PM Kamla Speech at UNC MNF, Tunapuna
RAPID RESPONSE UNIT
On Thursday, I told you that we were strengthening the police service as well.
Tonight I will give you some details on empowering our police.
Our country needs a fully functioning Rapid Response Unit.
Full Stop!
We must ensure that this Unit is fully functional.
No matter how effective other measures are if the police cannot respond immediately, the criminals would still escape.
So this is what we are going to do… To start with we are purchasing more than 300 state of the art vehicles for the Police Service… with the added technology needed to fight crime…
77 of that 300, will be exclusively for our new Rapid Response Unit.
51 of these will be on twenty-four hour patrol.
The police will be mobile all over the land, twenty-four hours a day, and 51 cars on the roads with two police officers in each vehicle.
There are 15 police regions in Trinidad and Tobago, and no matter where you are, the Rapid Response Unit will be answering your cry for help.
A Central Monitoring Control Centre will be the “nerve system” that guides the operation of the Unit and the cars will also be outfitted with a GPS system.
With a GPS installed, the control room would know where each vehicle is and the manner in which they can be dispatched within minutes.
We are placing emphasis on methodology and technique .
Tonight I can also tell you that we already have 300 marked and unmarked police vehicles which are equipped with GPS and every day the police service is adding the technology.
SHORTAGE OF POLICE OFFICERS
The PNM left us with a legacy of a shortage of police officers; one that we have to deal with.
I promised you a safer country… and I will deliver!
And I would.
The police are on a recruiting exercise … and beginning in June the Ministry of Tertiary Education and Skills Training in collaboration with the Police will start training Special Reserve Police officers through the facilities at COSTAATT, UWI and UTT.
We are assured that thousands of persons will be trained between June and December of this year…
We have no time to waste!
The SRP’s will be trained in:
- Law Enforcement
- General Policing
- Communications
- Criminal Investigation
- Human Relations and more.
EDUCATION
Education is the key to success in every walk of life.
For our SRP’s, for our children, for our country…
It allows us to gain upward mobility instead of seeing crime as an option.
We all know that Education and St Augustine are one and the same.
St. Augustine is the city of education, it is the first of its kind in Trinidad and Tobago but I promise that it won’t be the last.
We are currently exploring the creation of additional Education Cities in Debe and in Tobago.
We have expanded our assistance to students so no one would be denied an education… and your differently abled students from every corner of the country, will have access to 200 braille machines.
Progress for all !
In the last two years, this Government has invested over $540 million dollars in tertiary education and skills training through GATE.
As I said, Education is key to success but our also plays a critical part.
It is the very essence of our being.
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION
I turn now to deal with the Opposition and its no Confidence Motion
This is the fourth no confidence motion being filed by the Keith Rowley led Opposition on the same issue and surrounding the same misguided facts.
The first was on March 2nd 2012 against me as Prime Minister.
There was also a motion of Censure against the Attorney General on October 26th 2012.
And there was a motion of no confidence in me on the handling of matters pertaining to the former Minister of National Security on April 26th 2012.
Today is the fourth. If we consider the motion on democracy raised in the Senate on April 30th, then this is the fifth.
We wish to make it abundantly clear that we are not opposed to the Constitutional and Parliamentary provisions and Standing Orders that allow for such motions.
Not at all.
In democracies these serve as necessary checks and balances against abuse of power.
Trinidad and Tobago is gifted with that reputation of having such transparency and this Government respects and promotes such transparency at all times.
In Trinidad and Tobago this is law and we respect the law.
We operate under a more democratic and open system than some other countries.
What we are concerned about is that Motion after Motion on the same spent issue is a waste of creative legislative time.
The PNMs PRO Senator Faris Al-Rawi says this morning the motion of no confidence is not about numbers…
He says motions of no confidence bring to the forefront, national conversation and consciousness to Trinidad and Tobago.
Well I should like to tell the PNM and its PRO, we are concerned that we could be debating more pressing issues of the State.
We could have been deliberating on how we deal with such murderers as that of young Sunshine Alfred.
Why won’t the PNM give similar time to debate the hanging legislation and other measures geared towards crime?
Precious time debating the same thing over and over because this Opposition does not have a legislative agenda.
Our government has performed from day one!
It started from day one when I pushed aside the formalities and put on my rubber boots, to go out into the floods to see how we could help people.
Service is our trademark.
Delivery is our hallmark!!!
And what does Rowley have to offer?
He offers politics by distraction, but not one alternative to fight crime.
Not a single alternative to any issue facing the nation.
And that is the man who postures as a future leader.
But more on Rowley and the PNM when this Motion comes to the House.
UNITY AS A PEOPLE
My brothers and sisters tonight I say to you that we are one people, one State with one destiny.
If we remain united and focused we will continue to move forward and create a better country for all of us.
Progress requires dedication, sacrifice and a passionate concern for others.
For too long, politicians in this country have sought power by talking about “WE” and “THEM”.
No country can progress in such a divisive environment.
When our Partnership came into office in 2010 we embraced everyone and that is how it will always be under my leadership.
There will never again be in this country and WE and THEM … because there is only one Trinidad and Tobago.
And we are one people.
Carry that message wherever you go; embrace everyone.
We will not let anybody divide us … never again.
We share the same land, breathe the same air… the same red blood runs through our veins.
We feel the same emotions … hunger has no religion; pain has no race.
Don’t let anybody divide us with pettiness and divisiveness.
The PNM has done everything to distract us from doing our job.
They have attempted to obstruct our legislative agenda and voted down legislation to fight crime.
CONCLUSION
Our economy is already on the rebound, people have jobs, inflation is the lowest it has been in years, workers are making money, people are getting homes, we’ve had a 36 per cent drop in crime.
And allow me to take a moment to slap down the assertion by MP Dona Cox, where she is reported today as questioning the decrease in serious crime.
Let me repeat, the official figures show there has been a reduction in serious crime
So there is HOPE and there is OPTIMISM.
And we are UNITED … as a government and as a people.
I promise you that no one will distract us from our agenda of service to you and this country.
All we ask is for you to continue to believe in your dreams … and we will make them come true.
I close with the advice of HENRY FORD:
“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.”
We all want SUCCESS so you have to be united in a common purpose to achieve that. And if you are on the wrong road, you must change course now.
We are waiting to embrace you!
Continue to believe … and everything’s gonna be alright!
Thank you … Good night.
Have a blessed evening.
God bless you.
God bless our party.
God bless our partnership … and GOD BLESS OUR NATION – TRINIDAD & TOBAGO.