Two more fishermen bodies found
Date: July 25th, 2019
Dear Editor/Newsroom,
The bodies of Brandon Kissoon and Shiva Ramdeo have been recovered in Point Fortin.
The Minister of National Security, the Honorable Stuart Young is either misinformed or ill-advised. There was no air support, air guard or helicopter belonging to the Ministry of National Security that came to search for our fishermen on the first day they were lost at sea. The first 24 hours is most critical to find any survivors!
On Tuesday 23rd July 2019 at 2am when the Coast Guard was contacted by the families of the fishermen, the CG response was for the families to make a report to the nearest police station and let the police contact the Coast Guard. Is that the authority’s response to murder at sea? FFOS Corporate Secretary called the CG and requested an urgent response, and was told by the CG officer that they had to recall the CG vessel since “it did not have the capacity”. Why was it sent then?
On the second day, Wednesday 24th July, at noon FFOS made a nation-wide plea for air support. At 2pm one helicopter arrived and circled a very small area in the Gulf of Paria in the vicinity of Orange Valley for 15 minutes and returned.
The Minister of National Security has made an overture about acquiring a radar system. Since the Panday Administration (1995- 2001) we have been told that a radar system was acquired and functioning. Was that a lie? If the radar system was in place the murderers could’ve been tracked would be brought to justice.
While we throw billions after new highways and ports, can we even protect our own vulnerable citizens? What is the status of our border control and border protection?
Can Minister Young break his deafening silence and say where were our promised interceptor vessels? On November 7th 2018, Stuart Young announced that “the Cabinet has taken a decision to restore 14 Coast Guard interceptors back into service in the shortest possible time” to protect our coastlines. Five months later, he announced two interceptor vessels were sent to Tobago. What about the other 12? To date, the Minister has not acted responsibly. While our children are being murdered, what is the good Minister doing? Was it simply an empty promise made in Parliament to appease threatened nationals?
The Government cannot continue creating chaos for our citizens and must be held accountable. Enough is enough! When will we have a single prosecution and conviction for the spate of piracy threatening our fisher folk?
Sincerely,
Gary Aboud
Corporate Secretary