Rowley: TT needs anti-gang laws

Government disagrees with the Opposition that the Anti-Gang Bill is not needed for the fight against crime, the Prime Minister said on Saturday.

“Unfortunately the group that I lead did not have the votes to continue that law. There are other people in the Parliament that do not believe that the law is necessary. We disagree, very strongly and that is the outcome,” Dr Rowley told the media in Tobago.

The extension of the law was defeated on Friday after the Opposition failed to support the bill. This means the law will be non-existent by the end of the month. The bill failed at the committee stage with a vote of 20 for and 19 abstaining. The law needed a three-fifths majority to pass which meant at least four Opposition MPs needed to support the bill.

Rowley said the law, which was first passed in 2011, was given a sunset clause but during the time that it was operational “the issues of gangs did not go away” and an extension was needed but the Opposition did not share the view.

He said if the Opposition did not see the need for police to monitor, arrest and charge people for being involved in gang activity then “that is how the country is.”