(Trinidad Express) Just two days after launching a campaign to petition support for the resumption of the death penalty, Government Minister Jack Warner yesterday suspended the initiative saying he does not want to “endanger” the Government.
“It is not my desire, however, well intentioned to do anything, however, remotely to injure or fracture or in any way endanger the People’s Partnership Government and if that were the case I say fine I will withdraw, however, well intentioned,” Warner told the media yesterday during the Parliament’s tea break.
Earlier in the day, Warner’s office issued a release stating, “Following a meeting of the Cabinet yesterday (Thursday), I wish to inform the general public that, with immediate effect, I have decided to suspend the initiative that was started to implement the death penalty. My thanks are hereby extended to all those persons and/or organisations that had assisted me at the launch. This is my final statement on this matter.”
He launched the campaign on Wednesday—entitled “A Fisherman’s Cry” at his constituency office, with the parents of murdered fishermen, Ravi and Kasinath Ramsaran, pleading for the return of the hangman. A third man, Pream Squires, was also murdered at sea. Two men are now before the court charged for the killings.
Pressed yesterday whether he was instructed or forced in any way to suspend the campaign, Warner said: “Nobody gave me any instructions, I repeat, my motive, my initiative was well intentioned but then following the Cabinet meeting I got the impression that, however, remote it was, it may have caused some disaffection and I withdrew it.”
Asked if he felt defeated in his purpose, he responded: “There is no defeat in something that is good. It might be some kind of postponement but it can’t be a defeat … this is not a case where you win or lose, you know.”
Warner has been complaining over the past few months with his ministry being split into two last year and an audit into the Programme for Enhancing Road Efficiency (PURE) has halted road works under his ministry.
Asked if he was happy, Warner said: “But look I smiling. In life sometimes you have a good day and a bad day but overall life is good and so is the UNC.”
He said the campaign to resume hanging, however, short lived, “opened people’s eyes” and in the fullness of time the legislation will return to Parliament.
Warner’s hanging campaign was born after three Felicity fishermen were murdered last month.
He said yesterday he promised to take care of the families of the men for three months and he extended it for another three.
At the launch of his campaign, Warner had said that the petition called upon every parliamentarian to “get serious with fixing the laws concerning the enforcement of the death penalty, including addressing the issue of lengthy delays with petitions to the human rights bodies”.
However, the campaign saw trouble the very day when it was launched with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar saying this was not Government policy, but Warner’s own initiative.
A day after, Government ministers Bhoendradatt Tewarie, Vernella Toppin Alleyne and Winston Peters distanced themselves from Warner’s campaign, citing collective Cabinet responsibility when questioned during the post-Cabinet press briefing.
At a news conference at Tower D of the Waterfront Complex yesterday, the Prime Minister, when questioned on the issue, made it clear neither she nor Cabinet instructed Warner to suspend the petition.
She said she cannot say what influenced Warner as she stressed that Cabinet is about collective responsibility.
“It would be foolhardy of any minister to step out of any decision making to make policy on their own, it does not work that way. I would not sign a petition that was not sanctioned by the Government, by the Cabinet. … There was no instruction or agreement by the Cabinet on the petition,” said Persad-Bissessar.
Government’s position, she said, is to continue pursuing the legal channels in order to implement the death penalty.
“So we will proceed, the AG is again drafting, we will come back with it and we’ll take it from there. We will never give up, we will continue to try,” she promised. She said it is in the interest of the country to implement the law of the land. She spoke of the challenges in doing so.
“I will remember well the case of Glen Ashby, when in breach of the law, when the matter was before the Privy Council, the then regime hanged Glen Ashby. We do not want to follow that route,” the Prime Minister said.
Before learning of the suspension of Warner’s petition, Justice Minister, Herbert Volney who has been vocal in the call for the death penalty, said he would be willing to sign the petition.
