UNC calls for delay in debate

DESPITE new amendments made in the last few days to the Police Reform Bills by Sir Ellis Clarke and the Technical Committee, which were presented for the first time yesterday to Government and copies given to the Opposition, the meeting between Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday failed to arrive at consensus. The two are to meet again this afternoon at 5 pm at Whitehall to consider those amendments as well as other amendments the Sir Ellis Clarke team will formulate in time for today’s meeting, in a last ditch effort to reach a compromise to ensure the Bills’ passage in Parliament when the debate begins tomorrow at 10 am.

Yesterday’s meeting at the Prime Minister’s La Fantasie Road, St Ann’s residence lasted 90 minutes. Panday was accompanied by MPs Ganga Singh and Gerald Yetming. Attorney General John Jeremie and Planning and Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis were also present representing Government. Prime Minister Patrick Manning did not speak to the media, but Panday told reporters the UNC wanted a deferral of the debate, however the Government was adamant on the debate being held tomorrow, which suggested that  they were not “really interested in getting the Bills passed.”

Panday said he believed that “no matter what we say or do, they will go on with the Bills on Tuesday.” He said the UNC suggested to the Government that they “had mistakenly promoted the Bills as anti-crime legislation. “If they were really interested in talking about crime, we were prepared to sit down and talk about crime in a meaningful way because it is not merely solved by laws but dealt with holistically, and requires not only reform of the Police Service, but the judicial system, prison reform, administrative reform and social reform.”

Panday said they told Government that “such a battle would entail the entire society and what we ought to do is really talk about getting the society together. Not only to fight crime but poverty and homelessness.” He said he didn’t think the Government “found that view favourable and was insisting they go on with the Bill on Tuesday. “I think the Government is insisting they go on with the Bill and they are not going to listen to anything really. I don’t think they are interested in getting the Bills passed.” Panday said the time was not sufficient to peruse the amendments and debate the matter and he would have preferred a deferral of the debate. “It is not sufficient time, but the Government is insisting on going on, although we said surely the work of the Joint Select Committee (JSC) ought to be completed before the Bills come to Parliament, and there be genuine talks on constitutional reform. “But that was rejected!

“Government is adamant, Mr Manning is adamant that come hell or high water the Bills are going to be debated on Tuesday. We thought that that was a very unfortunate position to take.” Asked if he believed the Bills will fail tomorrow, Panday replied: “I can’t say that. I don’t want to pre-judge the situation at all, maybe he’s bluffing and when we speak in Parliament they’ll change their minds, I don’t know.” Robinson-Regis described yesterday’s discussions as “fruitful.” She said: “The debate will take place but we will be meeting again tomorrow (today) and we anticipate further discussions based on the documents they have. We anticipate some moving forward...a little more. We anticipate that tomorrow (today) will in fact achieve that end.”

Told that the UNC envisioned a more holistic approach to dealing with crime, Robinson-Regis said that was not so. “We said the Ministry of National Security, and the police in particular have been provided with the resources and we see these Bills as a lynch pin with regards to the entire Police Service.” AG Jeremie said the amendments were lengthy. He said the two sets of amendments were “in the spirit of compromise,” and the third set, dealing with the Constitutional Amendment Bill was being “worked on as we speak.” He said whether the amendments address the concerns of the UNC would have to be determined by them (the UNC), but he was confident “we will get some positive feedback from them tomorrow (today).”