SoE (State of Emergency) Life Continues

At 8pm Sunday August 21, 2011 the Honorable Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Mrs. Kamla Persad Bissessar declared a limited state of emergency…at least that’s what one of my friends posted on Facebook. As usual I was on my laptop working and not glued in front of the TV for the nightly news. My parents shouted confirmation of the post. Not too sure of the meaning of this to me, I Googled the term state of emergency.

 

The last time a state of emergency was passed was in 1990, I was not aware of what it would mean to me; yes I’m young, so I had to investigate just what I’m supposed to do. Trinidad and Tobago has been under a state of emergency only two times before, during the black power movement in the 1970’s and during the coup attempt in 1990.

The Limited State of Emergency was declared for 15 days with immediate effect, and areas determined to be hot spots were under curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. In the beginning no official detailed reason was given, only a vague response of averting a national crisis, which led to the inevitable barrage of rumors on the grapevine.

Rumors were flying around of the mosquito that bit the PM, which lead to her contracting a mild case of dengue fever being responsible for this action by the state. Mug shots of the insect and a huge ransom were being offered for the person who would find and kill it.  Others speculated that it was the government’s way of handling the threat by trade union leaders to shut down the country.  Trade union leaders were calling on their members to participate in a massive to shut down the country, unless an agreement can be reached about the 5% wage impasse.

Whatever the reason, speculation was left to fester for the 15 day period with the lack of transparency about it. Citizens were glued to the televisions for the local program that was willing to bring them information about the raids carried out but joint patrol operations of police and army.

‘Crime Watch’ aired before the nightly news and some found it to be more informative, with gangsters surrendering and a new secret almost every show, its viewership increased. The host, Mr. Ian Alleyne kept his audience attention with the numerous clips and humorous banter between him and his off air producer who would get buff for not playing the clip in time.

The news of cancelling the annual Independence fireworks devastated the youth. Facebook erupted with many upset youth longing to see the usually display.  A power outage also stuck most of the country when lightening struck a transformer at Powergen.  Everyone was counting down the scheduled end of the SOE on Sunday September 4th, the day before school re-opened, but on Tuesday 30th August the Prime Minister announced the extension of the SOE but gave no detail. In order for this to be done a debate took place on Friday 2nd September.

The country waited with bated breath for the debate to end, to hear the real reason for the SOE and to hear if the times for curfew would be adjusted. The debate ended on Sunday 4th September 2011 when the motion to extend the State of Emergency for a further three months was passed. Then Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar also announced a change in the curfew hours to 11pm to 4am effective Monday September 5th.

By the end of the first week of the declaration the economy began to feel the impact of the state action to clamp down on the criminal element. Merchants had to close their doors early so employees can arrive home to avoid being arrested for breaking curfew. The fine for being out during curfew hours is three thousand dollars.

Small business owners felt the brunt of having to change their hours, some not being able to ply their trade at all. Some large businesses lost millions of dollars and some had to reduce their staff because of the change in business hours.

This seemingly extreme measure to curb crime affects every day life for our citizens, it would cut back on the weekly lime. The impact of those two Fridays sent shockwaves to the core of many limers. To the hermits like myself who felt that the hours of curfew wouldn’t affect us, I wished I at least had the option to leave my house.

Initially I thought it was not going to affect me, because I’m home before that time when I don’t have class but I live in a hot spot and attend church in one. And our Friday night service had to be cancelled until the end of the SOE. Like my church many churches had to adjust their service times, some even cancelled meetings altogether.

But with so much free time, one would wonder what we as a society would be doing; constantly updating facebook statuses, thinking of a new business idea, starting a family and many expect a boost in the population with this three month lock down.

As individuals we develop a greater relationship with Christ, families would have more than enough time to bond and get know each other but all in all my hope is that this time is used productively. If you aren’t sure of how to productively use your time you can check out the new Gospel Globe, find friends in the community, read interesting articles from my fellow writers and check out our new features. Life continues under the State of emergency utilize your time creatively, after all it would be this way for most of the remainder of the year.

 

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