opposition parties APNU and AFC hold balance of power.
In picture at right, Donald Ramotar is being sworn in as the new President by Chancellor Carl Singh
Port-of-Spain - Despite criticisms from Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley and many others, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says she has no regrets about calling the State of Emergency to deal with spiralling crime. The SoE was declared on August 21 and after 15 days it was extended to December 5. It expired at midnight Sunday as the government made no move to further extend it. The government would have required the support of the Opposition for a further extension.
Rowley said last week no support would have been forthcoming from the Opposition.
Hours before the SoE expired, Persad-Bissessar said: "I have no regrets. The criminal offences were down, a number of illegal drugs, guns and ammunition were found by the security forces. The state of emergency was a successful crime-fighting weapon. I have no regrets."
Persad-Bissessar said none of the measures used before were successful in the fight against crime.
"This weapon (SoE) was successful and the nation is now safer," she said, adding that the security forces "are now fully mobilised."
Said Persad-Bissessar: "They have a plan and are ready and able to deal with crime and the criminal element, post state of emergency."
She said she was encouraged by the success of the emergency and remained committed to ensuring all citizens of Trinidad and Tobago remained safe.
Persad-Bissessar said several social measures, including "Colour Me Orange", have been developed and were being implemented to ensure the less fortunate in the society led more rewarding lives.
Last week, the security forces allegedly unveiled a plot to assassinate Persad-Bissessar, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, Housing and the Environment Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal and Local Government Minister Chandresh Sharma. Some 16 people were detained under the Emergency Powers in connection with the alleged plot.
However, these detainees were released. Selwyn "Robocop" Alexis shouted "Freedom" as he and 14 other detainees left from the Eastern Correction Facility in Santa Rosa Heights, Arima, last night. Shouts of "Allah Ackbar" were heard outside the facility. As they left the detention centre, most of them kept their faces covered with T-shirts and ran to several vehicles waiting for them.
Police Sergeant Earl Eli, who was kept at the Golden Grove Prison separately from the other inmates, also was freed.
David "Buffy" Millard was the first to leave the compound and expressed his concern over the allegations. "I am very happy to be free. There is absolutely no truth in that and let me say all praise to Allah and my family and Mr Hawks for giving me advice," Millard said.
Millard added he did not intend to take any legal action against the government. Another detainee, who refused to give his name, said the allegations were lies. He said his name was published in newspapers and did not wish to speculate if it was a plot against the Muslim community.
Alexis claimed it was a plot hatched by a corrupt police officer.
"Definitely, I will take legal action. There are certain officers that misled the Prime Minister. I support the government. How I go kill them," he added. He said terrorist allegations were false. "It was a total lie. I campaigned for Stephen Cadiz and I was in UNC long before Cadiz," Alexis said, adding that he plans to spend time with his family.
Meanwhile, the State can expect another avalanche of lawsuits. According to two leading senior attorneys, millions of dollars can be forked out to pay 16 detainees who were ordered to be freed due to a lack of evidence.
Attorneys Bindra Dolsing and Martin George said the men were slapped with detention orders regarding the most serious of charges, and since there was no evidence to link them to the allegations the matter automatically opened a can of worms.
The State claimed the 16 were detained after hatching a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Kamla Persad- Bissessar, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, Housing Minister Roodal Moonilal and Local Government Minister Chandresh Sharma. According to Dolsingh, holding the suspects on suspicion alone was insufficient.
He said: "In order to detain there must be reasonable and probably cause to detain. This means that suspicion must not be figments of one's imagination."
He explained that proper evidence should take the form of technical evidence, such as e-mail correspondence and telephone records. Dolsingh said the SoE was not designed to detain people "willy-nilly" since proper procedures and guidelines should have been followed.
George, however, branded the detention of the 16 as a total abuse of process and demanded that the government explain to the population what really transpired. He said the 16, although they were detained under the emergency, were allegedly involved in specific matters.
"This certainly opens the doors for any court and I will say definitely that the 16 men can sue," George added. He said the nature of the allegations made international headlines which branded the detainees as political assassins and since there was no evidence it embarrassingly "moved the country from a third world status to a fourth world status.
