Taking independent vote for granted

THE EDITOR: The defeat of the Bail Amendment Bill 2022 wasn’t just a vote against the Government's persistent overreach, erosion of the separation of powers and consistent breaching of the Constitution, it was a vote against the Government’s lack of political will to address the rampant criminality that is posing severe danger in our society.

Let it not be said for one minute that the Opposition or any of those independents who voted against the bill did so based on politics, ill will or a lack of understanding of the dangers facing our nation. As a matter of fact, the votes against the bill were solely premised on the current grim reality our society faces.

In 2019 the Opposition gave the Government the support it needed to fight crime yet three years later the situation is worse. Three years later, not a single member of the Government was able to stand in the Senate debate and justify how this law was able to benefit citizens.

Three years later this Government had no concrete statistics to show how this law had aided in the fight against crime, except the lame excuse by the Attorney General that “he had received some statistics this morning.” Special majority legislation cannot be debated in such a manner, especially when it deals with constitutional rights.

The reality is that the Government has time after time sought to use the bail bill as a political plaster but never dealing with the wound which represents the rising crime. Three years later the Government couldn’t account for any advancement in detection rates, in witness protection, increased technology for our forensic system, proper support for our protective services and proper border protection.

What is worse than this Government's potency and will to deal with crime is the manner in which it thought it could take the Independent Senate votes for granted. The Government thought it could pilot the bill in the Senate, provide no data, ignore pertinent questions from senators, make loud bold platitudes, scaremonger and then grab the special majority vote to subsequently pressure the Opposition in the House of Representatives.

The Government has so much disdain, so little respect for proper dialogue on crime and special majority laws that it believed it could have passed the bail bill in the Senate on Monday then debate it on Tuesday in the House. Instead, it was embarrassed to the point it was forced to choose another bill at 7 pm on Monday to debate in the House on Tuesday.

Surely the Government would have been aware that the merits of the bail bill was “dead on arrival” when the person piloting the bill had rubbished all of his and his government’s arguments in his previous position as president of the Law Association of TT. Surely the Government didn’t expect senators to believe that the AG would undertake "proper bail reform” had it received the votes when the record shows that this Government made zero attempts of such in the last three years.

The Leader of the Opposition and opposition members have consistently presented our plans and suggestions on dealing with crime in society. In the Parliament we have filed private motions, on the platforms we have raised ideas and concerns, so we understand what is needed to deal with crime. However, the Government’s bail bill was nothing more than a hollow attempt to say “look we are dealing with crime” while crime spurs on even as this is the present law.

The vote against this bill was a vote against a government that refuses to tangibly deal with crime in a holistic manner and to ensure citizens are safe in their homes as well as in their daily activities.

DAVID LEE

deputy political leader

United National Congress