Kamla: Anti-gang legislation no cure all for crime

THE Anti-Gang legislation is set to come into effect today but Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar believes that this will not give Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi “the cure all and panacea for the crime wave hitting the country.”

Persad-Bissessar spoke on the matter at a service held in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Presbyterian Church in TT. The service was held at the St Joseph Presbyterian Church, Eastern Main Road, St Joseph.

A release from the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs yesterday said Cabinet gave instructions to the President Paula-Mae Weekes to proclaim the Anti-Gang Act, 2018.

It was passed in Parliament on May 4 and assented to by Weekes on May 15. The release reminded of the “necessity of such consultation before proclamation as the country should never have to return to the evident bungled and disastrous proclamation of legislation as happened under the UNC Kamla Persad-Bissessar-led government...”

But Persad-Bissessar said Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi needs to explain why the legislation was delayed and not “try to put the delay or the blame on the DPP and CoP.”

The opposition, she said, has been pushing for the legislation since January. “We said let’s come back. They took a while to bring it back. We passed it. We gave them what they wanted. And the bloodshed in this country is now worse than ever,” she said.

Persad-Bissessar said while she waits to see if the Act helps, “I am of the respectful view that that will not give him the cure all and panacea for the crime wave hitting the country. But they wanted it; they have it, let’s see how it works.” She hit Al-Rawi as being a “very loquacious AG” who was bent on “far more talk and less action.”