National Security Minister Jack Warner says his crime plan is being implemented "bit by bit." He said so in an interview during yesterday's lunch break of the People's Partnership retreat at the Coco Reef Hotel in Tobago. Warner also said the main problem in Tobago was crime against tourists.
He said dealing with that was his major focus in Tobago, because such crimes will affect Tobago's tourism industry. So his crime-fighting initiatives "will be specific to Tobago and specific to Trinidad." The National Security Minister said police must have the necessary tools to successfully fight crime. He said if they weren't provided, no one could expect them to be successful.
Warner said he had a plan to rid the streets of illegal guns and ammunition, but intended to first take it to the National Security Council before making it public. He said the measures were not original, but had not been effectively implemented here before. "The plans shall roll off bit by bit, and I won't wait until the plan is put into one whole before it is utilised," he said.
Warner said this measure will come "in the next two or three weeks." Asked if it involved an amnesty, he initially said he had nothing to say, then added that any amnesty should be implemented under specific conditions. He said an unconditional amnesty would not be effective and any amnesty would provide for illegal guns to be turned in within a specified time, failing which anyone found with guns can be prosecuted and jailed.
"So it is either/or... I give you a month or two months to bring in your weapon, or face the gun court, where the penalty is going to be severe," Warner said. On the issue of the selection of three contractors by the National Maintenance Training and Security Company (MTS) by sole selective tender for the desilting of three rivers, Warner said criticism of the process was "a lot of foolishness."
He said the entire process was transparent and not uncommon to what has happened before. Opposition senator Faris Al-Rawi had complained about the $60-million drainage contracts. "The guys (contractors) who were selected have the best equipment in the country," he said.
Warner said "every person who owns a backhoe and a trowel believes he is a contractor in Trinidad." He was also dismissive of the claims being made by the PNM senator and disgruntled contractors.