Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday yesterday slammed Government on the issue of crime, saying that much of the gang-related violence was being fuelled by state-funded programmes and contracts.
In a telephone interview from London where he is still on vacation, Panday said: "I have been saying for the entire election that the Government's programme is geared towards creating criminality in the society. I have said that over and over. If the country doesn't want to listen, (then) don't listen. My job is to speak and their job is to ignore me if that is their wish. I have no sympathy for those who have been the victims of their own doing. They voted for the PNM, what did they expect? Honey and roses?"
On the issue of the declaration of a State of Emergency, Panday asked: "What would a State of Emergency permit the Government to do that it cannot do now?"
"If the answer is nothing, then of course this is a waste of time," he said, adding that it would be another attempt to hoodwink the population. On the issue of whether a State of Emergency would allow the police search people's homes and go after the guns, Panday asked: "Can't they search people's homes now?"
Panday said the population had imposed this yoke upon its own shoulder. "And unless they realise that, there would be no change. They would do the same thing all over again," he said.
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