Opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar is accusing Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley of misrepresenting her party’s position on the controversial Anti-Gang Bill.
In a telephone interview with CNC 3 yesterday evening, Persad-Bissessar claimed Rowley’s statement, over her party’s alleged failure to raise objections over the legislation’s four-year sunset clause at the final stages of the Parliamentary debate (committee stage), was untrue.
“The Prime Minister continues to mislead the population and therefore the actual footage of what transpired at the committee stage is very important,” Persad-Bissessar said.
Responding to Rowley’s claims over the Hansard records, Persad-Bissessar said video recordings would tell a more complete story of what transpired.
“Sometimes the Hansard does not carry the actual words, especially where the Prime Minister was not a speaker on the floor,” Persad-Bissessar said, as she claimed that it was Rowley who pushed the vote on the sunset clause through despite objections from Opposition members.
“It was very clear that we were in favour of the two-year period, but the Government was very stubborn and did not want to compromise,” she said.
She also questioned why the Government was adamant in its position for a four-year clause.
“If this is so important and urgent, why do you need four years to gather evidence?” she said.
Persad-Bissessar claimed that a shorter clause was necessary because the legislation suspended the constitutional rights of citizens.
“We could not allow that in the best interest of the people of this country, to have such an abuse of power by the State for over two years,” she said.
She also suggested that the proposed impact of the legislation was overstated by Government.
“Quite frankly, we are of the view that this would not help in the fight against crime. This is really not the answer,” she said.
She also denied allegations that her party’s position was a personal attack on Rowley, as she said: “The Prime Minister does not need me or the Opposition to assassinate his character because he is doing a great job of that by himself.”