Lead Editor-Politics
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says she will not authorise special operations in People’s National Movement (PNM)-controlled communities, declaring that the Government’s new crime-fighting measures will instead be concentrated in United National Congress (UNC)-held constituencies and Tobago.
Responding to Opposition criticism of the Special Operations Bill yesterday, Persad-Bissessar said in a social media post that the Government would effectively exclude PNM-controlled constituencies and local government districts from the initiative if their representatives do not support the measures.
“Since the Opposition MPs and supporters do not want Special Operations, I will only allow it in government-controlled areas,” Persad-Bissessar said.
“They can continue to allow their hardcore constituencies to be destroyed from within. I’m not bothered.”
The declaration marks a significant shift in how the Prime Minister says the legislation will be implemented, coming just days after the Special Operations Bill, 2026, was passed in the House of Representatives.
The legislation establishes seven policing districts across the country and allows special operations to be conducted by police, with or without assistance from the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force. It also creates a separate framework for areas declared “closed areas,” where additional powers can be exercised. The bill was passed in the House early Saturday after a marathon debate and is still before Parliament.
Persad-Bissessar said operations would instead be authorised in the 26 constituencies held by the UNC and the 70 UNC-controlled local government electoral districts.
She added that the initiative would also be extended to Tobago’s two Tobago People’s Party-held constituencies after consultation with Tobago House of Assembly Chief Secretary Farley Augustine.
The Prime Minister’s announcement followed strong criticism of the bill by PNM MPs during Friday’s House debate.
Among the sharpest critics was Port-of-Spain South MP Keith Scotland, who described the legislation as a “sprawling assault” on constitutional rights and warned that it could create different standards of freedom for people living in communities subjected to special operations.
Opposition MPs also raised concerns about provisions relating to searches, detention, curfews and other powers contained in the legislation.
Persad-Bissessar, however, characterised the Opposition’s objections as an attempt to convince PNM supporters that the Government intended to use the police and Defence Force against them. She rejected that claim and said she would not force the measures on communities whose political representatives opposed them.
“I am not begging to help any community become safer if it doesn’t want to be helped,” she said.
“The PNM are free to tell their constituencies and supporters not to accept help, while the local drug mafia and violent criminal gangs continue to destroy their lives.”
The Prime Minister went further, claiming PNM MPs, councillors and supporters were “clearly against” the legislation and accusing them of preferring their communities remain under the influence of criminal gangs rather than accept the Government’s security measures.
The PNM has not said it supports criminal gangs or opposes law enforcement in its constituencies. Its parliamentary objections have centred on the scope of the powers contained in the legislation and their implications for constitutional rights.
Persad-Bissessar said the Government would now direct what she described as “hard policing” towards criminal gangs and drug traffickers operating within government-controlled areas.
“The violent criminal gangs and drug lords residing or operating inside government-controlled constituencies and local government electoral districts will therefore be subject to hard policing as outlined in the Special Operations Bill,” she said.
She argued that extraordinary measures were necessary because law-abiding citizens have lived in fear of violent crime for decades, citing home invasions, sexual violence and attacks on families and the elderly.
The legislation represents the Government’s second attempt this year to introduce a special-operations framework.
Its Zones of Special Operations (ZOSO) Bill failed in the Senate in January after receiving 15 votes in favour, 14 against and one abstention, falling short of the three-fifths majority required for passage.
The replacement Special Operations Bill was introduced last Wednesday and passed in the House after debate on Friday. Unlike the failed ZOSO legislation, the new bill is being pursued as simple-majority legislation.
Persad-Bissessar said PNM-controlled communities were free to reject the approach.
“The PNM are free to continue to allow their constituencies to be overrun by violent criminal gangs,” she said.
“It is their democratic choice to allow themselves to be destroyed from within.”
PNM: Kamla provoking the country
The Prime Minister’s declaration prompted an immediate and angry response from senior PNM figures, with former national security minister Marvin Gonzales questioning whether Persad-Bissessar was suggesting that she, rather than the Commissioner of Police, would determine where special operations are conducted.
“So she will decide where and how that racist law will apply???? She is the CoP or she controls the CoP????” Gonzales said in a message to Guardian Media.
“Kamla must stop her provocation of the people of TT!!!!”
Opposition MP Stuart Young also condemned Persad-Bissessar’s comments, accusing her of promoting racial and social division and describing the remarks as “very disturbing.”
Young said the PM’s statement appeared to suggest she would determine where closed areas, cordons and curfews would be imposed under the legislation.
“Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s unhinged social media rants are becoming more and more concerning,” Young said.
“The latest rant, which is grounded in continued racial and social segregation, is to be rejected outright.”
Young also accused the Government of using the controversy surrounding the SO Bill to divert attention from proposed amendments to the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act, which are scheduled for debate in the House of Representatives tomorrow. He alleged the amendments were intended to weaken procurement oversight and make it easier for contracts to be awarded to Government financiers and associates.
