Kamla: Government did not convince me over SOE extension

OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the Government had not made the case for a state of emergency (SOE) extension, addressing the debate in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. With the Opposition abstaining, the House passed the motion to extend the SOE for three months, by 21 votes for, none against, and 18 abstentions.

"Under the SOE we have had more cases and more deaths than we had last year, so I cannot see the justification for another three months."

She did not think an SOE extension would help to vaccinate more people. "That to me is donkey logic." Persad-Bissessar said public health regulations permit qualified people (like nurses) to give injections, not an SOE.

Likewise, she said the regulations can address issues of freedom of movement and dispersal of gatherings, asking what extra powers an extended SOE could give?

Persad-Bissessar speculated it was the power to enter private places.

She said Guyana which has a 10 pm curfew, without any SOE.

"The Opposition is not of the view an SOE is needed at this stage in the country."

Any extension would be a continued abrogation of citizens rights, she said.

Urging all parents to vaccinate their children, she hailed volunteers staffing mass vaccination sites.

The Prime Minister chided her for not being first respondent to talk for 45 minutes, but settling for 20 minutes.

Dr Rowley said the SOE extension would prevent people mingling at night and spreading the covid19 virus.

He said, "The record will show the ordinance could not be used and ought not to be used." He said otherwise, the Opposition had challenged the ordinance in court 60 times, unsuccessfully.

The PM said the curfew stops people mixing and socialising at night time.

"I said the main justification is to prevent people from moving around and congregating."

Rowley said he had never said an SOE was needed to vaccinate anyone.

While he relied on medical experts who talked directly to the people and media each week, he lamented a past UNC minister alleging covid19 was a hoax.

He said while Persad-Bissessar was calling the Government tyrannical, she had once unlawfully declared a partial SOE.

Rowley said the Barbados Government earlier began new curfew measures, while the Jamaica Government is having "seven no movement days" without being called tyrannical.

"They are prepared to do what has to be done to protect their citizens." On Persad-Bissessar hailing volunteers, he chided her for criticising Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram.

The PM alleged she had revealed Trinidad and Tobago's first covid19 death "with glee and gusto."

"It is not we say covid comes out only in the night but we maximise our livelihoods in the day but reduce our activities at night to reduce our exposure

"We want people to go out to work to earn a living (in day time.)"

Rowley said everyone loves their freedom but this cannot constitute an absence of restraint.

"Today we are coming to do the right thing in Parliament and you are asking people to come out and blow horn."

Rowley said when the Government had led Caricom's fight to acquire vaccines, the Opposition never helped.

He vowed not to shirk his duty leading TT in a pandemic. "We want to live."

The PM alleged Persad-Bissessar had cast aspersions on non-FDA approved drugs. He said vaccines from China, Russia or Cuba were unlikely to get the nod of the FDA, a US government agency. He asked the Opposition to get away from the position that the Government must fail so that the Opposition could succeed. "Your role must not be to break our spirit."