Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has agreed to meet with Opposition Leader, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, and her delegation on Friday at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair, to discuss rising crime in the country.
The talks are scheduled even as the National Security Council meets today to discuss a video in circulation from one of the country’s major criminal gangs, Rasta City gang, displaying a cache of weapons usually used by soldiers on the combat fields and moves by the Ministry of National Security to put more pressure on divisional commanders of the Police Service to be accountable for increasing crime detection in their respective areas.
In a letter, dated August 24 titled “Crime Crisis”, Persad-Bissessar requested an urgent meeting with Rowley and members of their respective national security teams so that they could engage in a “non-partisan dialogue on a way forward to combat serious crime.”
Persad-Bissessar said she hoped the meeting would blossom into a joint anti-crime initiative informed by representatives from both sides of the bench and, with the input of key national security stakeholders.
Yesterday, Rowley sent a letter to the Opposition Leader inviting her and her team for the meeting. However, it gave a deadline of the end of today to submit an agenda of items to be raised in the meeting.
Just last week at the weekly post-Cabinet media briefing, Rowley assured the population that the structure of the State to respond to those involved in crime was intact, vigorous and on the front burner.
He said he also welcomed talks with Persad-Bissessar on the issues, saying, however, that he hopes that it will not be used to score political points.
One of the topics that may be possibly be discussed is the issue of extending the life of the Bail (Amendment) Act and the Anti-Gang legislation.
In a previous release, Persad-Bissessar had expressed concerns that the Attorney General, Faris Al-Rawi, failed to be honest about the empirical data about how many people are in jail without bail under the existing law and who would become entitled to apply for bail post August 15.
Two points, she noted was that: Al-Rawi does not have the statistical data to show how many persons were denied bail under the Anti-Gang Act and Bail (Amendment) Acts and secondly, the release of prisoners who are on charges of kidnapping for ransom could be a security risk to the country after August 15.
She stated that Government’s rush to renew the law relating to the Anti-Gang Act and Bail (Amendment) Acts without any examination and analysis of the empirical data must be condemned.
“On what basis was the Parliament being asked to consider the renewal of these laws in the absence of such basic and vital information?” Persad-Bissessar said, in a previous release.