Congress of the People (COP) leader Prakash Ramadhar says he is in support of the death penalty and will assist the People’s Partnership (PP) in pushing through legislation when the matter is brought before Parliament again. Speaking to the media after the party's executive meeting at the COP headquarters in Charlieville, Chaguanas, yesterday, Ramadhar said a strong message must be sent to those who commit the most heinous of crimes that they must pay the ultimate penalty for murder.
“It is important for us to recognise that a message has to be sent that those who're willing to take life, that the most severe consequence is available to them,” Ramadhar said. “That is why the Government had brought legislation in the past to categorise murders, the most grievous of them, premeditated murders, assassinations. Those are the ones that once one is charged and convicted, you must pay the penalty with your life.”
The country has already recorded seven murders for the year and Ramadhar admitted the PP must deal with the issue. “Murder is atrocious for all. It is something that certainly needs to be addressed, but we’ve taken steps in terms of the detection of crime, such as DNA legislation and labs and the use of science to solve crimes.”
He said it was easy to talk about the number of offences, but it was really about the use of technology to detect who was responsible and then bring them to justice.
Ramadhar said tremendous effort had been made by the Government to speed up trials, but before cases could get to trial they must be solved and suspects arrested, and the use of science would go a long way towards achieving those ends. He said in preparation for general elections this year, all party executives were asked last year to look at potential candidates for screening, so that they could have candidates of “good quality.”
Responding to whether the COP would go it alone or remain in the coalition, Ramadhar said the lessons of 2007 were still with them. He said the COP was still an independent party, but it had learned well in working with its partners. Ramadhar said it was not a perfect equation, but it was one that had worked well for the people of T&T.
He also said the country was on the precipice of an economic meltdown when the Government came into office and the PP had been able to stabilise the economy and politics of the country.