Ameen: Abuse trials must be prompt

News

UNC deputy leader Khadijah Ameen says a future UNC government will allocate sufficient resources to ensure that criminal trials involving sexual abuse or child abuse are promptly heard, addressing a UNC community rally at Arima North Secondary School on April 11.

She also vowed to weed old obsolete laws which were oppressive or which created unnecessary bureaucracy.

"Our government will increase the number of judges.

"Every judge must have a designated court room."

Ameen also promised more courtrooms in populated areas away from Port of Spain. To help break up criminal gang activity, she said a future UNC government would build smaller prisons and locate them around the country. Offenders will be provided with appropriate social programmes and life-skills training, Ameen vowed.

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She said the intelligence services would be allocated to do crime-fighting, as she alleged they now spied on political opponents.

"I am sure my phone is tapped right now," Ameen alleged.

Saying she had heard one MP being described as "nice" she questioned that MP's efficacy, and said an MP who was not working did not deserve votes despite however nice they might seem to be.

"We are not voting for 'nice boy' and 'nice girl'!"

She surmised that a neglectful MP was not really nice but just pretending to be.

This theme was followed by UNC candidate for Arima Nigel Moses who recalled a female constituent he had met saying Arima MP Penelope Beckles was nice, but when the resident had thought about their personal safety, had decided she had no choice but to instead vote for the UNC.

"Any time you need representation in Arima you cannot look to the PNM, but to Nigel Moses of the UNC," he said.

Moses said UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar was the only political leader with empathy for the people.

He alleged his rival had done an election walkabout in an area known as La Retreat, only to be told by irate residents, "You were not there when our families were killed. Nigel Moses was there. Move from here!"

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Moses hit, "The PNM has no interest in you, but wants your vote."

Trincity/Maloney (formerly Arouca/Maloney) UNC candidate Richard Smith alleged his PNM rival, Attorney General Camille-Robinson-Regis, was considered by constituents to be "a ghost MP."

He alleged, "You only see here when it is time for general elections.

"The people of Trincity/Maloney said 'MP' does not stand for Member of Parliament for her. It stands for 'Missing Person.'"

Arouca/Lopinot Dr Natalie Chaitan-Maharaj said of some constituents, "Even in their residential communities that look comfortable and that look stable, make no mistake, no one is safe with this Government."

UNC candidate for Malabar/Mausica Dominic Smith said when PNM candidates visited, residents should carry them to local recreation grounds and rivers and ask them about the neglect of such facilities.

Radio announcer Mikee K who often chairs UNC rallies, in an address alleged, "People tell you they are PNM, but they do not recognise the PNM now."

He endorsed the UNC measures against crime.

Advocating easier access for law-abiding citizens to firearms for defence against assaults by violent criminals, he said, "We must not be sitting ducks."

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He supported tertiary education for police officers plus a police apprenticeship programme.

"Many times we see senior officers taking pre-retirement leave, and it is not to come back from their studies and work in the police service. It is to set themselves up in the private sector.

"So all that they learned, they don't come back; they don't teach the juniors. Enough of that nonsense! It has to stop!"

Mikee K supported the UNC's plan to revamp the witness protection programme.

"If you are telling us if we see something, say something, we want to say something but we want to live to say it too!"

Ameen later looked ahead to the April 28 election date, saying, "What they did not do in the last ten years, you think they could do in the next 16 days?"

Of TT's high murder rate, she scoffed, "Them now have a plan?

"You think the PNM is going to reduce crime in the next 16 days?"

Former UNC senator Anil Roberts said former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar's first cabinet note created the Children's Life Fund, ultimately saving the lives of 153 children.

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"This election is about heart," he said.

Roberts said even trade union non-members should feel disrespected over the government offering trade unions a wage hike over three years of just zero-zero-one per cent.

He said, "The UNC is heading into government.

"The only way the PNM could win is to steal it.

"Take out your voting finger and riot, riot, riot on April 28!"