights in the name of the rule of law. Overzealous ministers side-stepping basic public policy doctrine are more frightening than men in balaclavas plotting instability. Political guesswork poses a greater danger to the country than any factual or fictitious terror script and the PM's press conferences will soon rival Ripley's "Believe it or Not".