PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Former prime minister Patrick Manning today said that the state of emergency (SOE) imposed by the coalition People’s Partnership government since August 21 has failed and is calling on Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar to allow the population to decide on the way forward for the country.
“The only thing is to call a general election because if that (SOE) has failed then what you are saying to the national community is ‘I have fired my best shot it has not worked I have no other shots to fire and the time has come for the population to decide what it wants to do.
“That is the only way forward, that is the only way forward and what the government is now saying to us, and the longer it keeps the state of emergency, what it is now saying to us is that we are not able to or are we prepared to govern Trinidad and Tobago within the context of the strictures of democracy,” Manning told a news conference.
“They are not prepared to do that and therefore they will leave the state of emergency. Let us see for how long it will go and let us see at the end of the day, they will tell you that crime has fallen, any government in any country that declares a state of emergency will initially have that reaction it will fall…but as we are now seeing as people get accustomed it (crime) will begin to rise again,” he said.
Manning, the longest serving legislator here, said that his administration had decided against imposing a SOE because it knew such a measure could not have dealt with the crime situation in the country. (CMC)
