Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday expressed alarm at the brazen and brutal way criminals have been killing citizens, saying crime in T&T had now become a national crisis.
In addressing hundreds of delegates at the People’s National Movement (PNM) special convention at St John’s Ambulance Brigade Hall, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, Rowley said there were three issues—security, economy and unemployment—that had been affecting the country and “attracting the attention of the Caribbean in a way that we have not anticipated.”
Of the three issues, Rowley said the most worrying was crime, since the murder rate for 2016 had reached 122 as of yesterday.
“So for January, February and March the criminals have put away 122 of us. At that rate, if it does not abate we could be looking at about 500 people being killed in Trinidad and Tobago. That is a whole unacceptable state of affairs...unacceptable,” Rowley told the crowd at the convention, which was themed “Enriching Our Democracy”.
Despite increasing the strength of the protective services, Rowley said it was disheartening to know that firearms have been flooding the streets and people have been losing their lives by way of “strangulation and gasoline. The last person I saw being killed was by gasoline...something like that.”
He said while people continue to kill one another in a brutal and uncaring way, the Government has a responsibility to find the perpetrators “and put them where they belong.” He said while many people believed that crime was a political issue, it was currently a “national crisis”, noting criminals were now using the Internet and cellphones to conduct their illegal operations.
While criminals continue to become a law unto themselves, Rowley said the detection rate of the T&T Police Service was poor. “Our detection level is totally unacceptable. We cannot have a detection level in the face of a crime wave and a killing spree like this. The criminals now know the odds are in their favour. We have to undo this,” he said.
It is for this reason Rowley said the Government was attempting to amend the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) Act to give the Government greater ability in collecting and gathering information on people who are intent on committing crimes. However, he said the Opposition was now finding issue with the SSA Bill, describing it as a deadly molotov cocktail waiting to explode.
“I am telling you here today, we are inviting the Opposition to join this battle against the criminals...and with or without them we are going to pass the bill.” Rowley said the PNM supported the Interception of Communications Act in 2010, which gave the then People’s Partnership government the power to intercept people’s conversations in a bid to find criminals.
“Is to hear them now...who will spy on who. I easily led my team to support that bill because the prime minister of the day, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, had told the country that she had found evidence of the last prime minister (Patrick Manning) and his government spying on a whole range of people. And I was upset about that. I said we have to have a law to control that. And we supported the bill and we ask the last prime minister where is the evidence? To this day they have not provided one iota of evidence.”
In the last six months, Rowley said the Government had done a proper assessment of the state of the country and were now in a position to act.
Point highway under scrutiny
Rowley also spoke about the People’s Partnership entering into a contract with OAS Constructora for the extension of the Solomon Hochoy Highway to Point Fortin three days before the September 7 general elections last year.
“You would have thought that they would have learnt from Section 34. A leopard does not change its spots. On that day (September 4) they entered into the contract that existed before with OAS and waived the clause and allowed the Government to fire the contractor for being bankrupt.
“And they trying to explain today that there was good reason for doing that. That was a conspiracy between the Government and the contractor. Very much like section 34 or in the same vain. If we find evidence of one suspicion they will be prosecuted.”
He said “if our institutions cannot function to hold people accountable when they do wrong,” T&T was in a bigger risk than we thought. He said T&T could no longer depend on oil and gas as its main revenue earners, but we needed to keep afloat.
“We may not survive the same way...the same level...splurging the same way. We will survive. What it calls for is good level headed thinking and serious leadership.”
The economic crisis that is before us, Rowley said, will affect all in some way or the other.
“There is nobody in this country who could say that what is ahead of us will not affect me. Is either you not aware or you don’t care. We are all in this together. We will ensure that the burden is shared by all in a way that is equitable, reasonable and practical.”