A tough-sounding National Security Minister Emmanuel George says he is intent on keeping up the pressure on criminals. He spoke during the Monday Night Forum of the United National Congress (UNC) at Tunapuna Hindu School. “Make no mistake, I intend to continue to keep up the pressure on the criminal elements,” George said.
He said the People’s Partnership Government remained “totally committed to law and order” and more anti-crime legislation was expected to be brought to Parliament shortly to assist in the fight. “Make no mistake, more of those laws are on the way,” he added. George said the PP Government also “brought laws to deal with white-collar crime.”
Saying the Patrick Manning government’s major assault on crime was led by an illegal Special Anti-Crime Unit, he said the Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration “maintains the view that you cannot fight crime by breaking the law.” He said a co-ordinating council had been set up to streamline all the crime-fighting agencies within the Ministry of National Security.
“One of the things that we do not do is tap phones, whether it be our political opponents or any others in the society,” George added, saying phone-tapping was now done legally. Also speaking at the meeting was Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who said the motion of no confidence in her to be debated in the House of Representatives next week was effectively a waste of the Parliament’s time.
She said it was the fourth such measure being brought by the Opposition People’s National Movement, and it cannot win. The PP has 29 seats in the Parliament while the PNM has only 12. Persad-Bissessar said the time could be more effectively spent passing laws to deal with the crime issue. Meanwhile, sacked justice minister Herbert Volney was among those who attended the meeting and stood next to Persad-Bissessar as she was introduced to speak. Volney was dismissed after the Section 34 fiasco.
