PM announces curfew roll back...11 PM TO 4 AMBy ANDRE BAGOO Monday, September 5 2011
THE STATE of emergency declared by President George Maxwell Richards on August 21 was yesterday extended for a period of three months after Government MPs voted for the extension during an historic Sunday sitting of the Parliament, coming after 28 hours of debate over three days.
The extension takes the state of emergency to the first week of December, unless it is revoked by a resolution of Parliament before then. But while a state of emergency will remain in place, the curfew hours have now changed.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in Parliament yesterday announced that effective from this morning, the curfew hours will be from 11pm to 4 am.
Opposition MPs voted against the extension of the state of emergency, though Port-of-Spain North/St Ann’s West MP Patricia McIntosh — reportedly in Barbados — missed the vote. San Fernando East MP Patrick Manning was similarly absent.
In winding up debate on a motion to extend the emergency, which was tabled under Section 10 of the Constitution, Persad-Bissessar argued that the state of emergency was initially called in response to a specific threat. She said while a specific and bloody crisis had been averted by the initial 15-day period, an extension was necessary in the interests of fighting crime further.
“I say it is now or never,” the Prime Minister said in winding-up the epic debate which had been piloted by her National Security Minister John Sandy. “I call on all right-thinking law abiding citizens to join with us in this fight against crime so that we can give our children a fair future. We are the children of history but we are the parents of the future.”
She unveiled a “plan of action” to tackle crime and said the extension of the state of emergency would be part of it.
“It is a plan of action, not announcements and old talk,” she said. “We will extend the state of emergency for an additional three months as is provided for under the Constitution with the support of this honourable House,”
“We will continue to target leaders and criminals involved in gangs, drugs and guns in order to rescue communities. We will continue to flush out guns and ammunition that support criminal activity and impound them to keep them out of circulation,” she said. “We will continue to target so-called business that supports criminal activity and that are aligned with it and which provide a cover for crime and criminal activities.”
She unveiled a range of social programmes, ministerial initiatives as well as legislative interventions which will be implemented, starting during the three-month period under the emergency.
Persad-Bissessar also hit back at Opposition MPs for criticising the state of emergency. She said while the Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley called for more specific information on what triggered the state of emergency, he knew full well that she could not be more specific for reasons of national security.
“The honourable leader of the Opposition expresses shock and surprise that such matters cannot generally be disclosed,” she said. “But if you read the statement of reasons from the President it tells you why. That is the justification that was given: 11 murders in 48 hours.” She noted that the Privy Council has stated that matters of national security are only for national security officials.
“Those who are responsible of the national security must be the sole judges of what is desirable,” she said, quoting from legal authority. She assured that, “from the moment we took the decision to call a state of emergency a crisis was averted. The nation has been saved from a criminal uprising of untold proportions.”
Persad-Bissessar said while some argued that the Anti-Gang Act could have been used to target crime, this was too myopic a view.
“No one remains convinced that that one piece of legislation would have been sufficient in this fight against crime now. It is one weapon in this arsenal now,” she said.
As to allegations that she disrespected the President by last month announcing the state of emergency before he had signed the proclamation, Persad-Bissessar said, “I think they may be mixing me up with a former prime minister. I would not disrespect the Office of the President. I had consulted with His Excellency the President and I had his concurrence before I spoke to the nation.”
She did admit that there were problems with communications to the public in the early hours of the state of emergency.
“Perhaps we could have done a better job of communicating all aspects of the state of emergency initially but since then this has been adjusted,” she said.
The Prime Minister denied that PNM areas were targetted as hot spots, noting that the police had, under the last administration, identified virtually the same areas of concern. She also strongly denied racial motives.
“When someone is killed it does not matter what the colour of their skin is, the blood that flows in the soil is the same red blood,” she said. “Criminals have no respect for the victims’ race, religion and colour. Their illegal actions affect all.” She said criminality was itself a threat to all citizens’ Constitutional rights.
The Prime Minister noted that while the state of emergency would affect the country’s international image, it was more important to tackle crime.
