NEW YEARS MESSAGES

CCNTV6

Three of the country's public figures highlight crime in their New Year's Messages. referencing the State of Emergency, The PM says the state must act, the Top Cop vows her officers will not surrender and the Opposition Leader urges citizens to make 2025 the year of change.

Transcript

00:00Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley urges citizens to begin the calendar year

00:042025 energized and open to new perspectives on the challenges

00:09confronting the nation. In his New Year's message he asked the country to

00:13consider the state of emergency aimed at criminal elements in open warfare

00:19against each other and those who are intent on making that the norm in

00:23Trinidad and Tobago. Dr. Rowley says quote as much as we

00:27treasure our fundamental rights and freedoms when murder home invasion

00:32kidnappings and extortion become the choice of commercial activity and

00:36sustenance of people who threaten the peace and security of the national

00:41population the state must then act decisively to restore a balance between

00:46the fundamental rights of all citizens and the protection from the dangerous

00:51excesses carried out by a lawless few end quote. While government he says

00:56understand that some citizens hold fears over the direction of the country

01:01rather than hope he urges all to imagine how intolerable and shattering our lives

01:06would be without that very virtue of hope. The start of 2025 he says is a good

01:12time to ask basic questions like how should I live my life? What sort of

01:17person should I be? What shall I aim for? And they should be raised by parents at

01:22home, family gatherings, schools, religious places and workplaces even

01:28amongst members of Parliament because he says the challenges we face as a country

01:33particularly crime has to be handled collectively. Meanwhile Commissioner of

01:37Police Earlier Hayward Christopher vows the TTPS will not surrender or retreat

01:42in the fight against the criminals. She says she's confident that united the

01:46public and the TTPS can win this battle. In her New Year's Day message the Top

01:52Cop recognized the year begins under extraordinary circumstances with the

01:56nation in a state of emergency. Hayward Christopher says Trinidad and

02:00Tobago like other countries in the region and around the world is plagued

02:04by the incidents of violent crime despite a valiant and robust effort by

02:09the TTPS and its law enforcement partners. While dealing with the broad

02:14spectrum of crime the seizure of illegal firearms and ammunition and the

02:19dismantling of criminal gangs she says remain their most urgent task. The

02:24existing high evidential threshold to lay gang-related charges she says

02:29undermine their efforts at improving the detection rate. The Top Cop says while

02:34they may have not achieved their targets significant progress though not

02:38immediately apparent has been made as she assured citizens they are the

02:43beneficiaries of that progress and should therefore not underestimate the

02:47level of intelligence and operational work done by the TTPS. And in her New

02:54Year's message opposition leader Kamala Bassad-Bassas describes 2024 as one of

02:59the most difficult and challenging years for TNT. It was a year she said when the

03:04country experienced unparalleled trauma and terror from the unprecedented crime

03:09and violence wave that has plunged the nation into a seemingly permanent state

03:13of darkness and despair. Bassad-Bassas says quote 2024 will perhaps be

03:19remembered as one of the worst years in our nation's history end quote. She says

03:24citizens were left emotionally traumatized by over 625 murders, home

03:29invasions, assaults, robberies, extortions, brutal sadistic rapes, kidnappings,

03:35bullying in schools and failures in the health sector which led to the deaths of

03:39over 20 newborn babies. But the opposition leader says all is not lost

03:44as 2025 will allow for the regaining of peace and prosperity, security and

03:49progress as TNT is to undergo what she calls a historic general election. The

03:54message reads quote know that once we collectively and individually commit to

03:59changing our reality, restoring and rebuilding our broken nation, we will

04:03give ourselves, our children and our country a fighting chance to quickly

04:08improve our social and economic realities, preserve our Republic and

04:12ensure future progress and survival end quote.

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