Kamla: Crime more critical than FATCA

Persad-Bissessar held a news briefing with her fellow Opposition MPs, after their earlier mass exit from the Lower House in protest at Speaker Bridgid Annisette- George’s denial of her call for an urgent debate on crime. Persad- Bissessar said Banfield’s death placed crime as the top issue for Parliament to debate, ahead of the foreign tax-evasion treaty known as FATCA which she wanted curtailed at 6 pm.

She lamented the “stark, brutal, brutish” reality that the Government has collapsed by failing in its core duty to ensure the safety of citizens such as Banfield. “I can see no issue but dealing with crime,” Persad-Bissessar said. “We are receiving reports of others being brutally slaughtered. I’m not speaking of engaged in criminal activity but people carrying out their ordinary business as citizens,” she related.

“Lloyd Best would have phrased it to say the Government has ‘pre-collapsed’ in office having failed in its very core duty. Crime and the fight against crime is the paramount issue facing our nation today.” Persad-Bissessar justified her motion by mulling the role of an MP, who is also a mother, father, grandparent or sibling. “You see a twenty-year-old murdered, a young woman in the prime of her life...and it’s not important for discussion?!” Persad-Bissessar asked if the Speaker knew that the viral effect of Banfield’s death on social media? She said the Government’s forecast of doom and gloom over any delays in the FATCA Bill had not happened, but that many people are dying violently. Persad-Bissessar said in its 15 month term, the Government had offered the House no legislation to “help the small man”.

Urging a serious Government intervention on crime, Persad- Bissessar said, “We gave them numerous suggestions but not one has been dealt with.” Scoffing at Government claims that Opposition MPs dislike FATCA because they have monies to hide, she declared that TT’s MP’s declare earnings to the Integrity Commission and not the United States tax office, she said, “I have no money to hide anywhere.” Persad-Bissessar vowed to not let the matter rest but to raise it again on Monday in Parliament.