All will be fingerprinted

Everyone is to be fingerprinted and given an identifying number, announced Minister of Legal Affairs, Camille Robinson-Regis, contributing to the Budget debate on Wednesday in the House of Representatives. Saying this measure could help track criminal deportees from abroad coming to Trinidad and Tobago, she announced: “Every citizen will have a personal identification number and every citizen’s fingerprints will be part of their record in the Ministry of National Security.” Blaming much of the recent crime on deportees, she slammed the former UNC administration for being the first Caribbean government according to former United States attorney general Janet Reno, to agree to accept criminal returnees. She stormed that the UNC had put nothing in place to monitor the deportees but had been very happy to lead the way for criminals to come into the country.
     
In contrast, she advocated a National Health Insurance Scheme whereby: “Every citizen could be tracked by a personal identification number.” She said she was letting the Opposition know that lawlessness would not be tolerated. Robinson-Regis also charged the Opposition: “Now they sit like Pontius Pilate washing their hands, talking glibly that crime is our (PNM’s) fault, but the real crime is that they sit on that side and do nothing.” Robinson-Regis accused the former UNC government of racial discrimination, saying it had fired Afro-Trinidadians as judges at the Industrial Court and replaced them with mostly Indo-Trinidadians. She named Afro-Trinidadians who had been replaced — Ruby Thompson, Lenore Harris and Larry Achong — and those who had replaced them (including surnames like Lutchmedial, Mahabir, Maharaj and Lyme), slamming: “Three Africans were removed and four Indians and one African placed.”

Robinson-Regis accused the UNC of standing convicted criminals as candidates for local government elections, saying: “We have at least two examples of UNC candidates who were either before the courts or convicted of criminal charges.” Accusing the UNC of fostering racial hatred, she said: “Their objective is to bring to the country discord, disquiet and disunity.” Robinson-Regis slammed Couva South MP Kelvin Ramnath’s contribution, saying: “They (the Opposition) have the privilege of Parliament and make spurious allegations about people and institutions. “They are using this House as a mechanism to get revenge. They are so upset at being out of office. They are going to the basest of emotions to attempt to undermine everything that is being done.” Chaguanas MP Manohar Ramsaran, the sole Opposition member to speak after Robinson-Regis, failed to use the opportunity to querry Robinson-Regis’ announcement of mass fingerprinting, merely sticking to his prepared speech.