Seventh Day Adventist minister Pastor Clive Dottin has described casinos as the “greatest money laundering machine in the world” and is calling on government to shut them down.
Dottin, speaking at a town meeting on crime hosted by Chaguanas West MP Dinesh Rambally at the Felicity Hindu School on Wednesday, said: “A casino is a sign of moral decadence and disintegration in society. I am calling for a total shutdown.”
“Governments in this country have been tools of what I called the narco-oligarchy. Panday spoke about the parasitic oligarchy, I am talking about the narcotic parasitic oligarchy because many of those who own the commanding heights of the economy are those who are bringing in the drugs,” he said.
Dottin described T&T as a “blatantly, blinkingly corrupt society” with corruption at all levels in the government service. He said leaders should be moral icons who are drug and alcohol free.
“Those who aspire for the highest positions in the land must be role models for our young people. They must be the husbands of one wife and the wife of one husband. They have to be, they have to set an example for the young people,” he said
Dottin said any programme targeting crime must involve the entire family and parents must set an example by being drug and substance free. He also urged fathers to live up to their role.
The pastor also told the gathering: “I know a girl right now, she has had three men in her life and she has children for each of them and each man is an assassin. That tells you that a major focus in the fight against crime has got to be the family. There are some homes where mothers, single parents are living in jail. They are the prisoners and their son is the commissioner of prison in that home.”
Dottin said he recently visited a school where a “frail East Indian principal” asked for his help to deal with structured drug trafficking rings operating in two schools. He appealed to religious institutions to develop in place programmes to prevent young people from falling prey to criminal gangs.
“I fail to understand how we have a Ministry of Youth and National Service and nothing is happening with national service,” he said.
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