CASTRIES – Prime Minister Stephenson King has promised swift action against persons engaged in criminal activities and whose gangland style executions are threatening to destabilise St Lucia.Speaking ahead of a planned address to the nation yesterday, King warned that his administration would not allow the criminal activities of a few persons to disrupt the peace and prosperity of the island.He said that his administration would spare “no effort” in ensuring that all the necessary resources were made available to the police to deal with the current threat to the country.“We will not allow a handful of men, thugs, criminals who have resorted to terrorising the nation to be in control at this time. So having sat down with the hierarchy of the Police Force, the Cabinet having met in an emergency session where they were briefed on the next plan of action articulated by the police to deal with the situation, we have made some further decisions on the way forward,” King said.He said that the action plan sanctioned by the Cabinet and planned in collusion with the country’s security forces would be outlined in an address to the nation last night.“This situation we must take control of and control we shall,” he added.Last week, the opposition St Lucia Labour Party (SLP) and the Chamber of Commerce called for an emergency meeting with the government to discuss what they termed the rampant criminal activity taking place in the capital where four people were killed in the week.The opposition party said it had made recommendations to the government on the crime situation and also called for a review of the processes for the granting of firearm licenses.“From our knowledge there have been no resources of any significance provided to the police force since the SLP left office in 2006. “This appears to be crippling the efforts of the police and it is imperative that adequate budgetary allocations be made in terms of manpower equipment and resources for the next three years,” said the SLP First Deputy Leader, Phillip J. Pierre. So far this year, 23 people have been killed, twice the number that occurred for the same period last year.
(CMC)
