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  • 4 months ago
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is defending the extension of the State of Emergency.

However, she is seeking to make it clear that it is not the 'be all and end all' as it pertains to her government's crime plan.

She links the formation of an alleged "criminal syndicate" to actions taken by the former People's National Movement Administration.

Alicia Boucher has more in this report.
Transcript
00:00This was not the plan to fight Kraman. Again, it is hypocrisy to stand here and shout from the rooftops
00:06to talk about where's the plan, where's the plan, where's the plan. You for nine years had no plan.
00:12Prime Minister Kamala Passat-Bissessa says the declaration of the state of emergency
00:16was specifically to treat with a criminal syndicate formed behind prison walls in building 13
00:22of the maximum security prison and extended to criminal elements on the outside.
00:28They were extracted and put into another location where they could be on lockdown as it were
00:34because what was happening in that prison based on the reports we received was absolutely astonishing
00:39and frightening. But she claims that it was actions taken by the People's National Movement
00:45which contributed to that security threat. Then as Minister of National Security,
00:51member of the power of Spain, what did he do? He took all the main kingpins and he put them in a
00:57building called Building 13. Building 13 in the maximum security prison.
01:03And what the Honorable Agee shared with us earlier was happening is that all these kingpins
01:08coordinated, became a syndicate. According to the Prime Minister, they then ripped out all of the
01:15security mechanisms in that building. Passat-Bissessa says protecting the citizenry from criminals
01:21is one of her government's top priority. As the government moves to extend the SOE for three
01:27months, here's how the Prime Minister sums it up.
01:30It is a short, sharp constitutional tool. It is a precision search to sever prison to street
01:38command lines. It is a focused operation with clearly defined objectives. It is rights respecting.
01:46Normal life continues, as I said before, for the law abiding. It is not a blanket, as I said,
01:51no curfew. It is not a license for harassment or abuse. The Prime Minister says it will end when the
01:58threat no longer exists. As for her government's anti-crime plan, she says the dismantling of CPEP
02:06is part of that. CPEP had become a runaway horse, funding criminal activity under that
02:13administration. The program lost its moorings and became a financial burden on the state.
02:19Ghost employees, contractors aligned with active politicians, contractors tied to organized crime.
02:27Passat-Bissessa also makes mention of claims in a sworn affidavit by former chief executive officer
02:33of CPEP, Keith Eddy, that he was forced to sign off on extensions of contracts to the tune of $1.4
02:40billion days before the April 28th general election. And what happens with this? It continues
02:48to contribute to turf war, fighting, gang warfare, culture of ghosts at taxpayers' expense. So when
02:55they're all over, people crying and crying and they can't get food and they can't get anything.
02:59And then there are those who are telling me, if we shut these programs down, we will lose the
03:04election. But let me remind you, they extended everybody's contract in CPEP and you are doing
03:09all those make-work programs. So what happened? They lost the election. But she is also refuting
03:14claims that CPEP workers are starving. And it's not true when you say they're starving because
03:19those workers are still being paid. They're still being paid, as you speak. And if they're
03:26not being paid, then it's the contractors at the top who are keeping the monies that are
03:33given to these contractors to pay to the real workers.
03:36The Prime Minister states that as these programs, including URP, continue to be audited, her government
03:43will explore ways to help the most vulnerable. Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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