Imbert says emergency has deeply burt businesses, says measure targets black people

Opposition MP Colm Imbert told the House of Representatives on Saturday the state of emergency has caused business activity to drop by 30 per cent. And he noted that some businesses in the hospitality and other service sector are down by as much as 75 per cent.

Diego Martin North/East MP Colm Imbert was making his contribution in the debate on the extension of the emergency.

"People are out of jobs in certain establishments, the working hours of other persons are being reduced in hotels and restaurants because people can't work at night anymore," he said.

"There is an concomitant effect on their income and they can't make their payments to the banks for loans for vehicles, for consumer items, for appliances. There is already a significant effect on the banking sector," he added.

Imbert claimed that the government is aware of the facts and also stated that businesses are afraid to speak negatively about the State of Emergency for fear of being penalised.

"What the business people tell us is that small businesses cannot sustain a three-month State of Emergency, medium sized businesses would be very hard hit and only large businesses and conglomerates are going to be able to sustain the negative effects of this three-month extension.

"That is going to be economic impact of the state of emergency. You going to have a number of small business people who are going to have to close down their businesses and retrench their employees," he said.

Imbert also argued that things are likely to get worse when the emergency ends.

"They (businesses) foresee difficulty with the security forces being able to revert to the pre-state of emergency norms of power, with the criminals striking back, a crippled economy and a traumatised and deeply resentful and angry black community," he said.

Imbert suggested that the State of Emergency has criminalised certain sectors of the society and exacerbated the racial divide. He charged that police reports say drugs are coming in at Toco and questioned why there is no curfew there.

He also pointed to Credros and Icacos, saying "anybody" living there knows that guns are coming into those places from Venezuela yet there is no curfew there.

"The only conclusion is political: Government has singled out certain political regions. This Government which is driven by politics recognised that there would be a negative backlash from the people in their constituencies," Imbert charged.

He added, "They don't care about the people in particular areas in the country...that is what people are saying."