Kamla: ‘I am no traitor’

After making this comment and expressing her condolences to the family of Jesse Beephan, Persad-Bissessar scoffed at Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi’s statements about how this bill would improve the criminal justice system.

Reiterating the Opposition’s argument that crime in TT is always higher under the People’s National Movement (PNM), Persad-Bissessar declared, “I believe we have already fallen off the slippery slope.” Observing that former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj now appears to be an “assistant hangman” to the Government, Persad- Bissessar said, “I believe it is time for another (commission of) inquiry into the justice system.” In October 2000, a commission of inquiry into the administration of justice had cleared Maharaj, of interference into the independence of the Judiciary. Persad- Bissessar and Maharaj were Cabinet ministers in the then Basdeo Panday administration.

While saying a properly worked out plea agreement system would improve the criminal justice system, Persad-Bissessar said the system’s circuits were overloaded and, “the justice system has collapsed.”