“Waste of Taxpayers’ Money”- Cherry On CARICOM Crime Event

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders plan to convene for another crime session later this year to address the region’s persistent issues of crime and violence. However, community activist Dr. Venus Cherry has voiced his strong skepticism about the impact of such events. Cherry is also the Chairman of RISE Saint Lucia Inc., a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to the healthy development of people, especially youth. He believes crime symposiums have become repetitive and ineffective. Cherry told St. Lucia Times while the symposiums focus heavily on discussing crime, they fall short on implementing concrete measures. “When it’s time for action, we hear the same thing—budgetary constraints. If crime is not important to us, if we feel like we put money into everything else but that, then we will continue to have the problem. This is them showing face,” the RISE Chairman said about the planned Barbados crime symposium. He questioned the potential outcomes of the upcoming CARICOM meeting, raising concerns about what new technology or strategies the event would introduce. “What new technology do they have? What new strategies? What happened to the last strategy? Cherry asked. He declared that the constant symposiums will only yield fruit if they generate actions to...