PM cites consultations after jet ski death

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar says Gov­ern­ment is in con­sul­ta­tion with the To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly on mea­sures to reg­u­late the use of jet skis and oth­er plea­sure craft fol­low­ing the death of a young girl at Pi­geon Point Her­itage Park in To­ba­go.

She was re­spond­ing to a ques­tion in the Low­er House of Par­lia­ment to­day from Diego Mar­tin North/East MP Colm Im­bert, who asked what im­me­di­ate and ur­gent ac­tion Gov­ern­ment is tak­ing to pre­vent sim­i­lar in­ci­dents in lo­cal wa­ters.

The Prime Min­is­ter be­gan by ex­tend­ing con­do­lences to the fam­i­ly of the child.

“First­ly, let me say on be­half of the Gov­ern­ment of T&T, I of­fer con­do­lences to the loved ones of young An­gel­i­ca Sadie Jo­gie.”

She said Gov­ern­ment re­mains in com­mu­ni­ca­tion with the To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly on the mat­ter.

“The Gov­ern­ment is in con­stant com­mu­ni­ca­tion with THA re­gard­ing mea­sures to ad­dress these mat­ters, and more will be said in the fu­ture. So we are in con­sul­ta­tion.”

Per­sad-Bisses­sar al­so re­ferred to pre­vi­ous leg­isla­tive ef­forts, say­ing she had been ad­vised that a bill in­tro­duced in 2020 could have ad­dressed such is­sues.

“But may I say that I am ad­vised and re­mind­ed that there was a bill in 2020 that would have helped to ad­dress mat­ters such as these, but those on the oth­er side sat on that bill for, what is it, 10 years or more from 2020, right down un­til last year, and nev­er act­ed on that bill.”

She re­it­er­at­ed that dis­cus­sions are on­go­ing to ad­dress in­ci­dents in­volv­ing plea­sure craft in lo­cal wa­ters.