POLICY IS FOR CABINET NOT JUDGES SAYS PM

CCNTV6

Policy is for the Cabinet.  That's the message from the Prime Minister to to the Judicary.  In doing so, the Prime Minister spoke about who he called "activist judges."  However, the Prime Minister says he cannot argue with the Judge who was critiical of a comment that was attributed to the Police Commissioner in an affidavit in a matter of a delay in the granting of one Firearm User's Licence.  The  Prime Minister said the affidavit was not submitted by the top cop.  Juhel Browne reports.

Transcript

00:00 Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, who chairs the National Security Council, responded to a question

00:05 during the conversations with the Prime Minister event on Tuesday night about a judgment made by

00:10 High Court Justice Frank Cipesad on Monday about a seven-year delay in the granting of a firearm

00:15 user's license to a Tobago businessman. The experts reported that the judge stated,

00:20 quote, "It is simply outrageous that a sitting police commissioner would elect to adopt a 'well

00:26 I have plenty to work do' stance in defense of the delay," unquote, which had transpired in the matter.

00:33 TV6 News has since seen a copy of the judgment.

00:36 "What I discovered was that the commissioner herself did not put in an affidavit in the court."

00:46 The Prime Minister said a senior member of the police service put that affidavit in the court.

00:52 "Unfortunately, it is ascribed to the commissioner and that don't look good and didn't make the

00:58 commissioner look good and of course the judge, I think, went overboard in excoriating the

01:08 commissioner who incidentally was not personally responsible for that affidavit. It was an officer

01:15 of her department but I say she takes responsibility because at least she should have known what was

01:21 being said in her name." The Prime Minister also said he discovered that in-house lawyers for the

01:26 police service cleared the affidavit. "Because anybody would have been provoked by such a foolish

01:33 statement but more importantly when the government is taken to court, whether it is the Prime

01:40 Minister, the Commissioner, police officer, there are such serious implications that the government

01:46 must always be represented by proper high-level competent lawyers." Prime Minister Rowley said he

01:54 could not argue with the judge who received the affidavit. However, the Prime Minister gave Police

01:59 Commissioner Eula Heaworth Christopher a pass on that matter as he had a message for the judiciary.

02:05 "Under our system of governance, policy is for the cabinet and approved by the parliament.

02:16 So activist judges who speak as though they could make the policy and guide public servants what to

02:22 do. I am saying that the government's policy ought to be respected. The government has no policy

02:31 to arm the population." The Prime Minister did not mention the name of any judge. "A PNM government

02:37 has a different approach. We get firearms into the population in a controlled and service way,

02:44 screened and we are not here about talking about because you have crime in the country

02:50 that everybody is entitled to a gun and therefore the judge says so. Policy is for the cabinet."

02:58 Jule Brown, TV6 News.

03:02 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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