PM defends government's crime fight, slams Opposition's lack of support

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley greets UNC councillor for Kelly Village/Warrenville Samuel Sankar, left, a PNM meeting at Signature Hall, Chaguanas, on Tuesday. PHOTO BY SUREASH CHOLAI -
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley greets UNC councillor for Kelly Village/Warrenville Samuel Sankar, left, a PNM meeting at Signature Hall, Chaguanas, on Tuesday. PHOTO BY SUREASH CHOLAI -

The Prime Minister has defended his government’s crime-fighting efforts and initiatives and bashed the Opposition for its lack of support of the government's proposed measures over the years.

Speaking at a PNM public meeting in Chaguanas on Tuesday night, Dr Rowley said there were 1,186 people in jail awaiting trial and the government had taken significant steps to accelerate the rate of processing matters before the court.

“There's no magic wand or no election result from failed quarters that will improve that. You will do any amount of bad-mouthing of the Minister of National Security and demand for his removal. They (UNC) thought that by removing a minister every six months, that you're fighting crime. The criminals love that.

“Because anybody will tell you, when you move from one ministry to the other, it takes a while to get a hold of that ministry. And every time a new minister comes in, it's a disruption of the process. What we have done is stayed on the job, stayed focused and working on item after item after item, improving the public response to the criminal element.”

He said matters before the Family Court doubled over the past two years, but the government has ensured that the court operated smoothly.

“The chorus of people who tell you nothing happen will not want you to know that something is happening. That doesn't mean that the problem is solved. But we are in a better place now than when we started out…

“But behaving as though crime is only murder – the murders are the end of all kinds of socio-economic conditions which this government has been responding to.”

He said those who use the crime situation as a political tool did not have the country’s best interest at heart.

“I say tonight that the UNC is happy that the crime is the way it is because there's political benefit. And they believe that they have succeeded, because they worked at it, obstructing everything that the government tried to do.

“A significant amount of our resource is spent on providing safety and security. A significant amount of our time is spent focused on caring for those who are at risk in the areas where the criminals live, recruit or hurt people. And we cannot, for one minute, take the position that we will politicise crime and give the criminal element the upper hand of the people of TT.”

Last week, TT's murder toll for 2022 crossed 500. Commenting on the development, Rowley said it was a matter for all citizens to take a collective responsibility for.

“I want you to not give the government a pass in a situation where we all have to face up to the fact that 500 people have been killed for the year already. But I want you to identify that there are separate responsibilities for all of us. I mean all of us, because one of the problems we have in this country is taking responsibility for what our responsibility is.”

On Tuesday, Rowley also touched on increased oil revenue resulting from government's energy contract and taxation negotiations.

He said TT now benefits from enhanced oil revenue because of the government's sustained efforts.

“Meaning a better stream of revenue, better than what existed before. Enhanced revenue, which we would not have, had we not renegotiated, as we did early in our term, and did so successfully. As a result of that, between August 2019 and the second quarter of 2022, we received from Shell alone $4 billion."

He said the government changed the tax regime to put a royalty regime in place and TT got $7.85 billion in revenue between 2017 and 2022 because of that change.

"Had your government not stayed the course, identified the pathway and successfully concluded these new arrangements for enhanced revenue, we would have been $11.86 billion poorer."

The event was attended by scores of supporters and candidates from Rowley's slate in the upcoming PNM internal election.

To the surprise of many, the PNM's public meeting was also attended by Samuel Sankar, UNC councillor for Kelly Village/Warrenville, who was warmly and publicly welcomed.

Sankar, earlier this year, made headlines for being the only UNC councillor to attend a forum hosted by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to discuss the government's plans for the ministry. Sankar has since been heavily criticised by his party for the move.

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