PM, Lucky in war of words over Vijay

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning hinted that Trinidad and Tobago’s law enforcement agencies may know the whereabouts of ten-year-old Vijay Persad, who was kidnapped from his Moruga home earlier this year. During yesterday’s Budget debate in Parliament, Pointe-a-Pierre MP Gillian Lucky said Government should be embarrassed that Vijay “has been missing and to date, he remains missing. “If it is, the Prime Minister, sitting in his role as the head of the National Security Council has information, let the public know everything is a-okay so we could stop worrying about people but know that we may not get the details.

“In this country, we cannot find a ten-year-old boy who has gone missing. That is because of this regime. I am talking about Vijay Persad and I can only go on the reports that I have. If Vijay Persad has been found, then put it in the public domain and let the facts be told. I am going with the information and that is all we can go on here. Information and credible information,” she declared. Lucky lamented that because certain information could not be disseminated in public for security reasons, “we always have to sit back and hope that we are not being misled.” The Prime Minister replied, “I rise to suggest to the Honourable Member that to go purely on information in the media is to take a course of action that she knows will not do justice to the issue that she is discussing. She knows that. She’s a lawyer when she is operating in front of the courts. I say no more on the matter.”

Newsday was informed that police apparently share Manning’s views that there was more to Vijay’s abduction than meets the eye, and believe that he is still alive. “I don’t need to be reminded by anyone, including with the greatest respect, the Prime Minister, about my duties,” Lucky told Manning. Lucky predicted that by year’s end there would be 177 kidnappings, 270 murders, 314 rapes and  4,649 armed robberies. She alleged that there would only be 177 kidnappings because families were paying ransoms to kidnappers and no reports were being made to the police. Lucky also alleged that this information was supplied to her by police officers. “Let this government start understanding that what proves you are winning the war against criminals are statistics that show that crime is decreasing. Right now, the statistics are showing that crime is on the rise and we have to go with the statistics,” the UNC MP declared. Commenting on Government’s plans to hold public meetings on the Budget, Lucky asked, “What are we celebrating?” She said the Budget “is an insult” and there was need for caution.