Waiting for miracles:

Benny Hinn has come and gone and the blood, gut and gory continue unrelenting, refusing to bow even as this so-called powerful man of God prayed upon Trinidad and Tobago for a full three days.

On the eve of his arrival, the country was sent into another shock-wave (yes, we still have the ability to be shocked) with the very brutal murder of four-year old Emily Amy Annamunthodo, beaten, tortured, raped and sodomised.

Her 19-year old mother Anita, grand-daughter of murdered firebrand trade unionist and pamphleteer Walter Annamunthodo has since been charged with several counts of neglect and willful neglect of her daughter. The teenager’s 40-year old boy-friend Marlon King, a bouncer at a club and father of twin girls from a previous relationship, is facing a charge of murdering the toddler.

Within the first 48-hours of Hinn’s arrival to Port of Spain, five murders took place. Much more during his three days of fire and brimstone sermonising at the Queen’s Park Savannah, attended by former President Arthur Robinson and prime minister Patrick Manning alongside tens of thousands of ordinary folks.

Following a previous visit to Trinidad, the American tele-evangelist told his interviewer on television about the many demons he saw in the country whose people he claimed practiced voodoo.

Well, I hope this time round Benny would have taken on Trinidad and Tobago as his personal crusade to drive the demons into the deep end of the ocean and cleanse the country of its iniquities.

The desperate situation in the twin-island state calls for nothing short of miracles.

Despite two multi-million dollar sky-ships (blimps), various eye-in-the-sky towers, street cameras and other security high-tech gadgets, demonic criminals relentlessly roam the streets, day and night, continuing their nefarious activities, fearing neither man nor God.

The murder rate has already sky-rocketed past 150. Just about four years ago, this was an annual figure.

About two years ago, prime minister Manning, in seeking to reassure the country about his government being in control of the crime situation said it was a temporary thing.

Well, so far, it’s been up, up and hopefully, not away…because then we would be in serious trouble with criminals taking over the governance of the country.

We need miracles too to deal with the sick, depraved and corrupted minds in our society who have been raping and brutalising our young sons and daughters.

Some may have found it cruel when one social worker, commenting on the murder of Emily, not too long out of diapers, that she was lucky to have died.

Reason was that so many young children are enduring that type of sadistic and brutal rape of their bodies every single day.

Last week too, another story broke about the rape and torture of several young girls and boys at a home for abandoned children, which has received state and private sector funding over the years.

A survey among primary school has also disclosed some shocking results with many students being sexually molested, some already the victims of HIV/AIDS.

In the smaller sister isle of Tobago, more shocking stories about widespread incest.

One just has to look at the courts to see how many fathers, uncles and brothers are charged with rape, incest and buggery. In a current case before the court, a father and mother have been charged with aiding and abetting in the repeated rape of their young daughter by a man.

We also need miracles to transform our religious and political leaders so that they can really put the interest of the country and people first.

Over the last few weeks, we witnessed the leader of one Christian group accusing another of wanting to convert the entire Caribbean to their religious.

Then we had the spectacle of a Hindu organisation launching an expensive public campaign against Hinn, even calling for him to be arrested when he lands in the country.

Well, one man who didn’t get his personal miracle is Sat Maharaj, the secretary-general of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha who seems rather fearful of more Hindus being converted to Christianity.

At the political level, the opposition party remains in a state of perpetual confusion and bacchanal with supporters not knowing who’s really running the party as there continues to be a parallel leadership – one as opposition leader and another as political leader.

The jailing of former leader Basdeo Panday, now on bail has also thrown a huge damper, leaving supporters more disillusioned than ever.

With the UNC side-tracked by its internal warfare, the ruling administration continues its reckless spending of the gas and oil revenues, ignoring the numerous warnings about rising inflation from the Central Bank.

More problems between the executive and the judiciary have arisen as Prime Minister Patrick Manning has again found himself smack in the middle of controversy in a matter involving the chief justice Sat Sharma and sadly the issue has again divided the country along political and racial lines.

With the country seemingly in a state of pandemonium, it’s no wonder why many people believe only divine intervention can put us back on the right track.