Kamla: Manning creating a ‘Gestapo force’ in TT

SIPARIA MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar created an uproar in Parliament yesterday when she compared Prime Minister Patrick Manning to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and charged that he was using the Police Reform Bills to create his own “gestapo” within the Police Service to deal with all of his enemies. Speaking during debate on the Bills, Persad-Bissessar declared, “This is all about control of the police to create Manning’s gestapo force and we will not have it.” She claimed this was the reason behind Government’s haste to abolish the Police Service Commission (PSC) and that the new Police Management Authority (PMA) would be filled with PNM supporters. While the Prime Minister made no reply to Persad-Bissessar’s “gestapo” allegation, he rejected her earlier claim that he tried to force former PSC chairman Kenneth Lalla to replace a sitting police commissioner.

Manning said, “I made no request of Mr Lalla to move the police commissioner. The Honourable Member had to know that the legislation could not have had the intention of getting rid of any individual. Mr Lalla just for the record demitted office yesterday.”  Leader of Government Business Ken Valley told the UNC MP that the legislation clearly showed that the PMA could never be used for the purpose she was alleging.  However Persad-Bissessar insisted that Mannning saw Lalla as an obstacle in his path and she questioned the integrity of new PSC chairman Christopher Thomas. She said Manning broke the law by bringing the heads of  three national security organisations to a recent public meeting and the UNC has requested that the Director of Public Prosecutions investigate the matter. She further alleged that the population preferred constitutional reform  over the Bills as the solution to crime and there was “empirical data” showing bias against Indo-Trinidadians being recruited into the Police Service.

Planning and Development Minister Camille Robinson declared that TT’s history proves that the PNM never had dictatorial tendencies but the same could not be said about other political parties. Recalling the legislation’s history, the Minister said it was clear that the Bills were first drafted by technocrats under the UNC and any changes made were agreed to “by the bipartisan team, all under their watch.” Saying more than enough public consultations had been held on the Bills, Robinson-Regis declared, “It is clear that the time has come for the people’s representatives to take a stand in relation to these Bills. It is either we are going to re-examine our Police Service and ensure that management structures are in place to assure that the Police  Service does the work it is being paid to do or we are going to do like those on the other side and say to the population...that we do not care about your safety. We do not care that the police structure is not working efficiently, effectively and optimally. We must move forward and now is as good a time as any!”