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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