PM Kamla lays full coup report in Parliament

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Friday laid in parliament the full report of the Commission of Enquiry into the failed 1990 Muslimeen coup.

She received the report on Thursday during a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC), which she was chairing. The document was presented in four volumes report, one of which was deemed confidential.

She said after due deliberation at the NSC, "the government agreed that we would waive confidentiality and place the entire report in the public domain." She added, "We did not want the report to be shadowed, there is nothing to hide."

She said the NSC noted matters pertaining to national security and agreed to implement several of commission's recommendations. She said a further presentation will soon be made in this regard to the parliament.

She made it clear that contrary to what is perceived by many, the intention in setting up the probe in 2010 was not a witch hunt but a means of dealing with a critical issue "upon which our nation was faced with in our darkest hour." She said, "Thankfully, our law enforcement officials stepped up to defend our democracy, and for that we would forever be grateful."

Persad-Bissessar said it is clear that some things went wrong prior to, during and immediately after 27 July 1990. She said the recommendations of the commission "would go a long way to ensure that there would be much less likelihood that history would repeat itself." 

The PM added, "It is better that we are prepared now than later, because if we wait for later, it may not cost us just dollars and cents, but also innocent lives that could be lost because of poor preparation and planning."

She said the findings would be of value to ensure more professional, sustainable and result-oriented law enforcement agencies, both in specific operations and also on a daily basis.

"The Government of Trinidad and Tobago would indeed now drive forward to implement the recommendations stated," she promised. "I am pleased to state that some of these recommendations were already noted by the present administration prior to the report and efforts to implement such policies, some of which have already commenced."

She said the commission found that in 1990 there was a problem with intelligence gathering and intelligence sharing from the relevant agencies, which the report described as "loose and haphazard". It also stated that the NSC was not functional as it should be. 

READ THE REPORT: http://www.ttparliament.org/documents/rptcoe1990.pdf