The support of two Independent Senators — Hugh Ian Roach and Justin Junkere — last night assisted in propelling Government’s controversial Strategic Services Agency (SSA) Bill towards passage.
The vote was the climax of strong debate on the bill over several weeks in the Lower House, and this week in the Upper House again with 21 speakers there. Up to yesterday’s final stage, controversy was heavy on the bill, which seeks to expand the remit of the SSA, which can employ wiretapping in collecting intelligence.
The SSA’s ambit under the amendment would extend to collecting information, not only on drug issues (as it currently does) but also on a host of offences listed as “serious crime”. This includes treason, sedition, terrorism, terrorist financing, corruption, money laundering and other crimes.
Roach and Junkere, out of the nine Independent senators, voted with the Government in favour of passage of the bill around 9.19 pm last night. Junkere is a temporary Independent who was acting for Independent senator David Small, who is overseas.
The rest of the seven Independents and six Opposition senators voted against the bill.
Final vote on the bill was 17 for (15 Government senators plus Roach and Junkere) and 13 against (the seven Independents and six Opposition senators). The bill was subsequently placed before the Senate’s committee stage for final discussion from 9.45 pm.
Independent senators who voted against the bill were Dr Dhanayshar Mahabir, Taurel Shrikissoon, Melissa Ramkissoon, Sophia Chote, SC, Paul Richards, Jennifer Raffoul and Stephen Creese. The Independents had voiced strong concerns about the bill.
Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, winding up debate, said it was time to stop talking and to take action on crime. He noted T&T’s international partners have said they will not share information with T&T unless there is a single entity to handle it, as the issue of “foreign terrorist fighters is a big issue for T&T”.
He said the Solicitor General had advised the bill didn’t need a special majority vote for passage. He said sending the bill to a select committee would not work since only six people serve on such teams. He also said people were before the court facing charges in the murder of Dana Seetahal SC due to the SSA’s work.
Independent senator Chote, in her address, had said the security agencies failed murdered state prosecutor Seetahal. Saying debate was not about what people had to “hide”, she took issue with the impact of the bill on institutions such as the Integrity Commission, Police Complaints Authority and others and said the bill lacked avenues for redress. (GA)
She also expressed concern that threats might be made to people to reveal information collected on them. Chote noted that since Special Branch had said it hadn’t known about the Day of Policing, whether the SSA would have been able to improve on that.
Independent senator Raffooul also saw the bill was imposing a culture of fear on the population and affecting human rights. She said there was no justification for the impact and there would be duplication of efforts by the SSA and police.
Opposition senator Wayne Sturge, calling for withdrawal of the bill, argued a special majority was needed. He said the bill threatened journalists whose sources would no longer be confidential, since the SSA would be tapping into their sources. Sturge questioned if the SSA’s failure in drug interdiction was meant to benefit drug kingpins
Several PNM Government senators, including those who spoke yesterday - Foster Cummings and Hafeez Ali -, sought to allay concerns. Cummings accused the Opposition of rejecting the bill as it had “cocoa in the sun” and of riling up the population on the bill. Yesterday’s debate took place against a background of a protest - outside of Parliament- on the bill by a group of Congress of the People (COP) members. They included Ronald Hinkson, Jean Paul Pouchet and others plus activist Philip Alexander.