Non-commitment yesterday from the Opposition for the Bail Amendment Bill which Parliament will “come out” of the recess to debate next week.
“We didn’t support the bill when it was debated in the Senate in June so I’m not sure what’ll happen. We will have to caucus on the matter,” said UNC MP Ramona Ramdial yesterday.
She was one of the few Opposition MPs who responded to calls on the upcoming debate on the bill. Most of them are on vacation overseas.
Ramdial spoke after trying to comfort families of missing Orange Valley fishermen.
Yesterday, Government’s Lower House leader Camille Robinson-Regis said that due to the concerns by Government and national security agencies on the latest crime situation, the Lower House will break its current mid-year recess to sit next Wednesday to debate the bill.
She noted that Parliament, which went into recess two weeks ago, can be reconvened to deal with any matter of urgent national importance.
The bill seeks to tighten access to bail for a repeat offender involved in firearm crimes. A person over age 18 who commits an offence under the Anti-Gang Act can be sentenced to ten years imprisonment. Someone charged with an offence under the Dangerous Drugs Act could be sentenced to ten or more years in jail.
The bill requires a three-fifths majority for passage. It was debated in the Senate and passed on June 12 with the support of Government and Independent senators. But the Opposition “blanked” it.
Opposition MPs, including Rushton Paray, Bhoe Tewarie, Barry Padarath, Roodal Moonilal and Ganga Singh are currently overseas.
UNC whip David Lee didn’t respond. UNC MP Rodney Charles also said he didn’t know if Opposition Leader Kamla Persad- Bissessar was in T&T or if the Opposition would support the bill. He believed passing a lot of legislation to solve the crime “made no sense and merely gives false hope to a demoralised nation.”
Tewarie, who said he might return by next week, added, “Before seeking more anti-crime legislation, there needs to be recognition of the structural problems in the police force concerning interests there which are aligned with criminal elements in society and Government also needs to summon the political will to deal with the crime situation following claims that some PNM members are allegedly aligned with criminals. If they can’t deal with these two things, no bill can solve the problem,”
However, PNM Robinson -Regis said, “The police have asked for this bill to deal with the crime problem affecting citizens, therefore we must present it to Parliament. This isn’t for PNM, this is for the people and the country,”