THE Prime Minister said he would soon direct the Finance Minister to allocate $100 million to be spent by the TT Defence Force (TTDF) in certain communities where development is stymied by crime.

Dr Rowley made this statement at a PNM public meeting in San Juan on January 18.

Referring to earlier comments in the meeting by National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds about citizens in some communities being deprived of certain amenities because of the actions of criminals there, Rowley said he would instruct Finance Minister Colm Imbert to make $100 million available for development in certain communities with high levels of crime.

"The money that we will make available, as I am describing here, will be made available to the Defence Force leadership."

Rowley said this money will used by the TTDF "to retain and to hire reserve officers or retired officers and recruits, to go into those communities and ensure that what has to be built is built."

"Where security has to be on the street, it is there and when people can rely on them (TTDF) and not the local don who believes that they are somehow bigger than the Government and the people of TT."

Rowley told PNM supporters, "I have faced this before."

He recalled being a Cabinet minister in the 1991-1995 Patrick Manning administration when it advanced an affirmative-action programme to deal with young African men in urban areas who had begun to drift away into a life of crime.

[caption id="attachment_1057901" align="alignnone" width="1024"] JUBILATION: Port of Spain South MP Keith Scotland and other PNM supporters react as the Prime Minister arrives at a public meeting in the Croisee, San Juan. on Thursday January 18, 2024. - Photo by Roger Jacob[/caption]

"That programme was meant to stop that."

Rowley said the programme was never implemented, as the then Opposition UNC accused the PNM of discrimination against those people, and the PNM described the programme as a misprint.

"The chickens have come home to roost. That was 15 years ago."

Rowley said, "So when I say I'm going to do what I'm going to do now, I'll brook no obstruction from anybody on the other side. I will do what has to be done."

He added, "No criminal in this country could take the position that the Government must give deference to you because you have a gun or you have access to a gun."

Rowley said, "The state and the people of TT must stand predominant in this country."

He then reiterated his condemnation of the Opposition UNC at a news conference earlier in the day for initiatives such as a state of emergency (SoE) and giving people greater access to legal firearms to reduce crime.

On the latter, Rowley said people already have the right to access firearms legally.

"But we do not subscribe to the principle of, if there is money to be made in FUL (Firearm User's Licence), that we give out as much FUL as possible, enrich yourself by giving everybody a gun."

Rowley told PNM supporters when he asked a former police commissioner about whether someone on a rape charge cou