OPPOSITION MP for Oropouche East Dr Roodal Moonilal has slammed a proposal for a border protection and security agency (BPSA) recommended by a report from the Joint Select Committee (JSC) on National Security.
Speaking at a UNC media conference at the party's headquarters in Chaguanas on Sunday, Moonilal, a member of the committee, described the proposal as an act of hypocrisy in the 11th hour before a general election.
The JSC's report on illegal firearms and gun violence, laid in Parliament on Friday, said the proposed BPSA would take over the border-protection and security functions of the existing Customs and Excise Division (CED) that would then be left to focus on taxation/revenue collection.
The report also said a severe staff shortage at the CED challenged its ability to effectively carry out its current mandate.
"Law enforcement/security function should be considered separate and apart from revenue collection," the report said.
The committee said the BPSA, once formed, should then appropriately fall within the purview of the Ministry of National Security (MNS).
"Placing this agency under the MNS's remit will ease the security burden misplaced on the CED's current form, whilst affording the CED a singular focus on the customs and excise function."
The Ministry of Finance is the CED's current line ministry.
On Sunday, Moonilal said a BPSA had already been proposed in 2015 by former national security minister Edmund Dillon and had not yet been implemented nine years later.
He began addressing the issue by referencing the upcoming visit of the US deputy assistant secretary for Security Agreements and Foreign Policy Advisors, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs Linda Specht.
He questioned whether or not the Prime Minister would be in TT for the visit and spoke of Dr Rowley’s travels aboard.
Specht is expected to be in TT from March 4 - 6 and is expected to meet with government ministers for bilateral discussions on advancing the robust security co-operation between the US and TT.
A statement on the US Embassy’s website said Specht’s visit follows the” very successful visit of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to the United States last month.”
Specht is the lead negotiator for bilateral defence agreements that involve access, status protections, and burden sharing, it added.
Moonilal claimed the Opposition was told that US officials were “very concerned” with the police and “vetting TTPS officers who work and interface with the elite US security agencies.”
He said there were critical issues to be raised and wondered if National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds would be in the country for Specht's visit.
On the matter of the proposed BPSA, Moonilal said there was a reason why UNC members on that JSC refused, at times, to sign certain reports.
He said the report laid on Friday was one of them.
Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial is the other UNC member on the committee.
Moonilal said during the JSC, its members were told the topic of the agency was raised before and in the public do
