On the heels of Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith’s renewed call for Parliamentarians to move ahead with the Bail Amendment Bill, Attorney General Faris Al Rawi is now asking the public to make their voices heard on the matter, in an effort to gain Opposition support.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Al Rawi lamented that the Opposition has consistently rejected the bill, which seeks to ban bail for up to 120 days for anyone charged with firearm offences. 

He questioned, however, why their current position on the matter contradicts the one they had while in office. Specifically, he read from the 2011 Hansard, in which then Attorney General Anand Ramlogan said “there is just cause in this country to interfere with fundamental human rights of those who wish to interfere and take away altogether, the findamental rights of law abiding citizens”.

Referencing statistics for the years 2009-2019, Al Rawi said of the 17,271 firearm related offences which occurred between 2009 and 2019, only 6,387 people were charged for illegal possession of firearms. 

At present, the Opposition, led by Kamla Persad Bissessar hold the position that bail must only be withheld after a person is charged three time times for firearm related offences. This, they said, would weed out instances of politicians using the law to their advantage.

The Bail Amendment Bill was debated in the Parliament as recently as last week, however it failed to make any meaningful progress due to heavy resistance from the Opposition.