Nothing new from Panday, Joseph

Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers Association (TTMA) president Paul Quesnel said it was evident to everyone in the country that crime "is a major issue" and had to be dealt with urgently. Against that background, Quesnel said Panday was essentially saying "the same thing" which the business community had been saying for months about crime and how it should be tackled. San Juan Business Association (SJBA) president Gail Merhair agreed that Panday had "brought out the crime situation" in his contribution as has been advocated by the business community and particularly by the SJBA.

Greater Tunapuna Chamber of Industry and Commerce president Rohan Roopnarine said it appeared as if Panday’s Budget contribution would have been applicable in a forum before the Budget debate, because it dealt with many issues which have been repeatedly spoken about by the UNC in several public fora prior to the commencement of Monday’s Budget debate in Parliament.

While noting that it was incumbent on the Government to bring immediate relief to the population where crime was concerned, Roopnarine said it was not enough for the Opposition to merely refuse to cooperate with the Government on crime because of the current status quo, and repeatedly call for constitutional reform.

Roopnarine reminded all parliamentarians to heed President George Maxwell Richards’ advice at last month’s ceremonial opening of Parliament to work together to bring the nation’s crime problems under control.

On Joseph’s contribution, Quesnel said having stated that it was bringing in Scotland Yard and the Federal Bureau of Investigations to help local law enforcement agencies deal with crime, it was now incumbent for the Government "to do it." Merhair said Joseph had not given her any additional assurance that the authorities were working to reduce crime.

She expressed concern that the recommendations of US Prof Stephen Mastrofski’s team would only increase the police crime detection ability to 30 percent, and about moves to bring back retired officers rather than raising the entry criteria for the Police Service and enhancing the compensation packages for police officers. Roopnarine called for Government to exercise a zero-tolerance policy towards crime and execute its stated initiatives along with others proposed by the business community.