Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi has rejected calls from the Prisons Officers Association (POA) for off duty officers to carry firearms. He said that is not the answer to their security concerns.
He also hit out at officials of the local gaming industry saying they make enough money to ensure no employee should be on the breadline. Al-Rawi was speaking at a constituency meeting held at the Pt Cumana Community Centre yesterday.
Last week prisons officers went to the Canadian High Commission and tried to get an audience with the High Commissioner about granted asylum in that country after claiming the Government was turning a blind eye to their concerns.
However, the AG said the association is well aware of plans between this country and Canada.
“The Prisons Officers Association has an obligation to tell this country that the Attorney General and Minister of National Security went to work with the Canadian Government.
“They went and they came back and the Government of Canada has assisted this country. The Prisons Officers Association knows this and we told them that as soon as we got the Canadian overview with the T&T overview we would perfect the work we are doing,” he said.
Al-Rawi said there were many hardworking prison officers and he challenged the POA to lead the charge in saying how illegal weapons and other illicit items like phones enter the prisons.
“Passing more laws to say everybody take a gun and go home may not be the only solution. Passing more laws to say everybody take a house and go home may not be necessarily be the best solution. Ensuring that the criminal empires do not continue to work inside the prisons is the solution ...and let’s be honest as a society.
“But it is not to say that prisons officers are not pulling their weight and I can tell you the most responsive arm in requesting information comes from the prisons. But I implore the association, have faith that there is a strategy in place,” he said.
Al-Rawi also shot back at claims that workers in the gaming industry are suffering, noting that the industry is not poor.
“I cannot tell you ...declaring my interest as an attorney, I worked in the gaming sector for 15 years,” he said.
“There is more than enough money in the gaming sector for all of those employees to be employed and they are being abused in the process. I make no apologies for saying that.”