THE EDITOR: In the words of the immortal calypsonian Kelvin "Mighty Duke" Pope, how many more must die? While the quote was nowhere meant to be applied to the current status of our social woes, it is very applicable.

With the death of babies reaching double digits, both political parties have begun to work the PR machinery to its core.

What is alarming is that none of them has taken to addressing the root cause of why this unnecessary tragedy became a reality. What you are seeing here is a product of insensitive and disconnected politics.

On the PNM front, we have a scapegoat sent on leave and a myriad of investigations taking place to determine culpability. My question is, to what end now? Most recently, after years of anguish and tens of millions of dollars, there is still no justice for the victims of the Paria diving tragedy.

Tell us why are more hospitals being built when existing ones cannot be maintained and how are you going to ensure the additional facilities do not become a killing machine like its existing counterparts.

On the UNC front, an equally foolish response sought to remind all of their glorious past. Again how does that solve the current crisis? It is clear this call to reopen the Couva Children Hospital was supposed to be a strategic move to remind the population of the UNC deliveries during its tenure in governance.

Not at this time people, you have next year for political propaganda!

What you are seeing is the reluctance of our leaders to deal with the issues at hand and they continue to play the political duel while babies die and crime and lawlessness run rampant. None is accepting culpability and justice is a far removed ideal.

It was shown in more developed countries that heads have rolled for less, but here in TT, heads bobble on the political dashboards despite the yawning potholes that results in our collective demise.

This is just one of many plagues that have been brought on by our failure to elect the right people to positions of leadership.

I have maintained that you cannot legislate integrity or ethics, so therefore we must place carefully, in positions of power, those who can still muster the will to act accordingly.

At the end of the day, we must accept that we are responsible for the failures of our systems, be it health, the judiciary, national security, finance, infrastructure and the list goes on and on. So what are we as a people going to do for ourselves?

RYAN MARTINEZ

Gasparillo

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