Despite a call by the Law Association for the repeal of the Bail (Amendment) Bill, 2015, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says T&T cannot strive to fight crime while wanting to scrap legislations aimed at creating a safer T&T. Saying the bill was a good piece of law given the request from acting Commission of Police Stephen Williams and the statistics on guns, Persad-Bissessar yesterday noted that it was passed in the Senate on Tuesday night with full support of the Opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) and some Independent Senators.
Speaking to reporters after distributing keys to differently-abled Housing Development Corporation (HDC) applicants at SAPA, San Fernando, yesterday, the PM said while repeal was not an option, the legislation contained a census clause that allowed them to review it in the future. She added: “We are still of the view that this is a good piece of law given the circumstance that we have. We cannot say that we want to fight crime each day but when we bring very strong pieces of legislation we want to pull back.
“This kind of measure was used for that period of time when we had all the kidnappings. There was a similar position of no bail for 120 days for kidnapping for ransom. “Given the scenario now, where almost 72 to 75 per cent of the murders being committed are being committed by people holding guns, we think it is a good measure. “Of course there is the census clause, in that it can be reviewed at a future point in time but we affirm with conviction that this is the way to go forward now.”
She said Government had heard concerns raised about possible abuse of the law by corrupt police officers who would plant guns on citizens. Taking that into consideration, she said the bill initially had a clause which stated that once a person was found with or committed a crime with a gun, it would be sufficient to deny the person bail. However, she said Government felt it would be too dangerous to the bill and opted to deny bail to repeat offenders.
Vernella stays
While admitting that parts of Minister of State in the Ministry of the People and Social Development Vernella Alleyne-Toppin’s statement against Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley last week were inappropriate and despite continued calls for her removal, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar again said yesterday that she would not fire her.
She added: “I share the concerns with some citizens who felt that parts of her statement may not have been appropriate. I discussed it with her, she has apologised and I have accepted her apology. She remains as minister. “She apologised unreservedly within a short space of time. I think by the very next day she had apologised for, as I said, parts of her statement. “There are other parts of her statements that still leaves a lot of questions that have remained unanswered at this time.”