Gov’t defends decision to extend SOE

PORT OF SPAIN (CMC):

The Trinidad and Tobago government on Wednesday defended its decision to seek a further three-month extension of the state of emergency (SOE) that has been in place since May this year, saying it is necessary to maintain the gains made in the efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has killed 1, 244 people and infected 43,344 others since March last year.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, tabling the motion to extend the SOE, said his administration would continue to be guided by the medical and scientific community and dismissed opposition concerns that the measures adopted in the past have been a failure.

He told legislators that after examining the position where the country now stands as the first extension of the SOE comes to an end on August 29, that while “we are in a much better position than we were at the beginning of the 90-day period of state of emergency … we are not at a point where we can now dispense with the state of emergency”.

“Because if we do that. it is more than likely that the response that will come from the population this time, with this level of infection, will see us having huge community spread, leading to another phase of activity which may force the government to have to take even firmer action and restrictions.

“So we are saying … in protection of the gains we have made, not the least of which is all of these people we brought back out to work during a fairly high level of community spread, to protect those gains; we need to pay the price of giving up some of the night-time socialisation so that we can depress this plateau even lower,” Rowley said, in reference to the 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. (local time) curfew that has been in place since May.

Opposition legislator Rudranath Indarsingh, who gave the main response to Rowley’s presentation, said that there were sinister moves behind the decision to extend the SOE and that workers would be severely affected as a result.

He told legislators that the labour movement had also publicly expressed its disapproval of the decision by the government to extend the SOE by 90 days, asking whether or not the Rowley administration had consulted with the labour leaders ahead of the move to come to parliament.

“What is the real agenda? Did you consult with legitimate stakeholders in Trinidad and Tobago before you embarked upon this journey to suppress the civil liberties of the people of this country?” he enquired, noting that he was asking those questions in the context that workers, labour leaders and others will not be able to congregate.