PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley Tuesday left open the door for talks with the opposition United National Congress (UNC) legislators on the crime situation in Trinidad and Tobago, even as he insisted that his presence, a vital issue for the opposition, would not be adhered to.
The opposition has launched a series of public discussions on the crime situation here, particularly murders, with Trinidad and Tobago recording 576 murders last year, a five percent decline on the 2022 figure. So far this year, there have been more than 30 murders.
SpeakingSpeaking at a news conference, Rowley Rowley told reporters that the government had long named its delegation headed by Attorney General Reginald Armour but that the opposition remains adamant that he be part of the deliberations.
“You put people out there, they engage the issues, see what both sides are talking about, what both sides want, and then you progress towards something which comes back to the leadership which says look this is what is before us…
“If, in that situation, they have to return to the prime minister or the leader, then what is wrong with that? What is the story if the prime minister is not part of the team? He doesn’t care about criminals and families who are killed.
“That is nonsense. All over the Commonwealth, government teams meet with opposition teams on all kinds of matters daily. It is only in Trinidad and Tobago you have this talk about if you don’t come in person, I am not going to deal with you,” Rowley told reporters, adding, “That is not my position. That’s their position”.
He said he has been waiting on the opposition to name its team for the talks, noting that the announcement by the government that the Attorney General would be leading the discussions led to “personal attacks on the Attorney General.
“The Attorney General is one of the highest officers in the government, and if you have eight people, he is the ninth one, he is the convenor, he will bring them together, he will chair the meeting. What is wrong with that?”.
Rowley told reporters that instead of directing questions towards him regarding his absence from the government team, they should approach the opposition to determine “why they are not naming their squad.
“I am only a part of the system. It is not about me,” he said, “why I must be careful in preserving the institutional, civil, and parliamentary arrangements.
Rowley dismissed suggestions for the current National Security Minister, Fitzgerald Hinds, to be removed in a Cabinet re-shuffle given what has been declared as the “hopelessness” of the existing situation with crime.
“I lead a PNM (People’s National Movement) government, and that sense of hopelessness is not what we engender; it is not what we believe because as difficult as it is, we believe in never hopeless.
“I know the press is always advising me on cabinet changes and looking forward to cabinet re-shuffles, and sometimes I am the last person to hear there will be a re-shuffle. That is parred for the course. But a cabinet is a team; people are given portfolios, and for whatever reasons, some might be there for a long time, some for a short time.
“That responsibility lies with an assessment by the prime minister n, and that is not going to change,” Rowley said, telling reporters, “I have had recommendations from my parliamentary colleagues that the prime minister should take over the portfolio of the Ministry of National Security as if that somehow will make it different…
“There are 20-odd portfolios, and the prime minister oversees all of them and is responsible for all of them,” he said, disagreeing that a fresh face might bring a new insight into the situation.
“It will also take away the experience being put to bear and might interfere with a learning curve. I guarantee you that if I give you that portfolio tomorrow, the attack on you will be no different to the one on Mr. Hinds because the whole idea is to attack the person and disregard the work being done.”
During the news conference, Prime Minister Rowley also publicly supported the embattled Police Commissioner, Erla Harewood-Christopher, who last week told a parliamentary oversight committee that she and the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) had failed in critical areas of getting to the root of the criminality plaguing the country.
Commissioner Harewood-Christopher, who was granted a one-year extension in May last year, told the Joint Select Committee of the Parliament on anti-crime measures that of the 11 targets set to reduce crime in the previous 12 months, only some of them were achieved.
“We were unable to achieve any of the targets because the targets were a bit exaggerated. If we look at previous achievements over the years, these targets were never really met, so it was ambitious to encourage the officers to really work towards reaching that target,”
But Rowley told reporters that she is not the only person in recent years to have set targets and have failed to achieve them, noting that do so.
“The target is simply an explanation. Nobody can see around the corner and into the future and so on,” Rowley said, adding, “If that the person has to be removed at the end of an assessment, fine, if they did anything outrageous…but in terms of support, not only the government, but the population must support the police service”.
Rowley said the Commissioner must have the government’s support “whether it is for another day or a year.”
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