Poor leadership led to Camp Street Prison fire, unrest – Teixeira

Opposition motion

The Parliamentary Opposition spared no effort in criticising Government and laying full blame on their feet for the disastrous Camp Street Prison fire and unrest which took place last year.
Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira, who moved a motion in the National Assembly on Wednesday, claimed that the law enforcement officials were unprepared and ill-advised.
“The issue is leadership and acting responsibly. You give leadership and you didn’t on that day. None of you! And I am not going to blame the prison and army and

police. I am not!” she told the Government MPs in the House.
The motion written by Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Juan Edghill calls on Government to launch a Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the unrest and make new changes to the local prison system.
Teixeira, a former Home Affairs Minister, told the House that law enforcement officers are not to be blamed for this incident, since the buck stops at the Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan.
The Opposition Chief Whip said as head of the country’s security sector, he ignored numerous warning and signs before the unrest, and essentially failed to act to prevent the disaster from happening.
“The situation was completely unavoidable…You (Ramjattan) sat on your laurels and did nothing!” she posited, noting that the matter could have been handled in a much safer and efficient manner.
Teixeira contended that the Minister should have been made to resign since the first disaster at the Camp Street Prison in 2016. But even more so, preventative measures should have been put in place following the 2016 unrest that killed 17 prisoners at the same Camp Street penitentiary.
She explained that following the 2016 unrest, a COI made several recommendations which were not implemented by Government to avoid such a situation from happening again.
The Opposition MP noted too that during the COI, another riot erupted and yet, the Government failed to take precautionary measures to ensure the situation did not reoccur.
Reference was also made to the Inter American Commission on Human Rights statement which urged Government to take action to protect prisoners’ right and address overcrowding situation.
She also blasted the Minister and the entire Government for its poor direction and leadership after the incident which eventually resulted in the escape of an additional 13 inmates at Lusignan Prison.
The Opposition Chief Whip pointed out to the House that the motion was put off for almost five months but the questions are still relevant since the Government has remained mum on how they went about addressing the issues and still have multiple questions to answer in this regard.
“And I believe that the issue of non-disclosure, of not telling the people of what is going on and the reluctance of this Government to hold everything to you is so extraordinarily dangerous for the nation’s public safety and is also undemocratic,” Teixeira argued.
The Opposition feels that this incident highlights the Government’s incompetence in handling matters of national security and as such wants the administration to take full responsibility for the incident.
She said, “These events and the ineptitude of the Minister and in fact the entire Government, these events are an indictment of your collective inability to address the issues of security and public safety, to manage our economy, to bring the good life to our people.”
Teixeira continued, “No matter which way you twist it, these were the worst incidents that has ever taken place in our prison system. The worst that has taken place in the Caribbean and Latin America. The burning down of an entire prison…It is important and we have to stop pretending that this is just business as usual.”
The Government, she said, came into office with a campaign promise that they had the answers to crime and security and committed to fixing it, yet within the past two there has been an increase in some serious crimes, which includes: murders, robbery, rape, which is showing no signs of letting up.
Meanwhile, Minister Ramjattan while addressing Parliament late Wednesday evening claimed that the Opposition’s arguments were baseless and lacked substance. He also asserted that whatever could have been done in the current circumstances, with whatever resources were available was done to the best.
While he also took responsibility for both the 2016 and 2017 fires, Ramjattan said these incidents do not warrant him to resign from his position as minister. “I said I am responsible. I’ve always said that and I hold myself responsible, but does not mean because you’re responsible, mean resignation.”
While calls have been made to launch a COI into the 2017 prions unrest and fire, the Minister said the Government will stick to its initial promise to have it done when the two remaining escaped prisoners are recaptured. “At this point in time, we will not have an inquiry. Until such time that these prisoners are recaptured, it is not going to be done,” Ramjattan told the House.