00:00The senior council self-appointed spend the whole evening telling us that we are
00:05breaching the rights there is no greater breach of the right of a citizen than to
00:11be having to lose your life to unlawful action. Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley
00:17in the House of Representatives just after 930 on Monday night as he wound up
00:22the debate for the three-month extension of the state of emergency in Trinidad and
00:26Tobago. Dr. Rowley was making an apparent reference to the contribution made
00:30earlier by opposition leader and senior council Kamala Prasad Bissessa. I recall
00:36the last time we were here in 2011 with extending states of emergency and so on
00:41I think it was a member for legal Martin Northeast was adamant that the extension
00:47should not be for three months that it should be for come back in one month and
00:51give us a review let us let there be a review you're taking away several very
00:56strong powerful constitutional rights for three months forward and there is no
01:00review. An apparent reference to the SOE during the People's Partnership
01:05Administration which was led by Mrs. Prasad Bissessa. When the government led
01:10by Dr. Rowley first announced that the president had declared the current state
01:14of emergency on December 30th 2024 the then acting Attorney General Stuart
01:20Young said there were no restrictions on public gatherings and that there would
01:24be no curfew. And you are so concerned about the semblance and even the
01:30misrepresentation of the government's actions because citizens fundamental
01:38rights are being destroyed by a very carefully tailored state of emergency
01:45that stays away so far from the law-abiding citizen to be minimally
01:52disruptive of the law-abiding. What an appropriate word. The Prime Minister
02:11acknowledged a point by the opposition that may reflect the concern of many
02:15outside of the Parliament. The question arises and it arose in some of the
02:20presentations what happens after the state of emergency and the answer is
02:26simple. We remain engaged and we try to improve our response to the criminal
02:34element and we expect that is not only the government but all aspects of state
02:40responsibility will take it on as a responsibility to respond to the
02:45The Prime Minister then directly referred to the judiciary. There's no
02:51point in the police doing the work and when they get to the courthouse the
02:56criminals are happier than the police. Rights, rights, rights, no responsibility,
03:01no responsibility. Revolving the operating in the bail system, leniency
03:09from the magistrates and the judges. I mean we all have to tell the criminals
03:14we see you, we hear you, we know you, we catch you, we convict you and we will
03:20restrict you. That's what it has to be. The Prime Minister having made his points made a
03:25closing declaration. And I think you're all reasonable. The political arguments have
03:30been heard. We need to extend the state of emergency as tailor as it is, as
03:37inobtrusive as it is to the law-abiding citizen. Let's extend it for another three
03:42months and hopefully at the end of that three months we can tell you that we have made some
03:46significant progress. The three-month extension of the state of emergency was
03:50approved via the government's simple majority. Jule Brown, TV6 News.
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