As the government seeks, on Wednesday, to extend the state of emergency (SoE), political leader of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) David Abdulah is questioning the motive for doing so.

During a virtual news conference on Sunday, Abdulah accused the government of using an extended SoE as a 'smokescreen' for what he sees as the government's failure to properly govern TT especially in the face of the covid19 pandemic.

'We're very concerned that the government is going to use the extension of the SoE as a mechanism to control the population who is increasingly dissatisfied with the way in which the government has managed the economic crisis, and the social crisis, in the country.

'It is that failure which they are seeking to cover up by extending the SoE. (They are using it) as a fig leaf…as a smokescreen for their failure.

'(These crises) existed before the pandemic. What covid has exposed is all of the weaknesses and problems of our society. As we mask up to deal with covid, covid has unmasked the problems that the country has.'

The first period of the SoE, declared on May 15, was scheduled to expire on May 30.

On May 24 The House of Representatives met to extend it for three months up to August 29.

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister will ask the House to extend for three more months (until late November) with the extension needing just a simple majority.

But Abdulah said the current SoE was never needed.

He said, during the earlier months of the pandemic last year the government did not need one to enforce public health regulations.

'Prior to the state of emergency, under the public health regulations, businesses had to close by a certain time.

'Last year there was no state of emergency but supermarkets had to close by a certain time, pharmacies by a certain time.

'There was also a period when other businesses could not be opened, and that didn't require a state of public emergency…that was dealt with under the public health regulations.'

Abdulah is calling on the government to reconsider its position.

'There is very little to support, in terms of evidence, the necessity of a continuation of a state of public emergency.'

Instead of extending the SoE to fight covid19, Abdulah said the government should focus on improving its communication strategy to get people vaccinated.

While he praised the government for securing several different brands of vaccine, Abdulah said the government's communication strategy has done little to combat vaccine hesitancy.

'Preaching or speaking down to people to get vaccinated is not the right approach to convince people who may be hesitant.

'When you do that, people's natural response is to pull back, withdraw and maybe to resist.

'We need the opposite kind of communication strategy that will generate a certain amount of confidence and therefore convince people to move forward.

'We (the party) had proposed using our artistes to come up with creative ways like cartoons, jingles and so on. Some of that have begun to happen, but very belatedly.'