McLeod urges Parliament to get tough on crime; slams PNM for criminals in URP

Errol McLeod called on Parliament Friday to pass the Anti-Gang Bill and send a serious message that Trinidad and Tobago would no longer tolerate gangsters, hoodlums, gun-runners and perpetrators of serious crime, whether white-collar or blue-collar crime.

Speaking during the debate on the bill the labour minister spoke about the abuse of the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) and other similar programmes, charging that the previous Manning administration took criminals and put them in charge.

"You don't contract the programme to such people. And that is what happened. And today, we continue to suffer the consequences of that," he said. "When the programme was not enough for the satisfaction of their greed, they had to create appendages to the programme. And that is why, today, we talk about ghost gangs. Why did it start?" he asked.

"And then you have the lure of the good life by the dons, who have our communities trembling before them. And we bring a measure that ought to help us in curbing those tendencies, and we are told that the penalties are too harsh, draconian and oppressive...

"There are those of us who would wish that we would show some pity to those who have been pitilessly and mercilessly injuring the rest of us," McLeod said.

"Anytime you express fear of the criminally inclined, you will spend the rest of your life in fear. I do not intend to spend the rest of my life in fear," he said.

In her contribution, Point Fortin MP Paula Gopee-Scoon challenged McLeod's statements on URP, saying the PNM was systemically rooting out the criminal element from it.

She predicted an "explosion" of ghost gangs in the URP under the new administration and chided Mc Leod for providing what she said was misinformation.

The former foreign affairs minister said the PNM had driven out the criminals from the programme during the 1991-1995 Manning administration and that it was allowed to return under the Panday UNC government.

Gopee-Scoon, who blamed Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar for the escalation of crime in this country. said the PNM dealt with crime and had a plan in place to tackle the transshipment of arms and ammunition into this country.
   
She also suggested that Persad-Bissessar should hold a mini-summit on national security and invite Caricom members.