AG slams Kamla over arrest remarks:Hogwash

Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi yesterday criticised Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar for what he described as erroneous statements she made in a radio interview yesterday, in which she said the failed anti-gang bill would give soldiers and other members of the defence force powers of arrest.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Al-Rawi said Persad-Bissessar’s remarks were dishonest and questioned her competence as a senior counsel over her statements.

Quoting from a copy of the bill, Al-Rawi charged there were no parts of the bill which indicated any members of the protective services besides the police would be granted powers of arrest, and said her ignorance on the matter was an embarrassment to her standing as a parliamentarian and an attorney.

“Today Mrs Persad-Bissessar made an astounding statement where she told the nation the bill included, the Army, Customs, Board of Inland Revenue, apart from the police, and I want to caution the nation, when you hear a senior counsel tell the population the Government’s bill proposed that more than police can exercise powers of arrest, we need to be deeply concerned over more than just legal prowess, but honesty.”

Al-Rawi also addressed accusations by the Opposition leader about Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley ‘’bullying’’ the Opposition into supporting the law, saying records available in the Hansard and the Parliament’s records did not indicate any such acts.

He added Government made the necessary amendments to the bill, as per the request of the Opposition and said he did not understand why they refused to support it after the changes were made.

“I ask you to look at the Parliament record, the video record and the written record, and you will see that not a single person was heard, or seen or written as saying no. The entire opposition bench stayed quiet, so when the Opposition leader and the chief whip, David Lee, comes and says they were bullied, it makes a mockery of the parliamentary process.”