From 2020 to present, 401 people have been managed under the Justice Protection Program- including 145 actual witnesses to crime and 256 of their family members.

These statistics were revealed by Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley in the Lower House today, as he dismissed the Opposition’s claim that there was no working witness protection program in T&T.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad Bissessar had made the claim as she condemned last month’s murder of 13-year-old Andrea Lallan, who was shot dead at her Rio Claro home, hours after reporting a rape.

“It’s not a small program and it’s not cheap. That program is costing us, between 2019 and 2022, we allocated $120 million. We spend $111million. 73% of that on the actual persons and the 27% on the administration of the program. And that program is costing us about $30 million a year,” he told the Lower House during his contribution to the budget debate.

He accused the Persad Bissessar of intentionally seeking to mislead the population to score political points on the crime front. 

“This is someone who served as Prime Minister…who served as head of the National Security Council and who knows about this (program). Or who ought to know. So when you come here and tell us- the whole country is paying attention,” Dr. Rowley said.