While President Christine Kangaloo’s maiden speech to both houses during the Ceremonial Opening of the Fourth Session of the 12th Parliament on Monday left many feeling hopeful, her clarion call for parliamentarians to work together on legislation and other measures designed to combat crime was met with scepticism by some political analysts and criminologists.
Responding to her plea, some people said her ideology of unity was simply “wishful thinking”.
Speaking to Guardian Media yesterday, political scientist Prof Hamid Ghany said the President’s call goes against the grain of what the country’s Constitution requires.
Ghany said, “The one area that she went, which perhaps appears somewhat unrealistic, is to make this call for compromise and collaboration. On the issue of crime, the Government and the Opposition are miles apart from each other, so I’m not very hopeful that we’re going to see much collaboration.”
“The Opposition has adopted a position that it wants to introduce stand your ground legislation and the Government is fiercely opposed to the concept of stand your ground legislation,” he added.
Similarly, criminologist Prof Ramesh Deosaran said this call was not new. In a release yesterday, Deosaran said it was a very old wish that will not come true.
Instead, he said the President should have used the opportunity to encourage a meeting between the Government and the Opposition on camera to lay out crime plans and then take it to Parliament. He said citizens cannot expect the Opposition to support a crime plan that it does not agree with fundamentally.
Meanwhile, criminologist Dr Randy Seepersad said he believes there should be some compromise when it pertains to laws.
Highlighting some pertinent legislative laws such as the Bail Act and Anti-Gang Act, he said these should be at the top of the priority list of policymakers to combat crime.
Seepersad said, “Legislation is an important part in the fight against crime. If we cannot move expeditiously when it comes to passing legislation and we cannot agree on legislation, the criminals will always have the upper hand ... What really is required here is working together so that you can create the systems that would actually allow the bill to function how it’s supposed to function.”
Although the analysts were not moved by Kangaloo’s call for unity to fight crime, they did agree with one of her recommendations—for a Public Bills Committee to be implemented.