The consequences of the decision of a former Prime Minister to plunge this country into the valley of decision some three years before being constitutionally obliged to do so are daily being manifested in ways unimagined even by him. In a mere 15 months the pendulum of leadership has swung between two extremities. One, blinded by hubris and illusions of invincibility, and the other, a public relations creation, presiding over by an inner cabal who dictates government policy. The charge of the latter brigade is being led by AG Anand Ramlogan, a non-elected official to government.
On August 21, in a live address televised only by the state-run CNMG, as if the gravity of the impending message did not warrant a national simulcast involving all the television and radio stations, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar stated that the nation was rocked with the recent tragic news of the spate of murders and that one of the causations was linked to the discovery of large drug hauls with values in excess of $20 million. She added that "the current crime spree dictates that more must be done and stronger action has to be employed now... it must be a response as well that will halt the current gang activity and crime in general in the shortest possible time... the nation will not be held to ransom by marauding groups of thugs bent on creating havoc in the society..."
However, within a few hours of that statement, the AG gave another justification for the imposition of the state of emergency. It was decided upon based on "intelligence from security agencies which Government could not share with the population," but which nonetheless "averted a crisis." There was "an immediate threat and endangerment to public safety and innocent citizens could have lost their lives had a state of emergency not been declared."
So in a matter of days the rationale had shifted from heightened gang warfare to an immediate threat and endangerment to public safety. Were the gangs about to turn on the national community at large? Ramlogan's statement was nothing more than a figment of his troubled imagination to satisfy the requirements of section 8.2 of the Constitution (section 8.1 being inapplicable) that "the proclamation made by the President shall not be effective unless it contains a declaration that he (the President) is satisfied that action has been taken, or is immediately threatened by any person of such a nature, and on so extensive a scale, as to be likely to endanger the public safety."
Tell the country, Mr AG, the nature of the immediate threat to public safety. The country deserves to know. Ramlogan's motives become clearer with each succeeding press conference. He revealed that he wished to use the Tarouba Stadium to detain people arrested during the state of emergency. This appears to be a nefarious desire to recreate the dreaded FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) style camps that have been established in the USA in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center and which are ready to receive prisoners should martial law be implemented in the US.
This intended detention centre may mirror in many respects the detention centres in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where prisoners suspected of involvement in the September 11 attacks are kept in harsh conditions, incommunicado and without trial indefinitely. Speculation is rife that many people are being held incommunicado at Camp Cumuto, Wallerfield. Already, the case has been made for keeping the whereabouts of those detained a secret, by the revelation that those arrested do not wish their families to know that they are involved in gang activities. What exactly constitutes gang activities? Have all those people arrested been proven to be in gangs? On what evidence?
The opposition PNM blundered immensely in supporting the anti-gang legislation which contained serious flaws even during the bill stage but which still received bipartisan support in the House. It was never contemplated that that piece of legislation in whatever form would be resorted to in a state of emergency. The two combined indeed serve up a lethal cocktail of oppression which is now being liberally served to an unsuspecting population. Many other existing pieces of legislation contain ample provisions to tackle criminal activity-the Firearms Act, the Prevention of Crimes Act, the Prevention of Crimes (Offensive Weapons) Act, and the Dangerous Drugs Act-give law enforcement the legislative underpinning necessary.
Section 3 of the Prevention of Crimes Act provides for a register of all people convicted of crime to be kept under the management of the Commissioner of Police. So the police are well aware of who and where the criminals are. If they don't then it is a gross failure on the part of the intelligence machinery of the State. Unable to govern and deliver on its hollow campaign promises (including a promise to rid the country of crime in 120 days) and increasingly called to account by an exasperated and frustrated citizenry, the Persad-Bissessar-led regime has responded with ferocity by declaring war on its citizens under the guise of fighting crime.
But the systematic erosion of democratic freedoms by democratically elected leaders is not without precedent in the Caribbean. Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier was elected to the presidency of Haiti in 1957. He went on to rule Haiti with brute force with the help of the notoriously ruthless Ton Ton Macoutes, a paramilitary force which routinely assassinated opponents to his regime. Grenada had its share of oppressive leadership under its first elected Prime Minister, Eric Gairy, whose Mongoose Gang unleashed a series of unspeakable atrocities against the Grenadian citizenry until his overthrow by Maurice Bishop and the New Jewel Movement in 1979.
The Partnership is testing the waters to see how far it can push the population. This is just phase one. Phases two and three are not far in coming. The emasculation of the EBC, a redefining of the electoral boundaries, could soon be on the Government's agenda and the rest, as they say, will be history. But also not without precedent are leaders charged for wanton abuse of power and position and misconduct in public office. The former Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko, being one example. The Prime Minister and the AG at the very least are in breach of the oath of office they took under the First Schedule to "uphold the Constitution and the law and to conscientiously and impartially discharge the responsibilities to the people of Trinidad and Tobago." The Prime Minister and the AG are being put on notice that they are trampling on the fundamental rights and freedoms of our citizenry and, like Robespierre during the French Revolution, they may yet fall victim to the very guillotine they are now deploying with relish.
Peter AC Taylor
• Peter Taylor is a former Minister of Legal Affairs and an attorney