Patriotic Front leader Mickela Panday is calling on the government to account to the public on the continued State of Emergency, questioning whether emergency powers are being used as a tool to fight crime or to quell dissent within the local population.

Panday, the daughter of late former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday took to her social media platforms yesterday, attaching a number of serious crime reports occurring over the past few weeks. She noted the States of Emergency implemented by the United National Congress since coming into office last year, asking if they had become a “convenient tool” to intimidate and make the government “untouchable.”

“For almost one year, citizens have been asked to accept restrictions on their fundamental freedoms on the promise that these powers would make our country safer.Yet, almost one year later, the murder, kidnapping, home invasions and robbery headlines continue,” she wrote.