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  • 4 days ago
Opposition Leader Penelope Beckles is ramping up pressure on Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar, accusing her of making reckless claims about the PNM to divert attention from serious unanswered questions on national security.

The Opposition says the Prime Minister owes citizens clarity on the U.S. presence in Tobago and the installation of military radar equipment.
Transcript
00:00Opposition leader Penelope Beckles has taken the Prime Minister to task,
00:05condemning what she calls inflammatory statements made on two separate occasions,
00:10accusing the People's National Movement of protecting drug mafia finances
00:15and standing in the way of government's anti-drug and anti-human trafficking efforts.
00:21This is a very serious allegation, and I want to make it abundantly clear to the Honourable Prime Minister
00:31that statements of those natures should not be said if the evidence does not exist.
00:41And we are very certain in our minds that this is a distraction.
00:46Now, and I also want to put on record that I'm going to be exploring my options
00:58as leader of the People's National Movement as it relates to the issue of defamation.
01:04Beckles argues the statements are not only untrue, but are deliberately crafted to distract the population.
01:12Distract from what?
01:13She says it's the mounting questions Prime Minister Kamala Pisan-Bissasa must answer
01:19about the reported U.S. presence in Tobago.
01:22It is about time the Prime Minister tells us what is the truth.
01:26Is it that when the U.S. Marines went to Tobago, whether or not they went to install the radar,
01:38did they go there, did they go there for road repairs, did they go there to refuel that particular
01:47plane, what exactly did they go to Tobago for?
01:53Beckles is also demanding answers about the installation of a military radar system on the compound of
02:00the A&R Robinson Airport.
02:02If it is, the Prime Minister said I had to keep the radar a secret.
02:07The question that we must ask the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, what else is she keeping a secret
02:15from the people of Trinidad and Tobago?
02:17And it is only because of the pressure from the population and several persons that we found
02:25out about this radar.
02:26Not only that, the Prime Minister must tell the population why did she request that radar.
02:33The opposition leader claims the public's confidence in the Prime Minister's handling of national
02:38security is eroding.
02:40What did that radar cost?
02:43Who installed that radar?
02:47Whether any Trinidadian or Tobagonian has been trained to operate that radar.
02:56The people of Trinidad and Tobago are entitled to know what is happening to the data that is
03:03collected by that radar.
03:05The people of Trinidad and Tobago are entitled to know where would that information be installed
03:11and whether Trinidad and Tobago has any access to that radar.
03:18She says it's time the Prime Minister comes clean with the population.
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