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CCNTV6
  • 11 months ago

The various business chambers are tonight expressing cautious optimism, following government's State of Emergency announcement... and at least one Chamber says it would be in support of a curfew. Rynessa Cutting reports.

Transcript
00:00A step in the right direction is how the various business chambers view government's decision
00:05to implement a state of emergency, with at least 624 murders recorded one day before
00:11year's end.
00:13But with the business community under siege from the criminal elements, the Shugona's
00:17business chamber is calling for transparency and accountability.
00:22But at the end of the state of emergency, we would like for him to come to us, or even
00:25during the course of the state of emergency, and say to us that we have recovered X amount
00:30of guns and ammunitions and we have achieved what we initially set out.
00:36We are asking that simply because we don't want this to be an exercise in futility or
00:41PR exercise.
00:43We want actionable steps, we want this to be measured, and we want it to be measured
00:47in such a way that there is restored confidence by the business community as well as the general
00:55population.
00:56Baldath further tells TV6, after a bit of a lull in extortion threats, the activity
01:02picked up again with the onset of the Christmas season.
01:05So we did have, I would say, a few weeks without anyone calling the chamber to say here's what.
01:11What do I do?
01:12Can you report this to the police for me?
01:14But in the recent past, I would say about two weeks ago, we have been, you know, starting
01:18to get calls again.
01:19So we have quite a few people have been calling around, and the police have a good idea who
01:24they might be, but without proper evidence, they might not get, let's say, a search warrant
01:29to go into that community or into that household to gather further evidence and make arrests.
01:35So with the state of emergency now, and as we spoke earlier, the police has already been
01:41on the street conducting raids, and it's the opportune time now to get those people out
01:46and to get information from them, and eventually evidence.
01:49And although the government has indicated that it did not impose a curfew in the interest
01:54of the business community, the Chaguanas Business Chamber says it would be in support of that
01:59move.
02:00Crime is affecting business overall.
02:04So a curfew is something important that would help to reduce crime, that would eventually
02:10allow business to thrive, because people don't want to go out at certain times.
02:15So I think it's a two-edged sword there, but I think a curfew would be beneficial.
02:20But in Porto, Spain, the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association is grateful that no
02:25curfew has been implemented.
02:26However, association head Gregory Abboud says the business community is adopting a wait-and-see
02:32approach as it pertains to the effectiveness of the SOE.
02:37But we were not sure how giving additional authority and powers to the police would assist
02:46them when they weren't using the authority and the powers which they now had, because
02:50there is so much that they can be doing and we're not seeing it happening.
02:55In particular, the investigation of the crimes and the arrest of the perpetrators, the country
03:01is anxiously awaiting results.
03:04A state of emergency is only an initiative that will be meaningless without results.
03:10So let's see if we could get results.
03:12We would like to wish the government well, wish the protective services well, that they
03:17will succeed.
03:18And may we also add that those walking around with guns and ammunition are not the only
03:23criminals in the country.
03:25Those facilitating the importation of guns and ammunition need to be apprehended as well,
03:32and we hope that the state of emergency will do just that.
03:36Meantime, the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce has labelled the
03:40SOE a necessary measure in the best interest of the public given the current crime crisis.
03:47However, the chamber stresses that while the SOE is an important step, it is not a standalone
03:53solution.
03:54The TTCIC is calling for a comprehensive, sustainable plan to effectively combat crime.
04:00Renassa Kating, TV6 News.
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