Govt, Opposition blame game in Senate

Government Senator Foster Cummings told senators about time he spent recently in the community of Enterprise in Central Trinidad.

Cummings said crime was a reality in these kinds of communities in TT where very often the parlour on the corner could very well be the drug block. He said while the Government is pursuing a holistic approach to reducing crime, the Opposition continues to see it as way to score cheap political points.

Cummings said the United National Congress (UNC) as part of the former People’s Partnership (PP) government had only one strategy for crime and this was the limited state of emergency in 2011. When Sturge objected to this comment, Cummings quipped, “You introduced it. Don’t run from it.” Describing the Opposition as reckless and irresponsible, Cummings said the Opposition is part of the architecture of governance in TT but fails to understand this.

In response, temporary Opposition Senator Chrislyn Moore countered, “The Opposition is the intellectual viagra for the Government.” The Tobago Forwards leader and former PP justice minister claimed that Tobago is now the People’s National Movement’s (PNM) hostage and rising crime on the island has shocked its population.

While welcoming the Government’s decision to scrutinise the contract for the recently departed Super Fast Galicia, Moore called for transparency regarding the contracts for the Galicia’s replacement vessels. Independent Senator Paul Richards disagreed with Moore that it was only the Government’s responsibility to deal with crime.

Richards said the history of TT showed that all governments and oppositions have made little progress in dealing with crime.