- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 22/Jul 20:04

House sits July 28 to debate SOE

THE House of Representatives will sit on July 28, at 1.30 pm to debate the state of emergency (SoE), government and opposition sources told Newsday on July 22. The information was confirmed to Newsday by both leader of government business Barry Padarath and opposition whip Marvin Gonzales. President Christine Kangaloo had declared the SoE on July 18, after the general public had earlier awakened to news of the SoE via a two-page statement by Commissioner of Police (CoP) Allister Guevarro. He had announced the shocking news that an amalgamation of criminal gangs had drawn up a hit-list of key members of the criminal justice system plus other public officials. Guevarro alleged these gangs have been funding themselves by criminal activities including robbery, kidnapping people for ransom, and the extortion of business places. Speculation is Attorney General John Jeremie will move the motion to approve the SoE, given that he had held a briefing on July 18 to express the government's position. Under the Constitution, an SoE may be declared for an initial period of 15 days, during which period the declaration must be debated in the House. The Constitution (Section 9) says, “Within three days of the making of the proclamation, the President shall deliver to the Speaker for presentation to the House of Representatives a statement setting out the specific grounds on which the decision to declare the existence of a state of public emergency was based, and a date shall be fixed for a debate on this statement as soon as practicable but in any event not later than fifteen days from the date of the proclamation.” The Constitution says the SoE will remain in force for an initial 15 days, unless revoked before its expiration time. "The Constitution (section 10) added, “Before its expiration the proclamation may be extended from time to time by resolution supported by a simple majority vote of the House of Representatives, so, however, that no extension exceeds three months and the extensions do not in the aggregate exceed six months.” The post House sits July 28 to debate SOE appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.