Former Foreign Affairs minister Paula Gopee-Scoon says Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is "without face" in the Caribbean region. Gopee-Scoon made the claim during her contribution to yesterday's debate on Anti-Gang Bill 2010 in the House of Representatives. The bill seeks to make it an offence to be a member of a criminal gang in T&T. It gives special powers to the police to search and arrest. The Opposition has been critical of the bill saying it was draconian. Gopee-Scoon said Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar had lead responsibility for security in the quasi-Caricom Cabinet.
She made reference to what Persad-Bissessar had said about T&T no longer being the region's ATM card and her demands for conditional support for Caricom states damaged by Hurricane Tomas. "The Prime Minister is already without face in the Caricom, (she's) totally faceless in Caricom," Gopee-Scoon said. She noted that Jamaica had effectively imposed a boycott on T&T goods sold in the country because of the PM's utterances. "There is a backlash in Caricom," Gopee-Scoon added. She said an official T&T delegation was refused entry into St Vincent because of the PM's conditional held statement after Hurricane Tomas.
Gopee-Scoon stressed: "This Government is faceless in the Caribbean and on the whole question of crime, this Government is rudderless with regards to crime in T&T." She questioned the basis for Persad-Bissessar remaining as the lead PM in Caricom for security matters.
She displayed the former Government's Vision 2020 document during her contribution. She said since assuming office in May 2010, the PP Government had failed in the fight against crime.
"Crime has gone through the window," she added.