Panday ‘way off’ on crime prediction

OPPOSITION LEADER Basdeo Panday yesterday expressed horror that with only one month to go before the end of 2003, the nation’s murder rate had exceeded the figure he had predicted, and continues to climb.

Earlier this year, Panday predicted that Trinidad and Tobago’s murder total would reach 200 by December 31. The murders of Annette Farah and Marlon Hassic  over the weekend have now taken the total murder count for the year to 211. “I was way off. I never expected it to get so high,” the UNC leader said as he was informed of these grim statistics. Panday said the murders reinforce his call for an urgent meeting between the Government and Opposition on how to deal with crime in the country. He lamented that a meeting could not have been scheduled with Prime Minister Patrick Manning before Manning left the country yesterday to attend next week’s Commonwealth Heads of Government summit in Nigeria. Following that summit, the Prime Minister is carded to attend a series of engagements in England, Spain and the United States before returning home on December 20. The trip is the first lengthy one which Manning has taken since becoming Prime Minister in December 2001. While conceding that affairs of state might have resulted in Manning being away for so long, Panday remarked: “He doesn’t seem to care (about crime in TT). He should have dealt with it before he left. It is unfortunate that he is away. I call upon the Prime Minister again to initiate talks about dealing with crime.”

Panday also said recent statements by St Lucia’s Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony about the crime concerns of OECS nations show other Caricom countries are worried about crime from TT spreading to their shores. “It shows that TT is incapable of managing our own affairs. Once another Caricom country expresses these fears, we become less than a valuable partner,” the UNC leader warned. Panday recently indicated that the Police Service Reform Bills would not work unless there is some form of constitutional reform. In a Newsday story, Panday disclosed that before the 2000 general elections, the then UNC government was aware of this fact and had intended to initiate the constitutional reform process. Before those elections, the UNC and PNM agreed that the Bills would be passed in Parliament, regardless of whoever won the elections. The UNC was returned to office but the Bills were never passed. Panday said the reason why this happened was because then president Arthur NR Robinson removed the UNC from government and installed the PNM before the UNC could undertake constitutional reform. He added that the longstanding public perception that the UNC reneged on a deal with the PNM to pass the Bills in Parliament was false.