PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar Friday defended the decision to agree to a request by the police to impose a state of emergency (SOE) saying her government came into office on the promise that it would address the crime situation in Trinidad and Tobago as a matter of priority.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar (File Photo)In a statement, Prime Minister Persad Bissessar said that her administration would be doing “everything necessary to ensure that citizens felt safe in their homes, workplaces, schools and places of worship.
“Last evening I received an intelligence report from the Commissioner of Police and I immediately directed my Attorney General to take the requisite steps to advise Her Excellency, the President, to declare that a State of Emergency existed in Trinidad and Tobago.
“I will not stand idly by for years, months, weeks or even days while a minority of illegally armed individuals act in concert to intimidate the people of Trinidad and Tobago,” she said, adding “I will not tolerate a resurgence of kidnappings for ransom and other heinous crimes initiated by gangs.
“I will not allow these elements of society to continue to terrorize and traumatize law abiding citizens and to wreak havoc in our land.”
Persad Bissessar said that for years, while in opposition, she had repeatedly called for a SOE “not as cheap political gimmickry to appease the population leading up to an election, but as a critical measure to attack the crime situation within the parameters of the law.
“This government walks the walk. We are taking urgent action to cut off this immediate threat at the root, and to safeguard our people. Our government is working closely with the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) to ensure that this State of Emergency brings tangible results in our fight against crime.”
She said that soon after the SOE came into effect just after midnight, the police “immediately engaged in operations to secure the citizenry and the institutions that uphold the integrity of the State.
“The TTPS and the Government will continue to keep the population informed, as appropriate, within the coming days,” she added.
Prime Minister Persad Bissessar was not present at the governments’ televised press conference on Friday, but the Attorney General said the near three-month old government is committed to taking swift and decisive action to combat crime.
He told reporters that intelligence reports suggest that the murder of a state prosecutor last year was linked to gang activity.
“This is not two or three persons.. We were left with no choice…faced with credible information that persons involved in the administration of justice were to be assassinated…we make no apologies for that,” he said, defending the current SOE as against the one associated with the former government of prime minister Dr. Keith Rowley and which lasted 105 days.
“The previous one was prompted by nothing. This one is based on intelligence of a coordinated threat. I don’t want to politicize it,” Jeremie told reporters.
“We are determined to deal with this cancer. What happened in 1990 will not happen on our watch,” he added, in reference to the1990 coup, when members of the Jamaat al-Muslimeen, led by Yasin Abu Bakr and motivated by a combination of factors, including dissatisfaction with the government’s economic policies, a perception of widespread corruption, sought to overthrow the ANR Robinson government.
