00:00The state of emergency by its very nature in the law has a short term. You
00:06have to go to the Parliament on Monday, which is required by law, having
00:11had a proclamation of this nature at the behest of the government through the
00:15Office of the President. Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley, before he announced he
00:19would not be seeking re-election in the upcoming general election. Dr. Rowley, who
00:23chairs the National Security Council, spoke about the state of emergency which
00:27took effect in Trinidad and Tobago on Monday, December 30th, 2024. The Prime
00:33Minister was speaking in Tobago during a media conference on Friday, January 3rd,
00:372025, as he sought to allay the fears of many citizens as the nation is under
00:43martial law. We have 15 days within which to go to the Parliament because, as I
00:48said, we still maintain that we are going to be a country under law. The state of emergency
00:54does not vitiate any of our other laws. It creates powers which the security
01:00services otherwise would not have had by removing certain requirements for them
01:04to do certain things. And one check and balance of those powers will be the
01:08tribunal pursuant to the emergency powers for the state of emergency. The
01:13members of the tribunal were announced in the Trinidad and Tobago Gazette on
01:16Friday as follows. Senior Counsel Deborah Peake as the chairman, Senior Counsel
01:22Ian Benjamin as member, and Senior Counsel Lee Mary as member. The Gazette
01:27noted the tribunal was appointed by Acting Chief Justice Nolan Barrow. The
01:33same way the proclamation is done by the President, the protection for the
01:39detainees, done by the Chief Justice, he will appoint in his or her own power and
01:46own right, three people, a three-person panel, to look at what is happening with
01:51respect to persons whose rights have been abridged. The Prime Minister
01:54reiterated the previous statement by Acting Attorney General Stuart Young
01:58that the state of emergency is meant to allow the police service and the
02:01defense force to go after those involved in criminal gang activity and to get
02:06illegal guns and ammunition off the streets without the requirement of a
02:10search warrant. I don't know that the, again I don't want to play lawyer. You're
02:16talking about the person whose door has been broken down. I'm not sure if that
02:20qualifies to go before the tribunal, but what I do know is that a person who has
02:24lost his or her right and freedom, like a detainee, that person can go to the
02:31tribunal. Other than that, the rest of the country's laws remain in force. The
02:35Prime Minister said that after the initial three-month period ratified by
02:39the Parliament for the state of emergency, the government can seek an
02:43additional three-month extension via the Parliament, but the maximum length of
02:47time the SOE can last is six months. Jule Brown, TV6 News.
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