Prime Minister announces SoE extension on TV show

News Ryan Hamilton-Davis 5 Hrs Ago

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. - File photo

PRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has announced plans to extend the current state of emergency (SoE).

She made the announcement during an interview on Crime Watch, the prime-time TV programme hosted by Ian Alleyne, on October 27.

“The commissioner of police has given to our attorney general and other members of the national security council the recommendation that the SoE be extended,” she told Alleyne.

The current SoE is scheduled to end on October 28.

"The motion to do so has now been placed on the order paper by the Parliament for debate on Friday (October 31) of this week.”

Such a motion can only be passed by a three-fifths majority of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Newsday contacted the Prime Minister via WhatsApp, where she confirmed her intentions to extend the SoE. Persad-Bissessar did not say how much longer the SoE would be extended for.

On July 18, the government declared the state of emergency, which was later extended on July 28.

At the time, the decision was based on the alleged emergence of a highly threatening criminal network operating in and out of Trinidad and Tobago’s prison system.

The government believed the network of criminals was targeting senior government officials and national institutions.

The SoE allowed for the TT Police Service to have authority to arrest people on suspicion of involvement in illegal activities and search and enter public and private premises as deemed necessary.

Officers of the Defence Force were also given similar powers to the police. Several prisoners were also moved from the Maximum Security Prison in Arouca and housed at military bases at Tetron and Staubles bay.

Bail provisions were also suspended for those suspected of committing a crime.

Newsday understands that to extend the SoE beyond an additional three months, it would require the support of independent senators for a three-fifths majority.

The constitution says: “The proclamation (of an SoE) may be further extended from time to time for not more than three months at any one time, by a resolution passed by both houses of Parliament and supported by the votes of not less than three-fifths of all members of each house.”