August 31 marks the anniversary of the country’s independence from Britain that was achieved on August 31, 1962, The Ministry of Homeland Security said that, instead, there will be a National Day of Prayer and that the decision was taken “after careful deliberation on intelligence” arising out of the current state of emergency (SoE). Speaking on a television programme on Monday, Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander told viewers that the decision was not taken lightly and “it did not take four or five seconds”.

He said Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar had “after continuous deliberations” announced the decision, taking into consideration also the safety of the citizens. “We as a government had a decision to make. Persons behaving like this is the last time or there’s going to be no more Independence Day parade. This is not the case. We came into government and, on our arrival, we saw a lot of things I wish I could take you through, but I can’t because of national security reasons,” the former senior police officer told viewers.

Alexander said that, given the information coming to the authorities, “we have no choice but to protect our people, dismantle the threat and then we go forward”. Trinidad and Tobago declared a state of emergency on July 18, nearly three months after it had ended a 105-day SoE to deal with criminal activities. (Jamaica Gleaner)