In just 30 days for this year, only five or six suspects have been detained in the 38 murders which have occurred thus far.

I and not a strong adherent of either the retention or abolition of the death penalty, but I believe that in the present rage for implementing the death penalty most people are engaged in self-deception.

No one will hang until he/she is detected, prosecuted, and convicted—and most offenders are now going scot-free. So what is Jack Warner's crusade for the death penalty all about? Who will he hang if he cannot find the murderer?

The same question is posed to Justice Minister Herbert Volney and Attorney General Anand Ramlogan. So how will the death penalty dissuade the criminal?

On Hema Ramkissoon's morning programme Marlene McDonald and Colm Imbert have given the Opposition's proposal advanced in Parliament for enforcing the death penalty by fixing time limits on appeals.

They argue that the Partnership motion in Parliament virtually eliminated the mandatory death penalty by giving the judge discretion, which he does not now have.

But the blame game continues—and the Government continues to blame the Opposition for withholding its support in Parliament while the death penalty remains the law of the land.

It seems to me that Warner, Volney and the AG are less than honest with the population in still clamouring for the death penalty which is on the books, while not addressing their failure to detect, prosecute and convict the criminals.

I suggest that the Chamber's forum for debate should be activated to give the population the two or three sides of the issue. Less rhetoric—more facts please!

Michael J Williams

Maracas Valley