Kamla: No bail for the innocent under new bill

UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar warned of opportunities for abuse of the Bail Amendment Bill when she spoke at a local government campaign meeting at Paul Street, Sangre Grande on Monday night.

Persad-Bissessar said if the bill were passed,  people could be wrongly arrested or framed, and would have to stay in jail without bail.

She said government is planning to go to Parliament on Wednesday in a rush to have the bill amended, and  although the UNC has its own amendments to the bill, she doubted the government would heed the suggestions.

“In this bill, they are saying if you are found in possession, or if police come to your house and they find a weapon, and you do not know anything about the weapon, this law will allow them to pick up everybody in that building…

“If your child is in a school somewhere…and there so happens to be a weapon in that trunk with nothing to do with that child, or your brother or sister – they will lock up everybody and no bail for 120 days.”

She asked, “Will you support that?” to which the crowd said, “No!”

Persad-Bissessar lamented that, with the current status of the courts, one could stay in remand for years.

“That cannot be the answer,”  she said.  “We are saying if the person has a conviction for an offence, so you are a convicted felon, then, no bail. That is a reasonable compromise.”

She also raised questions about the ownership of a parcel of land to be used for a bridge, alleging that Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan owned the land and had sold it to the government for a big payout.

She said the project required a river to be diverted across the parcel of land and would have to be acquired by government from a private owner, then produced a deed  that she said showed Sinanan had bought it in 2009.

She called on Sinanan to confirm or deny the claims.

“Ask him if, when the decision was taken to buy the land, if he was part of it, or did he step out the room like his friend Faris Al-Rawi? Ask him what he paid for the lands. When he comes by your gate for your vote, tell him to answer those questions first!”

Persad-Bissessar said Sinanan has to come clean and account for his involvement in the sale.

Scores of people gathered at Gadjahar Car Park to support their UNC candidates for the local government elections on December 2.