Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says she has advised Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran to accept an invitation from Jamaica to discuss the recent deportation of 13 of their nationals from T&T last week. “A letter came today of invitation from Jamaica and I have advised him to accept the invitation and to go to Jamaica and speak with his counterparts there,” Persad-Bissessar said. She made the statement while addressing reporters after the unveiling of a new police station in Arima yesterday.
Persad-Bissessar could not give the exact date Dookeran will fly to Jamaica, but said she believed that dialogue was the best way to the resolve the issue. “It appears, from the letter of invitation, Jamaica is open to dialogue, as we are, and therefore I am not of the respectful view that our diplomatic relations have deteriorated,” she said.
When asked about reports of Jamaicans being encouraged to boycott products from T&T, she said: “It is something we would not like see happen, in the same way I am sure Jamaica won’t like to see T&T boycott Jamaican goods, because we are all members of Caricom and I’m sure dialogue is the best way forward rather than dropping blows.”
Persad-Bissessar said from the information she received from National Security Minister Gary Griffith, she believed the immigration officers who took the decision were acting within their discretion. “It seems so far, from the briefing received from immigration through Minister Griffith, that T&T has been well within its discretionary powers in terms of refusing entry or disallowing it, until any further evidence may come forward,” she said.
While referring to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) judgment in the case of Jamaican national Shanique Myrie against the Barbadian government, Persad-Bissessar said although there was a provision for granting Caricom nationals an automatic six-month stay upon entry, there were certain exceptions to the rule.
“There is no blanket acceptance of a Caricom national coming into T&T,” she said. The said from her understanding of the judgment, immigration officials may refuse a Caricom national entry if the individual is blacklisted or if they suspect that they (the individual) would be a “charge on the public purse.” “There is a procedure that should be followed if one is refused entry, so we are looking into all of that with a view of upholding the law as pronounced upon by the CCJ,” she said.