"This entire scenario agitated the sympathy, the concerns and prayers of the nation... of the entire world. Then you come with your pockets empty and a sheepish look on your face. One has to wonder who is advising these moves. Where are the legal advisers to the government?"
George also raised concern that the Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard was not consulted during the process.
He added: "There was the notable absence of the DPP in the consultation process and it appeared from the word 'go' that something was amiss. It was only in the 11th hour was the question asked: 'What about the role of the DPP?'"
Delegates to the 2011 11th biennial convention of the Ontario Federation of Labour adopted resolutions and policy documents designed to improve the plight of First Nations Peoples across Canada and to advocate for the return of employment equity legislation to Ontario.
Sid Ryan, OFL president, in a spirited address to the gathering reminded delegates that the country's leadership was on the convention floor, not on Bay Street as others would have them believe. It was time for the labour movement to put "boots back on the street" and mobilize because a little bit of civil disobedience always helps, he said. Ryan cited the Civil Rights Movement in the United States of America that involved Martin Luther King Jr. The women's movement and the Gay Movement as examples where civil disobedience paid dividends.
He actually led delegates on the streets of downtown Toronto in support of the Occupy Toronto movement. Workers are part of the 99% that the occupiers were representing he reminded delegates.
The convention's Power of Diversity in the 21st Century document commits the OFL to a serious renewed commitment
Pix by William Doyle-Marshall
During a Human Rights Forum – World Café – Shaping Our Future through Conversations – trade unionists adopted as their number one plan of action, developing a survey for OFL affiliates to talk about where they are in terms of employment equity in hiring practices, policies and procedures. They agreed to go back to the federation in 2013 with a progress report card on the concern.
"Some affiliates have already started it under the banner of social mapping," said Janice Gairey, the OFL's human rights director.
Since the Mike Harris Government scrapped the plan for Employment Equity 1995, it also left the labour movement.
"We can see a few affiliates moving forward and are trying to put employment equity back on the agenda," Gairey advised.
Aboriginal issues is the second priority for the OFL's Human Rights Department. Labour is being asked to step up to the plate, so the federation is charged with the responsibility of looking at Reservations and finding ways for labour to work as a true ally for Aboriginal peoples across Canada and globally. But Northern Ontario where Reserves are lacking quality education, quality water, suitable living and housing conditions has to be the focus, delegates insisted.
"There is no way that those kinds of conditions should be in existence in Ontario for our Aboriginal peoples," Gairey said.
Faisal Karim, a Canadian Auto Workers delegate supported the diversity policy document on the convention floor. He thought the theme "Diversity in the 21st Century" was appropriate. He believed the 21st century should and must be one of justice and equality. For too long the legacy of his brothers and sisters around the globe have been exploitation, capitalism, dispossession and vast inequality, he disclosed.
"Freedom without equality and opportunity is a devil's gift and that is why it's appropriate for this federation and all its affiliates, everything we do, whether that's back in our local unions, our committees, our meetings, our deliberations, we have to ask: are we doing enough to promote diversity with respect to every member of the human race?" he continued.
Karim reminded the assembly of 1,500 trade unionists that they know the horror stories of the First Nations Peoples in Canada – the dispossession, the marginalisation and the attempts by the state to wipe out the Indians in the Indians. He labeled the situation "racism at its fullest, in its most grossest".
For Aboriginal Peoples to be dispossessed of their fundamental rights in terms of education, health, welfare of the children and poverty is a travesty of justice, Karim emphasized.
He called on the federation, the Canadian Labour Congress and all union affiliates to put their collective strength together to address these inequalities, starting with First Nations peoples.
Fred Love of Hamilton himself an Aboriginal Person from the Canadian Union of Public Employees, applauded the action plan to provide financial assistance to First Nations' communities. However he his people need trade unionists to go up to the Reserves and look at the communities for themselves, he stressed.
"Then you (would) not only read about it in the (news)paper but you know what's going on up there. When you have a house that's built and you have toilets and you have running water put into the houses but there is no running water; how you expect the water to work or the toilet to work? They are still using out-houses to go the washroom and that in the winter time is not something you want to do. That takes us back 100 years," he reported.
The convention agenda centered around "Defending the Next Generation: Good jobs, Public Services, Secure Pensions and Strong Communities".