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Akash Sama­roo

As cit­i­zens once again face the sus­pen­sion of cer­tain con­sti­tu­tion­al rights, an un­apolo­getic Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has made it clear she will con­tin­ue to use States of Emer­gency as a crime-fight­ing tool, in­sist­ing she would rather act de­ci­sive­ly to pro­tect lives than stand by as crim­i­nals ter­rorise the pop­u­la­tion.

The sec­ond State of Emer­gency un­der the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress ad­min­is­tra­tion took ef­fect at mid­night yes­ter­day (March 3). This means that since as­sum­ing of­fice on April 28, 2025, the Gov­ern­ment has kept the coun­try un­der emer­gency pow­ers for near­ly sev­en of its ten months in of­fice. Trinidad and To­ba­go has been free of a SoE on­ly dur­ing May and June 2025, and again in Feb­ru­ary 2026.