Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles is demanding that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander account for the results of the State of Emergency as the latest SOE comes to an end.
In a Facebook post on Friday, Beckles questioned what the rolling states of emergency since April 2025 had achieved, how much they had cost and what would happen to people who were detained under Preventive Detention Orders.
She also called on Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander, who she said had accepted responsibility for the State’s actions under the PDOs, to provide answers on the outcome of the detentions.
“After 75% of this Government’s term in office has been spent under rolling SOEs, we ought to know the outcome of those extraordinary detentions: how many were actually charged, how many were released without charge, and how many ultimately faced successful prosecution?” Beckles said.
Her comments come as people detained under PDOs are being released from detention facilities across the country following the end of the SOE.
Beckles questioned why the Government had not publicly provided data on charges laid and prosecutions arising from the detentions.
She also challenged the Government to demonstrate that the SOEs had produced results in the fight against crime.
“A State of Emergency cannot be judged by the powers exercised. It must be judged by the results achieved,” she said.
Beckles also raised concerns about what she described as the potential consequences of releasing people whom the State had identified as alleged perpetrators of serious crimes.
She called on the Government to explain what measures would be put in place to prevent reprisals and protect members of the public.
Beckles further claimed that billions of dollars had been spent on the rolling SOEs when spending on national security, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service and law enforcement was taken into account.
