Kamla wants legal age for ganja use, gambling at 25…. also promises no property tax, electricity or water hike in manifesto
The Opposition UNC’s general election manifesto plans include raising the legal age for marijuana use and gambling to 25 years and older, supporting victims of crime with jobs and housing – and introducing a constitutional right for an accused person to have a trial within a reasonable time.
UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who revealed some of the party’s manifesto on Monday night, said her Government will also consider introducing a system of monetary rewards for police officers and divisions where crime is kept low
And there will be no property tax or increases in water and electricity rates in this dire economic climate.
Persad-Bissessar unveiled the plans at the party’s Monday Night Report at its Chaguanas headquarters.
She said the UNC has its draft manifesto and the first copy will be unveiled online later.
“We’re out front, we’re ready for this general election whenever it’s called … Put some steel in your backbone – this election will not be easy. This is the mother of all elections for us,” she warned.
Persad-Bissessar said instead of distractions about changing the Coat of Arms, “Government would better serve people by focusing on the ‘Boats of Arms’ and ammunition arriving freely which created an unprecedented crime wave.”
“We’re eight months into 2024, and already, the murder rate as of (Sunday) is over 400! Every national security minister and commissioner of police appointed by the PNM in the last nine years has failed,” she said.
She added, “The only things that caused a slowdown in crime were COVID-19 and the lockdowns. During COVID, we saw two-tier policing where the eat-a-food fake elites and Government’s friends were allowed by the police to have pool parties and weddings. Average citizens were harassed, terrorised, fined, and ticketed for being in their private cars with family members or having a family get-together at home. The Government and police used COVID lockdowns to suppress dissent and any protests but they allowed high friends, family, and financiers to have events.”
Referring to the PNM’s track record on crime she said, “For the last nine years, there’s been an out-of-control crime spree because they have no plan or policy, only arrogance, and interference in selection of a CoP…
“First, they bypassed the top three selections; one, Dulalchan, two, Philips and three, Williams, to handpick the fourth-ranked person, Gary Griffith.
“During Griffith’s time, we had 2018 (523 murders), 2019 (539 murders), 2020 (COVID’s many months of lockdowns, 396 murders), 2021 (448 murders) – 1,906 murders spanning the years 2018 to 2021 under Griffith. The PNM interfered and put the fourth-ranked person.
“Then they interfered to intercept the merit list to kick out Griffith. They handpicked McDonald Jacob (2022 – 613 murders). Then they chose Erla (2023 – 577 murders; eight months in 2024, over 400 murders). We’ve had almost 4,500 murders under this Government!”
She said crime, criminality and gang warfare had now created a new type of tourism, where foreign YouTube influencers come to “exploit the suffering of our crime situation.”
Manifesto plans
Persad-Bissessar said the crime situation is out of control because the criminal and civil justice system was in a mess.
“We have to fix it via a separate Justice Ministry,” she said.
She said Part One of UNC’s plans for the criminal justice system will do the following:
* Comprehensive review of all criminal laws to weed out obsolete ones that are oppressive to a free democratic society or cause unnecessary bureaucracy.
* Categorise the offences of murder and rape into first-degree and second-degree murder.
* Introduce a constitutional right of an accused to have a trial within a reasonable time. There may be innocent people awaiting.
* Place victims at the centre of the criminal justice system from the beginning: providing support, including restitution, job placements, housing and social programmes. Due to current low detection and conviction rate, support will be given regardless of if someone is caught/convicted.
* Consider introducing monetary rewards for police officers and divisions where crime is kept low and crime-fighting targets are met to motivate them.
* Provide needed resources to ensure that cases involving offences against children and sexual offences are determined rapidly.
* Raise the legal age for marijuana use and gambling to 25 years and older.
* Increase the number of functional courtrooms. Right now, there is a deficit. Each Judge of the High Court must have a designated courtroom to ensure they can sit every day.
* Provide more courtrooms in highly populated areas outside the capital – Chaguanas, Rio Claro, Sangre Grande, Diego Martin.
* Increase critical support for the judiciary to ensure backlog reduction and trial indictable cases within 2-3 years.
* Modernise prisons and break up large prisons into smaller ones for better inmate monitoring.
* Create smaller detention centres around T&T to break up gang activity and ensure closer family support to prisoners by enabling regular visitation. Ensure that incarcerated persons are allowed frequent visitation by their children.
* Establish lower security prisons for first-time non-violent offenders who can get daytime work release.
* Implement appropriate social programmes involving training, life skills to prevent recidivism.
* Comprehensively reform/reorient the education system to cater to all children, not just academically gifted ones, and particularly, to identify young persons with learning disabilities/ vulnerabilities so they can be guided to productive activities. Most criminals have not been successful in the education system.
* Encourage participation of NGOs and service organisations in mentoring youth, vital to preventing them from falling under gang leaders’ influence.
* Support single parents, including after-school care, to ensure children are supervised. Nationwide homework centres for reintroduction.
* Resources for the DPP’s and Public Defender’s offices ensuring better conditions/salaries.
UNC’s people-centered policies also include:
* Placing police officers to patrol inside schools to protect children
* Lower taxes, and being against the introduction of any new taxes.
* Lower fuel prices, consider reopening the Petrotrin refinery, no VAT on 7,000 food items.
* A workers’ agenda; reopening GATE; free laptops for secondary school children; tablets for primary school children.
* Expanding Children’s Life Fund to cover more illnesses.
* Review the demerit system and halt “oppressive abusive ticketing of motorists.”
* Comprehensive audit of HDC applications – contacting and seeing all who still need housing, prioritising those with long-standing applications; Land for the Landless policy.
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