Put away your balisier ties

OPPOSITION LEADER Basdeo Panday yesterday condemned certain members of the business community for claiming that the UNC was “holding the country to ransom” by not supporting passage of the Police Reform Bills in Parliament, and by blindly falling for the sales pitch given to them by the Government on Monday. In a newspaper report, Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce president Christian Mouttet and South Trinidad Chamber of Industry and Commerce president Jim Lee Young criticised the UNC for not wanting to support the bills’ passage without constitutional reform. In that report, Lee Young said the Opposition “cannot hold the country to ransom” and both men said the business community supported Government’s anti-crime legislation. Panday told Newsday that while members of the business community were entitled to their views, they have not stated how the bills in their current form will help to reduce the levels of crime in TT.

“How does this (Police Reform Bills) solve crime. They are just expressing their PNM position,” Panday said. The UNC leader said the business commmunity has also not stated where are the checks and balances in the proposed legislation to prevent the Government from abusing power and using the police to deal with its political enemies. Panday told local business people that they must analyse the legislation properly and then make their arguments “logically and sincerely.” Panday also believed that Monday’s Whitehall talks between Prime Minister Patrick Manning, National Security Minister Martin Joseph, heads of the Protective Services and business representatives were nothing more than a sales pitch by the Government for the business community to support its anti-crime legislation.

Reiterating the UNC’s intention to hold anti-crime discussions with all of  TT’s stakeholders (including the business community), Panday said the difference will be that the UNC will ask “simple questions” which the Whitehall discussions did not address. The UNC leader asked certain business people “to stop displaying their balisier ties” and seriously treat with the issue of crime. He added that the views of Mouttet and Lee Young were in the minority within the business community. Panday said the UNC’s public education programme on the Bills got off to a good start at its Monday night forum in Diego Martin. The Bills will be debated in the Senate on June 29 and Government needs a two-thirds majority (20 votes) to secure their passage. Several Independent Senators have reportedly expressed reservations about the legislation. Speaking with reporters last Friday, the Prime Minister said the national community will draw its own conclusions if the Opposition fails to support the Bills, which the PNM and UNC agreed to pass in Parliament regardless of whoever won the 2000 general elections.