‘Children being killed’

“Good Lord, our children are being slaughtered and what are they (Government) doing to fight crime?”she asked residents during a cottage meeting at the Beetham Community Centre, held to endorse Indra Mohammed, the United National Congress (UNC’s) candidate for Beetham/Picton in the upcoming Local Government election.

Persad-Bissessar said since the PNM assumed Government crime in the country had “spiralled and sky-rocketed”.

“But you want to sit down and count roti. Tell us what is your plant to fight crime because if your children are not alive, you can enjoy nothing,” she said.

“The safety of a people is the number one priority in the country today. Prime Minister, stop hiding behind nonsense and come out and tell your people what you will do to fight crime.” The Siparia MP then extended condolences to the family.

As fireworks lit up the sky over Beetham Gardens during the early hours of New Year’s Day, on January 1, gunshots were simultaneously being discharged from an elevated position in Eastern Quarry, Laventille, a scenario which masked the fireworks display.

The shots killed six-year-old Rondell, a student of Eastern Boys’ Government Primary School. He lived with his aunt Diana Ramnath and other relatives at Third Street, Beetham Gardens.

Upset that the matter was still under investigation, Persad-Bissessar trained her guns on Attorney General Faris Al Rawi, declaring: “Up to today (yesterday), that man has not passed one piece of law in the Parliament to fight crime.

“In 14 months, not one piece of law has been passed and on the books but instead 90 percent of the legislation they brought is what, tax law, tax and more tax,” she said.

Reminding residents of her love for children, which she championed during her term as prime minister, Persad-Bissessar said: “If you develop the children, you will develop, the family, the community the home. They are the hope of the nation. The future of the country is in the bookbags of the children.” She lamented, however, that many of the social programmes implemented under her regime were discontinued by the PNM, including the laptop initiative.

“They have taken it away because they would have been able to see the discrimination taking place with this red and ready army.” The first stop in a four-community interface which also took her to Barataria, St Joseph and El Dorado in support of the UNC;s candidates for those areas in the upcoming election.

Flanked by Opposition senators Wade Mark and Wayne Sturge, Persad-Bissessar received a rousing welcome from Beetham residents, most of whom wore the party’s bright yellow jerseys.

At one point, following her address, she was mobbed by enthusiastic supporters at she distributed schoolbooks to the children.

Some openly remarked that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley had never walked the community, which has long been stigmatised because of crime.

During her address, Persad- Bissessar also accused Rowley of telling untruths in relation to his claim that the People’s Partnership Government had racked up a $340,000 roti bill resulting from a Divali function at the Diplomatic Centre in October 2014.

“I have just come from the Parliament (Friday) where a question was asked of the Honourable Prime Minister and you see he does it all the time. He went to the public media and said that we spent $340,000 on roti. So, they asked him the question, MP Padarath, show us the bills, bring the bills for $340,000 in roti and guess what, he couldn’t provide a single thing. He lied. He lied,” Rowley has since promised to present the bills, saying overall expenditure for the function was $1.6 million.

Persad-Bissessar said Rowley’s fixation with roti was a “total distraction” from the issues confronting the country.