3 months ago
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Lead Editor – Newsgathering
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has denied that the cancellation of CEPEP and URP contracts triggered the security threat that led to the State of Emergency (SoE) declared earlier this month.
Responding to questions from Guardian Media following a town hall meeting in Siparia on Tuesday, the Prime Minister insisted the SoE was in response to a specific, imminent attack planned by inmates against the country’s justice system and state institutions.
“The SoE was not triggered as a panacea to addressing crime and criminality in T&T per se,” Persad-Bissessar said via WhatsApp.
“It was declared to disrupt a planned attack emanating from the prisons to strike at institutions of the justice system and critical organs of the State. We moved swiftly to neutralise this threat on the morning of the 18th July.”
Her statement followed questions about whether the widespread cancellation of social programme contracts could have provoked a backlash by criminal gangs seeking to regain access to State funds.
Persad-Bissessar acknowledged that criminal elements had infiltrated the CEPEP, URP, and Reafforestation programmes — a point she has made both in Parliament on Monday and again during her constituency consultation on Tuesday night. However, she maintained the timing of the SoE was not tied to those reforms.
“The make-work programmes, our intel sources have indicated, is part of the feeding trough for criminals,” she said.
“They are under review as part of our larger plans to stem the tide of crime and criminality.”
She added, “Our crime plan is ready to be rolled out. We are going to enhance the capability of the police service under its new leadership. We will place the NOC under the TTPS. And yes, we will also dramatically reshape social assistance programmes.”
She concluded, “Thank you for your question which seeks to clarify our position to make TT a safer place.”
In Parliament on Monday, Persad-Bissessar outlined the national crime strategy developed by Police Commissioner Allister Gueverro and reviewed by Cabinet. Among the most significant measures is the transfer of the National Operations Centre (NOC) from the Strategic Services Agency to the TTPS — a move she said would restore the NOC’s original function as an active command post.
Speaking in Siparia the following day, the Prime Minister went further, condemning the long-standing structure of social employment schemes.
“I am very much against the structuring of the CEPEP, URP and Reafforestation programme. Many of you in my constituency and elsewhere were just hoping to replace… So, if you want five gang and ten gang. Look at what they’re called, Gangs! Do you want gangs?”
She said the problem goes beyond inefficiency and had evolved into outright criminal exploitation.
“We have become criminalised,” she said.
“You want one gang and I want two or how many, all it takes is for the criminal to come to you and say, ‘I know where you’re living, I know your wife, I know your son. You see the ten names you have on that gang, you write down these five and you can take the next five.’ So, you have five ghosts because of fear.”
According to the Prime Minister, these threats were not theoretical.
“They will threaten the foremen on each of the programmes. Five for you and five for the boss. Take it or leave it. So you have five workers and the criminal man collecting the money. That is what was happening.”
She rejected criticism that the decision to terminate the programmes was discriminatory or politically motivated.
“It’s not that we are vicious. It is not that we are racist. This is for everybody, everyone, whichever constituency. But I cannot in good conscience continue that programme. We have to restructure.”
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