Former Minister in the Ministry of National Security, Senior Counsel Keith Scotland, is questioning the government's credibility, saying it cannot be trusted to stand by its word. He notes that the state of emergency was imposed over threats to government ministers, threats the authorities now say have been neutralized and he is asking what justifies the extension. Scotland SC is also taking aim at the government's criticism of the media and the public on Friday, saying that when the state is mum, public panic is inevitable.
00:00Senior counsel Keith Scotland tells the TV6 Morning Edition that the opposition's initial support for the government's declaration of a state of emergency was grounded in the understanding that it sought to protect the lives of government officials facing credible threats.
00:17However, he now contends that the government's decision to extend the measure, citing so-called Phase 2, is both unjustified and troubling. MP Scotland argues that if those threats have indeed been neutralised, then there is no legitimate basis for maintaining a state of emergency merely to confront criminal gangs.
00:41What is the verifiable information about Phase 2 and dismantling? They're catchphrases. And we say, we say that it's our position. Tell us a little more, because you really haven't told us anything for the extension.
00:57What you have said to our simple minds, simple minds, that's what my mind is, is that what you are doing is extending the state of emergency to do what normal police will order, which is the dismantling of gangs.
01:12On Friday, panic rippled across the country after reports surfaced that all members of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service and the Defence Force had been ordered to assemble at their bases.
01:26Amid mounting regional tensions and fears of possible conflict, citizens left work early, parents rushed to collect their children from school, and shoppers flooded supermarkets in preparation for a potential lockdown.
01:41Several government officials have since condemned the media for false reporting and the public for believing misinformation.
01:49But today, Senior Counsel Scotland says such reactions are inevitable when the government chooses silence over transparency.
01:58He also doesn't believe that the action was due to pending protest or a drill, as was later stated by government.
02:06Would you not say, well, there's an imminent protest, you protesters, we are coming to neutralise you, and would you call out all the members of the Defence Force?
02:16Would you call out all police officers on leave? I think, respectfully, that they are making this up as they go along in response to inability to govern properly.
02:33The nationwide panic on Friday was a direct manifestation of escalating geopolitical friction involving Trinidad and Tobago, the U.S. and Venezuela.
02:44Today, Senior Counsel Scotland warns that such unease reflects deeper uncertainty over the nation's foreign policy stance.
02:53Yes, you align yourself with the United States of America, but that can't just be your only ally.
03:00When the deal was cancelled, I don't know what was expected of Venezuela. I don't know.
03:06I don't know. You side openly against me and then you expect me to engender good trade and good oil and gas relations.
03:16I don't know the intricacies of that, but I can tell you just, at first blush, that response ought to have been expected.
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