Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has assured the country that there will be no State of Emergency (SoE) for the entire duration of her government’s term in office.
The Government, using its parliamentary majority, approved a three-month extension of the SoE on Wednesday night, with 28 members voting in favour and 12 Opposition members voting against.
Contributing to the debate, the Prime Minister disclosed that she had commissioned a poll which found that a majority of law-abiding citizens support the SoE and have confidence in the police service.
Persad-Bissessar noted that Opposition MP Marvin Gonzales said her Government had imposed an SoE for nine of its 14 months in office and would keep “rolling over.”
“You’re wrong. Nothing is further from the truth,” she said.
Persad-Bissessar said the country had been tormented by violence for about 25 years, with more than 10,000 murders and over 20,000 reported rapes and sexual assaults.
She said there had also been tens of thousands of robberies, beatings and other violent acts against women and children.
The Prime Minister said the SoE is a temporary measure intended to protect citizens.
She said withdrawing the SoE prematurely would mean surrendering hard-won ground and jeopardising investigations.
“The SoE must endure for the criminal syndicates that imperil public order and menace the foundations of national security have not yet been subdued, we are working on that, they remain emboldened, they remain organised and they remain patient,” she said.
She said intelligence-led operations require the full latitude of the law to unmask and bring the architects of violence to justice.
Persad-Bissessar said the SoE is working, noting that murders fell by 42 per cent in 2025.
The Prime Minister reminded Parliament that the President’s March 2 proclamation outlining the SoE gave the reasons for its implementation.
Reading from the proclamation, she said the President had been informed by Cabinet that, in the preceding days, a number of violent criminal incidents had taken place, including mass shootings and attacks with multiple victims, most of them carried out by members of organised criminal gangs, thereby endangering public safety.
Cabinet had also informed the President of credible threats to attack police officers, prison officers and other members of the protective services, she said.
Additionally, she noted that the proclamation stated that criminal gangs in Trinidad and Tobago had escalated acts of violence on a scale so extensive that it threatened lives and endangered public safety, and that the National Security Council had determined that immediate action was necessary.
Persad-Bissessar also took issue with Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles’ claim that people are against the SoE, saying her poll showed most citizens support it.
“I caused a poll to be done and the majority of law-abiding citizens support the extension,” she said.
She argued that while people’s rights are enshrined in the Constitution, those rights are not absolute and the Government was acting within the Constitution’s provisions.
Persad-Bissessar said people still have the right to assembly and expression.
“Is anyone being deprived of their liberty without due process? We are following the constitution. We are working on 8, 9, and 10 in the constitution which gives the exceptions to these rights and as I say, no rights are absolute,” she said.
“The constitution itself provides for when these rights can be overshadowed or regulated,” she added.
The Prime Minister said the Opposition is free to challenge the SoE in the courts.
“If you want to take it to court with a bunch of lawyers you have on that side, you will surely lose it. Again, that is another freedom that you have,” she said.
She also said people retain the right to movement.
“When you’re gathering tomorrow in your meeting, is anybody stopping you from assembling, associating? Is anybody stopping you from speaking? Where are your rights? Which rights have been impeded?” she asked, referring to the PNM’s public meeting planned for Thursday night.
The Prime Minister said it is “oxymoronic” for people to stand at a public meeting and claim their rights have been deprived.
She also noted that 13 union members stood outside the Office of the Prime Minister on Tuesday, describing that too as oxymoronic.
Persad-Bissessar pointed out that the proclamation can be extended for up to six months, in three-month increments, but beyond that a special majority vote in Parliament would be required.
“I haven’t seen one of them lose their right to speak. Has someone stopped you from speaking?” she asked.
She also defended the SoE regulation prohibiting protests within 500 metres of designated spaces, saying those areas cover only 0.23 per cent of Trinidad and Tobago’s land area, leaving citizens with 99.77 per cent of the country in which they can protest.
She said the 500-metre zone is intended to protect against the effects of small arms and rifles.
Persad-Bissessar said there had been an attempted “mobbing” of the DPP’s office, noting that the DPP cannot withdraw charges because that is a matter for the courts.
She said intelligence indicated that such gatherings were being infiltrated by gang members.
“Law-abiding citizens are amazed at the absurdity and rarity, as I said before, where there are people protesting to say they cannot protest. So they’re protesting to say they cannot protest. They’re having public meetings to say they can’t have public meetings.
“You know, if it were not so serious, it would be hilarious. It is absurd,” she said.
“If hypocrisy had a name and a face it would be the PNM,” she said, adding that the Opposition had indicated it would oppose the Bill even before hearing the facts, then “grand charge” to demand data.
She said the Opposition does not care that the majority of murders come from its strongholds.
“I think sometimes all they care about is the safety and prosperity of their owners,” she said.
The Prime Minister said the majority of citizens are law-abiding, but much remains to be cleaned up, and expecting results in a single day is moronic.
She said her Government has an anti-crime plan that includes legislative measures such as the Home Invasion Act.
She said the administration is also working to better resource law enforcement, collabora
