State of Emergency… Ltd

Posted in By Kevin Ramcharan 3 comments


Serious post today folks.  Last night, the Prime Minister indicated that there would be in effect from today, the 22nd August 2011, a “limited’ state of emergency.  The proclamation was signed it would appear by the President and apparently Emergency Regulations were also signed by the President.  Now from the outset, let me say that I am against this action and throughout the post I hope the reasons for my doing so will become apparent.  However, I also wanted to give an idea about how it will affect my readers… all 5 of you who live in Trinidad (and Tobago)… This was supposed to start off as a single entry, but it’s going to be at least 2 4 posts.


Power to declare “State of Emergency”

Section 8 of the Constitution is what gives the President power to declare a state of emergency. 

Section 8 (in so far as is relevant) states as follows:

8. (1) Subject to this section, for the purposes of this Chapter, the President may from time to time make a Proclamation declaring that a state of public emergency exists.
(2) A Proclamation made by the President under subsection (1) shall not be effective unless it contains a declaration that the President is satisfied-
…
(c) that action has been taken, or is immediately threatened. by any person, of such a nature and on so extensive a scale, as to be likely to endanger the public safety or to deprive the
community or any substantial portion of the community of supplies or services essential to life. (grounds (a) & be which deal with a state of war and natural epidemics clearly do not apply)

Now, honestly, can we say that we have reached this far?  Are we at a stage where Public Safety is so compromised that someone cannot go out into the streets without the likelihood that he or she will be a victim of crime?  Are there sections of the community which are not getting services essential to life because of the crime situation (that does not include cable ok!)i suggest that the answer is no.  No doubt there are areas where to roam the streets is unsafe, but these are relatively small areas.  For the most part, you can traverse the streets of Trinidad and Tobago without falling the victim of crime.

Having said that, the President is satisfied that this is the case and therefore, as such actions are above question, there is nothing that we can do about it.

How long will it last?

The declaration signed by the President does not, as far as I know, say the length of time that it will last, however, the Constitution does make some provision for this.  Section 9 (2) states:
“A Proclamation made by the President for the purposes of and in accordance with section 8 shall, unless previously revoked, remain in force for fifteen days”

This means that the State of Emergency will last for a period of 15 days in the first instance (to the 5th September 2011.)

However, the House of Representatives can extend the period of the emergency under section 10 of the Act:
10. (1) Before its expiration the Proclamation may be extended from time to time by resolution supported by a simple majority vote of the House of Representatives, so however that no extension exceeds three months and the extensions do not in the aggregate exceed six months.

(2) The Proclamation may be further extended from time to time for not more than three months at any one time, by a resolution passed by both Houses of Parliament and supported by the votes of not less than three-fifths of all the members of each House.
To clarify, a simple majority (21-20) of the House of Representatives can extend the State of Emergency for a period of no more than 3 months at a time for a maximum of 6 months in all.  After this, a 3/5 majority is required (25-16).  Of course in practice this means nothing as the government has 29 seats, so has a 3/5  majority built in, and does not require opposition support.
On the other hand, the State of Emergency can also be revoked at any time under section 10(3) of Constitution by a simple majority of the House of Representatives

Doesn’t a State of Emergency Suspend Civil Liberties?

Popular opinion is that a State of Emergency somehow suspends the civil liberties of citizens, but this is not quite accurate.  Nothing in the State of Emergency in itself subverts our fundamental rights and freedoms as provided by sections 4 and 5 of the constitution, but it does provide that (i) any act of Parliament that is specifically stated to be in contravention of sections 4 and 5, which passed during a period of emergency will have effect, and (ii) that the President may make regulations which can have effect, even if they are in contravention of sections 4 and 5 of the constitution.  We will get to the regulations that have been signed later.

What Does a Curfew Mean, and Where is it in Force?

One of the features of virtually every State of Emergency is the imposition of a curfew in some if not all areas.  But what is a curfew?  With respect to the current period of public emergency, the Commissioner of Police, as he is empowered to do under the Emergency Regulations has imposed a curfew in the following areas
1 the City of Port-of-Spain as demarcated in the First Schedule to the Municipal Corporations Act
2 the city of San Fernando as demarcated in the First Schedule to the Municipal Corporations Act.
3. the Borough of Chaguanas as demarcated in the First Part of the Second Schedule to the Municipal Corporations Act.
4 the Borough of Arima as demarcated in the First Schedule to the Municipal Corporations Act.
5 the Region of Diego Martin as demarcated in the Second Part of the Second Schedule to the Municipal Corporations Act
6 the Region of San Juan/Laventille as demarcated in the Second Part of the Second Schedule to the Municipal Corporations Act.
The Municipal Corporations Act, which has the boundaries of these areas can be found here
This is what the areas look like
See I told you red thing is trouble!
See I told you them Red thing is trouble!


The Order goes on to indicate what this means… “no person shall be out of doors in the areas and at the times specified in the Schedules”.  In other words, if you are in these areas, you had better be indoors, (not car doors) otherwise crapaud smoke your pipe.  If you need to be out doors during that time, you can be given a permit from the Commissioner of police allowing you to do that  If you are outdoors without a permit, you can be arrested under the emergency powers regulations.  More of that later.


What is a Limited State of Emergency?

I don’t know


No Seriously!

I am being serious… The Constitution provides for no such thing.  Further, the Proclamation singed by the President says:
“(a) I am satisfied that action has been taken or is immediately threatened by persons or bodies of persons of such a nature and on so extensive a scale as to be likely to endanger  the public safety; and -,
(b) a state of public emergency exists in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago” (emphasis supplied)

So clearly, the state of Public Emergency exists throughout Trinidad and Tobago…

What about the Emergency Regulations? Perhaps their implementation is limited… well no… the regulations make no distinction as to time and/or place with respect to their operation at all.  More on those Regulations later… that’s a doosy…

Well what about the curfew?  Yes, it is true that the curfew does not extend to the whole of Trinidad and Tobago, but as we see (and will see more in my following post)  a State of Emergency and a curfew are 2 separate things, so it is difficult to see why they are calling it a limited State of Emergency.

Maybe it is that the State of Emergency was incorporated? That’s why they are calling it Ltd? (bad lawyer joke I know)… maybe it’s a PR thing… who knows? I wish someone would ask the AR/JS road show that question.

Wait, that’s all?
For now,  this post has become too long… and in the next one, I want to look at the Emergency regulations.  It’s coming soon though, I promise… Scout’s Honour.
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