Will the State of Emergency continue without a curfew, as has been the case since it was first declared in July this year?
It's a question TV6 News posed to the Prime Minister today, following the second three-month extension of the SoE , approved by the House of Representatives last evening via the Government's majority.
00:00TV6 News sent a question to Prime Minister Kamala Passat-Bissesso on Saturday to find out if the state of emergency in Trinidad and Tobago will continue without a curfew and without any limitation on public gatherings over the next three months.
00:14Prime Minister Passat-Bissesso told TV6 News, quote, no curfew, end quote.
00:19The House of Representatives, via the government's majority on Friday, approved a motion for a second-to-three-month extension of the state of emergency, which was first declared by the President on July 18th and extended for an initial three-month period on July 28th, before the vote on Friday night, Opposition MP and former Prime Minister Stuart Young made reference to the Constitution.
00:42What we've been told so far does not conform with Section 8 of the Constitution. There's no eminence of war that we've been informed of, thank God. We are not in a state of a pandemic or earthquake or hurricane, a flood, a fire, thank God. So it could only be that there is something that is immediately threatened.
01:06MP Young referred to the statements made by members of the government.
01:10Coming here to say, I need more time to carry out operations I'm in the middle of, after having admitted to the country that the first time we came here in July, there was a specific threat, and that has been quelled. So the immediacy is gone.
01:28What is the extension for?
01:30I am cautioning Trinidad and Tobago, as I did in July. We cannot get into, we cannot get into a numbness and a desensitization of suspension of our constitutional rights. That is very dangerous.
01:47As Attorney General John Jeremy wound up the debate, he made reference to the SOE declared during the former PNM administration in December of last year.
01:57That they were declaring the state of emergency to deal with reprisal killings and high-powered guns.
02:05The Attorney General compared that to the state of emergency declared by the President in July of this year under the UNC-led government.
02:13There was a plot in the prisons to deal with the very institutions that we hold dear, which support democracy in this country.
02:25So, when you talk about the justification for the state of emergency, I just say, those are not ordinary police matters.
02:35But the ones that, the reasons that you got Her Excellency to act on, that is quintessential everyday police work.
02:46The AG said that when he piloted the motion for the new extension to the SOE, he said the threat was abated, and he also said the initial threat was dealt with.
02:56Abated means reduced. It does not mean eliminated. Okay? So let's just get that on the record.
03:08An initial, an initial threat, to say an initial threat, has been dealt with, does not connote in any way that there is finality.
03:24A division vote for the second three-month extension of the state of emergency was called.
03:29Because Attorney General Jeremy is a senator, he could not vote on a matter in the House of Representatives.
03:46Mr. Gonzalez? No.
03:48Ms. Beckels? No.
03:53Mr. Embed? No.
03:58Speaker of the House, Jagdeo Singh, announced the result.
04:01In favor of the motion, 27 members voted in favor, 12 members voted against the motion, and zero members abstained.
04:09The motion is passed by a margin of 27.5.
04:14The second three-month extension of the state of emergency in Trinidad and Tobago ends in January of next year, 2026.
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