PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says intelligence will guide any consideration to reduce the curfew hours as has been requested by the business community as well as for the extension of the curfew to other parts of Trinidad and Tobago.
She was speaking to the media on Sunday evening during a break from a meeting with the National Security Council and ministers at her Palmiste home where she was being updated on the last week of activities during the State of Emergency.
On the request by members of the business community she said: “We will certainly give consideration to that, the adjustment of the curfew hours, in the fullness of time with the National Security Council and should the intelligence that we have permit, we can so do.
“Today I cannot say that is a decision that we have taken. It is a matter, as all matters,that will be taken into consideration as we move forward in the days to come.”
Asked about extending the curfew to other parts of the country, the Prime Minister said, “There is no intelligence at this time that warrants such an extension (of the curfew) into the southern areas. I do not have any intelligence and unless there is such intelligence that the area is under serious threat as other areas and that we should extend the curfew into those areas. Should intelligence be forthcoming otherwise, certainly we will discuss it at the National Security Council level and take appropriate action.”
“I think my constituents may have not been properly advised or briefed as to what was happening. There was one incident, it was not a kidnapping, my information is that it was a domestic matter, a family matter in a sense. I don’t want to go into the details of the personal lives of those persons involved.”
Persad-Bissessar also denied accusations from members of the public that the curfew and arrests were race oriented and designed to target a certain group in the society.
“This is aimed at the fight against crime…we will do whatever it takes, we will not compromise. The allegations are totally false and indeed some persons bent on mischief who are making these allegations. I think the majority of our citizens are very happy with what is happening, they feel comfortable, they feel safer, they can sleep in their homes…I think that is what we should look at.”
The Prime Minister also announced plans to introduce community outreach programmes in addition to those that are already in place through the Ministry of National Security and other ministries.
“By next week Minister of Gender, Youth and Child Development, (Verna St Rose Greaves), Dr Bhoe Tewarie, Minister of Planning, and the Minister of National Security John Sandy through their ministries would be rolling out several initiatives for community outreach and community building or rebuilding of communities.
“So this is not a one-shot operation, we have a lot of different strategies in the fight against crime. Let us not forget that already the serious crime rate is lower now than it was the same time last year. While that is an achievement and because of the intelligence that we have obtained, we felt it very necessary to take this action that we have taken and I feel very positive thus far.”
The Government, she added, does have a strategy to deal with crime after the State of Emergency is lifted, but it would be revealed in due course.
