00:00Opposition leader Penelope Beckles says another extension of the state of emergency still leaves one fundamental question unanswered.
00:08What is the government's long-term plan to fight crime?
00:12She argues that while the government has pointed to reductions in crime, citizens have not been provided with enough data
00:19to assess whether the strategy is working.
00:21This is now going to be another extension. And the issues tell me what is the government's crime plan, what
00:30is the government's strategy to treat the crime.
00:34And therefore, and what's the data? I mean, it's one thing for you to tell us that you have a
00:39reduction in crime. What's the data?
00:41I mean, if you go on the police website, I think the average citizen must be able to have the
00:46kind of information where you too, if you want to make an analysis,
00:50you will see there have been X amount of murders, there have been serious crimes, you know, and that the
00:59government is telling us that you have a strategy.
01:02The opposition leader also criticized the prime minister, Kamala Pusad-Bissessor, for what she described as limited engagement with the
01:09media.
01:10Beckles says governing through social media platforms is no substitute for directly addressing the concerns of citizens.
01:17The prime minister is not making herself available and accessible to the media. So just as how you are asking
01:25me, if you are not going to support it, why are you not going to support it?
01:28And the prime minister cannot continue this governance by TikTok and Facebook because it's not clear to the people.
01:35If you open yourself and you said when UNC wins, everybody wins.
01:39And if you say to the public that we have a plan, we are going to reduce crime, it cannot
01:45simply be a state of emergency.
01:47Former National Security Minister Stuart Young echoed concerns about the extension, arguing that emergency powers should not be used to
01:56restrict law for public expression.
01:57The opposition has already made its position clear. Looking at the newspaper this morning, where you saw the government, more
02:04less than the prime minister, put out her push for the reasoning for the extension of the state of emergency,
02:11it falls flat, in my view.
02:12There's no justification for it. And my concern is what we've seen them use the state of emergency regulations is
02:19to suppress legitimate citizens from expressing their views.
02:24A democracy. A democracy. The government needs to be reminded we live in a democracy.
02:28And part of democracy is that citizens have a right, if they are dissatisfied with the government, to voice their
02:34concerns and to do so.
02:36And what we've seen is an unprecedented use of these states of emergency to suppress that. And that's one.
02:43Meanwhile, Port of Spain's South MP Keith Scotland says he has received numerous complaints from families of persons being held
02:51under preventative detention orders.
02:53The complaints from the constituents, Port of Spain's South, are numerous. I am cautious about the complaints because I understand
03:04that there are two sides.
03:05But I think that the complaints are real and the families of these persons who have been held under the
03:12PGOs, they are suffering.
03:14Shala Kisto, TV6 News.
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