00:00Debate continued in the upper house for a fourth day on the proposed zones of special operations bill
00:07with opposition senators raising serious concerns about executive authority and oversight.
00:13Leading off for the opposition, PNM Senators Sanjeev Boodoo questioned provisions in the legislation
00:18that would grant the prime minister the power to declare zones of special operations,
00:23arguing that such authority departs from ordinary legal safeguards.
00:28To ask the Senate to give this prime minister the ability to unleash quasi-military occupation of certain communities is just unfair.
00:38Senator Boodoo said the bill allows the prime minister to act with sole discretion without consultation or advice.
00:45And by your executive decision only, to declare any community within Trinidad and Tobago a zone of special operations, Mr. President.
00:54And within such a zone, the prime minister then has the ability to deploy a joint command
01:00which comprises the police and defense force into that designated community.
01:06And while there, this joint command can establish cordoned areas, curfews, conduct, stop, search, seizure exercises without a warrant,
01:15make arrests and detain persons without a warrant and detain persons without charge
01:21and present them to court subsequently within a period of time unspecified by the legislation.
01:27He also argued that the state of emergency currently in effect has failed to deliver meaningful results,
01:34noting that more than 100 detainees were held without charges.
01:38How are we to believe that this bill is not going to be another arbitrary exercise of executive power
01:45unleashed on the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago?
01:48Another opposition senator, Foster Cummings, warned that the lack of clarity on where the zones of special operations may be declared
01:55makes the issue a national concern.
01:58As long as it is in Laventil or Mova or Maloney or La Hocketa or wherever we suspect that this special zone might be,
02:09we might be okay in voting for this legislation because it does not touch us.
02:14But the authority that we give to the government today through this legislation does not spell out for us today
02:26where these locations are.
02:29Tomorrow it can be right at your doorstep.
02:32Responding for the government, UNC Senator Anil Roberts said the country is under siege by criminal elements
02:38and argued that the zones of special operations are necessary to restore peace and safety.
02:44They cannot play football in the street like we used to play and stop with all.
02:48They cannot play cricket.
02:50They cannot come outside.
02:51The gangs have overtaken these and for anybody to come in the Senate and bring this disingenuous argument
02:57that safety and security will stop ordinary life.
03:01Ordinary life in these communities is not life at all.
03:05It is closer to death.
03:06Roberts also referred to comments made by the Prime Minister regarding the independent bench,
03:12prompting a point of order from independent Senator Sophia Choate.
03:16If you are selected by someone who has a proclivity or affiliation or an intimacy with one side,
03:23it is reasonable to think that you too may have that.
03:27You may not actually, but we're not talking about actual bias.
03:31We're talking about apparent.
03:32No senator shall make an imputation of improper motives against any member or an offensive reference to a member's private affairs.
03:44There's a clear imputation of an improper motive on the part of one of the independent senators on this bench,
03:55and I think that that is out of order, and I ask you, Honorable President, to direct the members speaking accordingly.
04:04Independent Senator Michael de Labesteed later rose to clarify comments attributed to him during the debate.
04:11The goodly senator suggested that I, in my contribution, stated that the government were disrespectful to us,
04:21the independent bench and the opposition senators, and not consulting with us before the bill.
04:26I certainly never said those words.
04:30I certainly never stated anything that was suggested that they were being disrespectful to us.
04:35What I suggested was that a better approach would be to consult with us before the bill
04:43and see whether we, in order to obtain our support, instead of throwing insults on...
04:51The Senate later went into committee stage to consider the bill, clause by clause.
04:55Arvashita Wari Rupnarein, TV6 News.
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