PM promises justice on time

In the next few months, the public will see some “drastic changes” in the dispensing of justice, the Prime Minister said on Monday.

Promising that people can look forward to getting justice on time, Dr Keith Rowley said Cabinet has decided to raise the retirement age of judges from 65 to 70. The aim is to reduce the backlog of court cases by having judges staying longer in the judicial system.

He was responding to questions from the Conversation with the Prime Minister series at the Palo Seco Government Primary School on Monday night.

It was one of three initiatives he identified to improve the system.

He said Parliament occupies 14 floors at the International Waterfront Centre. As soon as refurbishment works are completed at the Red House, those floors will become vacant.

“The Cabinet has taken the decision already, and the Attorney General has mentioned to you that we are moving the civil courts out of the Hall of Justice and there will be 60 courts,” he said, at which supporters applauded.

The third initiative he identified was the legislation for a new system of penalties for traffic violations.

With over 104,000 cases, he said people who commit traffic infractions will face fixed penalties.

Together with Public Utilities Minister Robert Le Hunte, Energy Minister Franklin Khan and Housing Minister Edmund Dillon, Rowley was answering questions at the event. On the closure of the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery, Rowley gave a history of the oil industry in TT.

“We have made decisions along the way to stay in business. Previous governments misrepresented the issue, but we came face to face with the issues. This subsidiary of Petrotrin has reported (in) its first year a profit of over $700 million. That is a performance worth noting.”

On transport woes in the area, Rowley acknowledged there were not enough buses to satisfy the demands of the people. The level of maintenance and availability, he said, was unsatisfactory.

“We are in the process of buying 300 new buses. As part of the purchase arrangements, whoever wins that bid will have to commit to maintaining in TT adequate maintenance and services facility. We have started construction on the infrastructure on Phoenix Industrial Park and we expect a number of companies operating there for export.”

Most of the residents’ concerns related to the lack of infrastructural development.

A representative from the Palo Seco Village Council complained that the once active Palo Seco Velodrome is no more. He called for the sporting facility to be refurbished, and the PM agreed.

“This Government would want to do something about bringing back the velodrome.”

He instructed Le Hunte and Dillon to work with the council for a proposal to be presented to the Cabinet in the next three months.

A man said for about two months he had got no water, although he got a bill for $2,740. He said there is no meter to regulate how much water is used.

In response, Le Hunte said to meter the country would cost an estimated $1.5 billion. The reality was, he said, $1.4 billion was spent, but people did not get a drop of water.

“That $1.4 billion that was spent could have been spent on metering and we would have been in a much better place than we are today. We are trying our best now, trying to do more with less. We are trying to fix a problem that has been in existence for a very long time.”

La Brea MP Nicole Olivierre, who was in the audience, came under fire from a constituent, Nikita Lewis-Mc Farlane, who complained she has been seeking help for several problems, but Olivierre had failed to assist.