Solve murders, kidnappings and robberies

OPPOSITION Leader Basdeo Panday has challenged newly appointed Police Commissioner Trevor Paul to deal with the outstanding matter of a Government minister who allegedly issued instructions to free two Barbadian fishermen arrested for fishing illegally in Tobago. “If the minister is guilty he should be punished for political interference in the course of justice,” Panday said in the main address at a UNC Monday night forum at the party’s Couva South Constituency Office at Campden Road, Couva.

The UNC political leader also called on Paul to solve the increasing  murders, kidnappings and robberies in the country. Panday said the country’s crime situation was frightening and he wondered “whether it is going to get worse.” “When criminals are killing police officers, one  wonders whether it can become worse than Jamaica where policemen are being killed with impunity.” Panday, who congratulated Paul on his appointment, noted that he was taking up the top police post “against a backdrop of the senseless murders of policemen.” Panday pointed out that Paul was appointed by the Police Service Commission “which the PNM had been vilifying over the past few months.” “Surely this is an ironic twist of fate,” he said.

Panday said there was a perception in the country that police officers were involved in kidnappings.  If that is the case, he said, the CoP should find out who they are and have them charged accordingly. He also suggested that the system of recruitment for police officers should not be discriminatory and that “all persons seeking to become police officers are treated equally regardless of race, colour or creed.” The meeting was also addressed by Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who claimed the country’s education system is in shambles and that no schools have been built since the PNM came into office.