PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad –Opposition Leader Kamla Persad Bissessar has questioned the decision of the government to implement a state of emergency (SOE) here as part of the measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID19) that has so far infected 16, 549 and killed 294 others since March last year.
Kamla Persad Bissessar (File Photo)Speaking at the Monday night “FORUM” of her main opposition United National Congress (UNC), Persad Bissessar, said the SOE, as well as the lockdown and the curfew “will have little, or maybe no effect unless you deal with the porous borders”.
Persad Bissessar, said that she also had “some very serious concerns” with the SOE regulations “because in some respects there is ambiguity, there is vagueness so clarity is needed so that people can know what they’re allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do.
“And therefore, certainty is very important in law-making, the regulations are in fact, subsidiary legislation, they are in fact part of the law of Trinidad and Tobago,” she said, adding that under some of the regulations “you cannot gather in any public space, unless you fall within some of the purposes specified” in Subregulation10
The Opposition Leader said that Regulation 3. (1) (b) says a person shall not be at any work place unless the services are specified in sub-regulation (10) and shall where possible work from home;
“So, these are the questions that arise and these are the concerns that I have. First of all, are the offices of the Members of Parliament, the offices of councilors, the office of the Leader of the Opposition public places?
“And the answer is obviously yes. Because the same regulations define for us what is a public space.
Now it is easy in some sense to know being on a street, being on a highway, that that is a public place. It becomes a little vague when you start to move into offices operating as MPs, operating as Councilors, operating as the Leader of the Opposition.
“Are those public spaces? And in my respectful view based on the definition in Regulation 2 yes, they are public spaces and therefore no person shall gather there unless you have an exemption, unless you are providing services under Sub-regulation 10 – and I’ll come to those to see what those are – the first thing is that these are public spaces.
“Secondly, they are places of work – we have people working in these offices – MPs’ offices, Councilors' offices, at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition and therefore no person shall be there unless you have the exemption as provided in regulation 10,” she told the virtual FORUM.
She said that while persons have access to the offices of the MPs, Regulation 10 provides almost 100 services which are exempt and that one of them speaks to the Parliament.
She said during the period of public emergency between the hours of 5:01 am to 8:59 pm every day, the following services may be provided including operations and sittings of the Houses of Parliament and meetings of the Cabinet.
“So do the offices of MPs, does the office of the Leader of the Opposition fall within “operations and sittings of the Houses of Parliament”? In my respectful view, this is uncertain. There is one view that no – the operations at MPs’ offices are not operations of the Parliament or the sittings of the Parliament.”
“So, I am saying clarify, make it very clear, expressly provide that MPs offices, Councilors' offices, office of the Leader of the Opposition, that these offices, as public spaces that they can be under an exemption.
“As it stands, does it fall under 10 (c ) operations and sittings of the Houses? I am saying in one view the answer is no. As MPs we have an important function outside of the Parliament sittings to service our constituents. Councilors also have that same job to do. Office of the Leader of the Opposition.”
Persad Bissessar said that these are public spaces “but there is no express provision in these regulations for allowing persons to come – because persons do come – they come to all these offices. And this will not affect just the UNC offices you know. Not only UNC MPs, not only UNC councilors – it also affects the PNM councilors and PNM MPs. Their offices would also be impacted by this.
“And it is indeed as elected MPs and councilors, we have an important role to play in a representative democracy, that if these regulations do not expressly provide for the functions we carry out outside of the sittings of the Parliament then we are in a bad place indeed.
“Democracy demands that these offices be allowed to operate and be given an express provision as being allowed’ she added.
On Monday, Attorney General, Faris Al-Rawi warned that stricter measures could be applied if people do not adhere to regulations issued under the SOE.
“I would like to simply point out to the people of Trinidad and Tobago, do not be surprised, when one observes the mad rush of individuals, not in groups of five, all congregating in areas such as Chaguaramas, Lady Chancellor Hill, Palmiste Park, San Fernando’s areas that we enjoy.
“One has to be conscious that it is the congregation of people, that we are managing. Therefore, the advice that came to the government and which was accepted and was introduced into the regulations, expert medical advice, is that we had to reduce circulation,” Al-Rawi said, adding that exercise is something important for everyone, and empathized with those affected..
“I can say that as a person that is a heavy exerciser, if I don’t get my daily dose of exercise, my endorphins drop and I tend to tend towards depression. I want to get that physical training for clarity of mind. We all feel the same way.”
“While we know we live in a culture where people try to find loopholes and extensions for themselves, let us avoid technicalities. What we have to do is be very sensible to join in assisting the fight against COVID,” Al-Rawi said, noting that the SOE is different from previous ones because it was called to deal with a public health crisis.
