PORT OF SPAIN – Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley Monday defended the decision of the President Christine Kangaloo to declare a state of emergency (SoE) late last month, even as Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar questioned the timing of the measure to curb criminal activity in Trinidad and Tobago.
Rowley, tabling a motion taking note of the statement by President Kangaloo, setting out the specific grounds on which the decision to declare the existence of a state of public emergency was based, said the country is facing “a serious state of continuing violence.”
He told legislators that a “relatively small number of people with great frequency resort to violence” over the years and that “these people have improved their ability to psyche out the country with violent acts”.
On December 30, the President declared the SoE following a gun battle outside a police station in the capital city that left several people dead and Rowley said those criminals were now able to improve their killing machine and to kill more people, despite millions being spent on dealing with crime.
“The violent criminal element decided if you want that we will show you what we can do,” Rowley said of the criminals response to the programmes, questioning “what respect do they have for human life.”
“Over time we have seen that this violence is a Trinidad and Tobago societal problem,” Rowley said, noting that the society has been under attack “from a criminal element we have not been able to suppress”.
Rowley said that the more funds put into fighting crime, the “more the criminals seem to find ways to carry out their activities,” adding that murder had now become a “commercial criminal business.”
In his presentation Rowley said that the criminals were being assisted by corrupt law enforcement officials and in some instances police officers were closing police stations in the rural areas early, turning off the lights and hoping that the criminals “don’t come at them
“That happens. It is not supposed to happen. But it happens and Madam Speaker… when citizens identifying themselves as lawbreakers, choose their place of attack to be in front of a major police station inside the city and to carry out an attack using the most sophisticated weapons, it tells you Madam Speaker that they have no regard for law enforcement in our country.
“And they benefit from the fact that the law is as protective of them as they are not as protective of us,” Rowley said reiterating an earlier position that crime is now a public health issue, insisting “we just can’t give up the fight” even as he acknowledged that “the cancer is spreading”.
He said when the government decided upon the SoE “we did not restrict the actions of law-abiding citizens.
“Detentions of persons will be based on police information about the risk, the threat and the behaviour of citizens who threaten the society’s safety and security. The law is well written, no government can use a state of emergency to shut down the rights of citizens indefinitely,” he said, noting that the other motion before Parliament is to seek an extension of the existing SoE.
But in her contribution, Persad-Bissessar, questioned the rationale behind the SoE, saying it was an admission by Prime Minister Rowley of his failure over the past 10 years to deal with the crime situation in Trinidad and Tobago.
She said on the eve of his departure as the head of the government, Rowley had already indicating that he will bow out of active politics before the next general elections, constitutionally due by August, he was coming to Parliament to criticise every person, while not taking responsibility for his failure.
She said that the primary duty of any government is to keep its citizens safe and that has not been the case with the Rowley-led administration, which has had no plans or policies to deal with the escalating crime situation.
“Last year was the worst in our country’s history of bloodletting, murders in our country,” she said, adding “we must ask the government to tell the country… why did you do this now and not last year.”
She said Rowley during his presentation had attempted to answer the question based on queries from other persons “by saying he did not want to shut down the economy, he did not want small businesses to suffer
“But why didn’t you think of the over 5,000 people who have been murdered? They have families,” she said, adding that Rowley had been dismissive of the Keith Noel Committee when the murder toll was just over 136, several years ago.
“Prime Minister one life lost to murder is one life too much and from that 136 than prior to 2010, we are now in 2025 with almost 5,000 persons being murdered by criminals,” Persad-Bissessar, said, calling for the government to “call elections now” and for the population “to vote them out.” (CMC)
