Fuad and Butcher cross swords over Anti-Kidnapping Bill

BARATARIA/SAN JUAN MP Dr Fuad Khan declared that no one in Trinidad and Tobago will suffer whether the United National Congress (UNC) supports the Anti-Kidnapping Bill or not. He was swiftly condemned by his parliamentary predecessor Ken Butcher who lambasted the Opposition for not “living in the real world”.

Addressing a San Juan Businessmen’s Association (SJBA) dinner in Trincity on Thursday night, Khan declared: “People will not suffer if  we support or don’t support the Bill. What the people will suffer with is if the police cannot catch the criminals to deal with them.” The Opposition MP said several existing criminal laws do not work and passage of this Bill will simply add another ineffective law to the statute books. Khan lamented that “the only thing an Opposition can do in this system of Westminster is support a bill on constitutional changes” and advised the SJBA to host a symposium on kidnapping to force Government to deal with this issue.

However Butcher countered: “The guys who are doing the kidnappings, if they are held they will be out on bail to commit more kidnappings. So when Dr Khan is going to wait for a symposium to discuss and get the businessmen and other interested persons to come with up with a solution, we will have more kidnappings going on as we are having more symposiums and talk shops. I want to suggest to Dr Khan that this is a real world and it is the persons who have the businesses who are feeling the crunch when the day comes. It is only games that is taking place in that Parliament as far as I am concerned. The kidnapping in the country is above PNM and UNC. We have to be serious and the parliamentarians have to get together and come up with something that is comprehensive enough to deal with those criminals who are coming out on bail and committing crime after crime.” Khan said Butcher’s statement was indicative of a “mass hypnosis” being perpetuated by the PNM and  “it is up to the judiciary to determine whether bail be given or not”. The UNC MP was unapologetic about forming his Guardian Angels and claimed underworld trends suggested criminal elements from PNM-controlled areas were responsible for kidnappings that were occuring in his constituency and elsewhere. He said claims of the Guardian Angels being vigilantes was nothing but PNM political spin-doctoring.

St Augustine MP Winston Dookeran said there was a lot of misinformation about kidnapping, while Vision on Mission president Wayne Chance advised the SJBA to support the Bill’s passage. Chance said he did not support vigilante action and called for strong intelligence-gathering in communities to deal with kidnapping. He urged businessmen to work with and not against the communities in which they operate.