“I am more concerned with the sons and daughters of our land than I am with international image,” she said.She argued that there was no such thing as a “little fish”.
“Every murderer, in my view, is a big fish. Every gang leader, murderer and bandit is a big fish because they hold our lives in their hands,” she said.
Yesterday’s Sunday sitting started at 10 am and ended at 2.50pm. It came after two days of debate, lasting over 28 hours over three sittings, as MPs raced to extend the August 21 proclamation before its expiry today. While the emergency proceedings were broken up over three sittings each on a separate day, the total number of hours used rivalled the longest ever single sitting of the Parliament.
At the end of yesterday’s Sunday sitting, which was described as “unprecedented” by Government Chief Whip Dr Roodal Moonilal, Speaker Wade Mark thanked MPs and Parliament staff.
“I would like to thank each member of this house for their invaluable contribution,” Mark said. “This debate was undoubtedly one of national importance.”
On Friday night, the House of Representatives passed a motion calling on MPs to take note of the President’s reasons for declaring the emergency. That resolution, which paved the way for the extension, came after a nine-hour debate, which began on Friday morning and saw MPs skip lunch and tea breaks.
President George Maxwell Richards last month declared a state of emergency, the seventh such declaration since this country’s Independence in 1962.
Yesterday’s vote saw the division take place twice after Government MPs interrupted the process by crying “Shame!” for each Opposition no-vote.
A total of 23 MPs spoke in the extension debate which began on Saturday and ended yesterday. Also, ten MPs spoke on the motion which preceded the debate on Friday. Several PNM MPs – including Opposition Leader Rowley, Arouca/Maloney MP Alicia Hospedales, Diego Martin North/east MP Colm Imbert, and St Ann’s East MP Joanne Thomas – spoke in both motions.
The extension debate, the first of its kind since 1972, saw heated views exchanged between the Government and Opposition benches, starting with several contributions on Saturday.
“We on this side, under no circumstances, can support this motion,” Diego Martin North/East Colm Imbert argued on that day as the first PNM speaker on the extension motion.
Tabaquite MP Dr Suruj Rambachan, the Communications Minister, fired back, lashing the PNM for its own record on dealing with crime.
“My colleagues on the other side should hold their heads in shame,” he said. “On the one hand they argue they are against the state of emergency while at the same time they have done nothing to deal with crime all of these years.”
Cumuto/Manzanilla MP Collin Partap, a Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, said history will judge the PP Government.
“History will say we stood by citizens’ side and defended them against the criminals,” he said. He launched a loud, boisterous attack against the Opposition. “The state of emergency was imposed because of what they left us with! They turned a blind eye to the criminal elements!”
Port-of-Spain South PNM MP Marlene McDonald hit back at Partap’s contribution, saying, “I will not bawl at you I will not shout at you. I am not in a rum shop.” Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley said a state of emergency had not been justified in the Parliament. At the same time, he said an emergency was an option considered as a viable option by the last PNM administration in the fight against crime.
“Our position was that it was always an option, an option that was considered and not deemed desirable,” he said.
At 11.40 pm on Friday, Government Chief Whip Dr Roodal Moonilal moved the adjournment to yesterday morning, and a division was called in which the Opposition MPs voted against the adjournment. The House was adjourned to yesterday when debate continued.
During yesterday’s debate, Moonilal knocked Rowley over his record of supporting former Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s 1995 move to have a state of emergency in an impasse with then Speaker Occah Seepaul.
D’Abadie O’mera MP Anil Roberts, the Sports Minister, said while some would lose income, they would no longer have to fear for the lives going home late at night.
Mayaro MP Winston “Gypsy” Peters hit back at those ascribing racial motives to the Government, quoting from his famous song, “Little Black Boy”.
Lopinot/Bon Air West MP Lincoln Douglas – like McDonald and Hypolite had before him – quoted WB Yeats’s poem, The Second Coming.
“This nation began to fall apart, the centre was not holding,” he said of Trinidad and Tobago under seize by crime over the years.
