Nakhid: My name should be in the Jones report

Opposition Senator David Nakhid has accused the Government of distracting from and failing to act on the 2021 Judith Jones report that has highlighted abuse and negligence in children’s homes.

Nakhid was speaking at the United National Congress (UNC) press conference on Sunday which was held at the office of the Opposition Leader on Charles Street, Port of Spain.

“All we are hearing about is the (1997 Robert) Sabga report. That is of interest to us, and it should be to everyone, but what is more interesting and more relevant is that the (2021) Judith Jones report that was laid in Parliament in April, nothing has been acted on until now.

“The narrative in the public domain has been diabolically diverted by this Government from what is happening right under the nose of the public at this point in time.”

Nakhid said while the UNC was pleased with a resurgence in interest in bringing to justice the murderers of Akeil Chambers in an event that happened about two decades ago, there were also recent events that needed urgent attention.

Nakhid also questioned the motive behind the appointment of former Justice Judith Jones as Police Service Commission chairman.

Nakhid claimed his name was omitted from the Jones report even though he testified before the cabinet-appointed committee while it was conducting its investigation.

He said, in that testimony, he gave specific information on instances of child abuse that would have implicated people in "high positions."

“If you found, Ms Judith Jones, that my evidence, my testimony was not credible it was your duty to say so and tell the people of TT why my testimony was not credible.

“It was not your duty to completely eliminate my name from the report. When you have done that, you politicised the matter. When you have done that, you made it very very easy to distract what we know to be the fundamental issue at hand.”

He said a second task force being implemented to investigate the Jones task force at a cost of over $130 million was redundant and useless.

Nakhid called for a financial audit into the Children’s Authority.