Kamla urges opposition to support wiretapping bill; Rowley will support it with amendments

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Friday appealed for opposition support to pass the wiretapping bill presented to Parliament by National Security Minister John Sandy even though the People’s Partnership (PP) Government has the constitutional majority required to pass it.

Opposition Leader Keith Rowley pledged last week to support the bill after he cried "shame" on the Manning administration for the illegal spying on civilians, including President Richards, members of the judiciary, journalists, politicians and private citizens.

Rowley told the House Friday the opposition would support the legislation but at the same time asked for certain amendments.

The Prime Minister said the bill is too important to have only partisan support. “If it is that the Opposition is not inclined to support the bill, we would not want to pass this bill without your support, even though we have the majority...I believe it is too important and therefore in the committee stage, we can go through and take all your suggestions and give considerations to them."

Rowley was pleased to hear that. “It says that Parliament now has the opportunity to work as a team to pass good law and not for any particular individual partisan purpose...That is what Parliament must always be about,” he said.

Rowley said Trinidad and Tobago is in a “right royal mess” because of the illegal invasion of the privacy of citizens by the Security Intelligence Agency (SIA) over the past 14 years.

He asked for Parliament to establish a Joint Select Committee on National Security to examine the proposed bill and "all other actions of our national security architecture.”

Rowley acknowledged that it was a PNM administration that established the Security Intelligence Agency (SIA) when Patrick Manning was head of government in 1994. However he said it was the Panday UNC government that “operationalised” the SIA after Panday took office in 1995.

The opposition leader suggested that the phone-tapping should be restricted to citizens who are believed to be engaged in serious crimes. 

He asked for an amendment to the clause in the bill that provides for a 270-day limit to phone-tapping. He said that time should be extended since it may be justifiable reasons for the security agency to monitor someone planning a serious crime for more than 270 days.

Rowley also urged the government to pass legislation to carry out the request of the Judiciary for the destruction of all evidence collected by the SIA over the past 14 years, noting that it would be inappropriate for the evidence to be destroyed without parliamentary approval.