UNC MP: Evidence Bill won't fix crime

UNC MP Saddam Hosein said the Bail Act 4:60 is already the law of Trinidad and Tobago. He noted calls in recent days for the Opposition to support the passing of the Bail Bill.

Speaking to Newsday via phone on Thursday, he said, “The Opposition did support the Bail Bill, so once someone is charged under the Kidnapping Act or the Sexual Offences Act, if somebody is charged regarding firearms, they can currently be denied bail for a period of 120 days, and that law is in effect until August 2022. I haven’t seen any other bill, that’s the only bill that’s in the law where the judiciary can deny someone bail for 120 days.”

He said the Evidence (Amendment) Bill, due to be debated in Parliament on Friday, will not solve the problems being faced with regards to prosecuting and convicting people charged for these crimes.

“The Evidence (Amendment) Bill has to work in a system that works. The current criminal justice system is not working, we have to ensure there is a holistic approach and overhaul of the criminal justice system for this to work. This bill can lead to some complexities when it comes to investigations that may cause cases to collapse, and that is what we’re trying to prevent from happening.”

Speaking to those who said the Opposition was being obstructionist when it came to passing laws, he said there must be proper systems in place for the laws to work.

“We need more courts, we need proper investigations, the resourcing of the police, that is what we need. There is law to do with that, but we need people to get to work.”

Hosein said contrary to government’s assertion that the Opposition does not support it in passing laws, there was a long list of special-majority laws the Opposition had supported.

“We supported FATCA, the Insurance Act of 2016, the Anti-Gang Act of 2018, the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2018, the Licensing Committee Validation Act of 2018, the Bail (Amendment) Bill of 2019.

"We made extensive amendments and assisted the government with passing the Bail (Amendment) Bill of 2017, the Miscellaneous Provisions Bill of 2017 that deals with FIU, Customs, Exchange, we passed the Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2018, Payments in Court 2018, the Administration of Justice Bill 2018 and 2019, the Firearms (Amendment) Bill of 2019, and the Civil Asset Recovery and Management Unexplained Wealth Bill 2019.

"We have supported the government.”