Trinidad PM defends state of emergency

• Announces probe of scholarship 'slush fund'

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar Monday defended her administration's decision to impose, a state of emergency (SOE) on Trinidad and Tobago, saying it was meeting the objective for which it was intended, including a reduction in crime.

Speaking during the debate on the TT$54.6 billion (US$9.1 billion) budget in Parliament, Persad-Bissessar said she had "no regret" over the SOE which has been in place since August 21.

The measures impose a five-hour daily curfew on Trinidadians.

"I say unabashedly, I have absolutely no regret that we took the decision based on the advice of the security forces to put a state of emergency in Trinidad and Tobago.

"Never have our people felt safer, Mr Speaker, and never has crime been down to where it is today," she said.

Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar said tourism organisations from 27 European Union member states voted unanimously on October 9 during the autumn meeting of the European Union Council on Tourism and Trade in Bucharest, Romania, for Trinidad as a favoured hospitality and cultural destination.

As a result, she dismissed the suggestion that the SOE had affected the tourism sector.

'Secret slush fund'

During her contribution to the budget, the prime minister criticised a TT$45-million scholarship fund established by the previous government as "nothing more than a secret slush fund for the PNM" after the Equal Opportunity Commission disclosed that the rules governing the distribution of funds had been violated on many occasions.

She said that the Commission also found that proper applications had not been made, and in many instances people who benefitted from the fund were not "those in need" as had been stipulated by the measures outlined for a scholarship under the programme.

She said in at least one instance, former prime minister Patrick Manning had sent a note to his then community development minister Joan Yuille Williams "to deal with this quietly" in relation to providing funds to a student.

She said even supporters of the PNM who were not close to the ministers and other high-ranking PNM officials did not benefit from the scheme.

She said as a result, and in keeping with the recommendations of the Equal Opportunity Commission, she had instructed Attorney General Anand Ramlogan to conduct a forensic audit of the scholarship fund and warned that those found culpable would face the full brunt of the law.

Persad-Bissessar also said the state was moving against former board directors of state institutions, including the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago, on fraud and other related charges.