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The Min­istry of Rur­al De­vel­op­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment has re­ject­ed claims by Diego Mar­tin Cen­tral MP Symon de No­bri­ga that the Gov­ern­ment’s de­ci­sion to de­vel­op a na­tion­al pol­i­cy on gat­ed com­mu­ni­ties is a “po­lit­i­cal gim­mick.”

Min­is­ter of Rur­al De­vel­op­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Khadi­jah Ameen de­scribed de No­bri­ga’s state­ment as “an in­sult to cit­i­zens who are des­per­ate­ly call­ing for safer com­mu­ni­ties.”

“For years un­der the PNM, crime spi­ralled out of con­trol. Mur­ders, home in­va­sions, prae­di­al lar­ce­ny, car theft, all reached un­prece­dent­ed lev­els, while com­mu­ni­ties were left aban­doned. Cit­i­zens begged for so­lu­tions, but the PNM had none. They ig­nored res­i­dents, starved lo­cal gov­ern­ment of re­sources, and of­fered ex­cus­es in­stead of pro­tec­tion,” Ameen said.