Another Manning/Panday meeting on crime

The meeting, set for 10 am, will also be attended by Attorney General John Jeremie, National Security Minister Martin Joseph and a team of Opposition officials.

In early February 2004, the two leaders met at the same venue to discuss, among other items, passage of the Police Reform Bills. The omnibus legislation was vigorously promoted by Manning’s People’s National Movement (PNM) Administration as a key component of its anti-crime strategies.

However this package of laws — the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2004, the Police Complaints Authority Bill 2004 and the Police Service Bill — required Opposition support since the Bills could only be passed with a special two-thirds Parliamentary majority. Panday and other members of the Opposition had warned early on that their support for the legislative package would be contingent on the Government initiating moves toward constitutional reform.

At that first meeting, On February 10, 2004, Manning and Panday said none of the substantive issues were discussed and they were trying to determine the best way to address those matters. They agreed to follow-up talks.

In addition to their discussions, both men were also having dialogue with various interest groups in the country, including religious and business organisations, to get their views on the crime situation and police reform.

Panday, however, showed no inclination to back down from his position that the Opposition would only support the Police Reform Bills if promised wider constitutional reform.

Meetings between Manning and Panday continued until the eve of debate of the legislation in the House of Representatives. However, the Prime Minister was never able to secure the much-needed Opposition support for the Bills and after three days of intense debate in Parliament on June 29, 30 and July 1, the legislative package was defeated.

The last time there was talk of a Manning/Panday meeting on crime was last March when, during a United National Congress (UNC) public meeting in Williamsville, South Trinidad, Panday extended an invitation to the Prime Minister for a discussion of "holistic measures" to reduce the country’s spiralling crime rate.

However, he shot down any prospects of Opposition support for anti-crime legislation saying that without constitutional reform there was a risk that such laws could be used to inflict terror on the population.

The two men agreed to this latest round of crime talks following a brief discussion behind the Speaker’s chair during the debate on crime in the House of Representatives on Thursday. The debate was suspected to allow the meeting to take place tomorrow but is set to resume on Wednesday afternoon.

Manning has expressed optimism about the talks. He said he detected a willingness to reach agreement on the issue "that will allow us to move forward on crime."

He said the Opposition Leader had been "very cooperative" when they spoke.

The defeated Police Reform Bills are expected to be on the agenda at the meeting.