PM defends phone taps; says, "The only persons who are worried are those who are involved in criminal activity and those suffering from derangement and paranoia." Trinidad Guardian
By her own words and definition, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has painted herself as a deranged and paranoid criminal. In dismissing public concerns over state wiretapping as the mere anxieties of criminals and the mentally unstable, she has condemned herself by her own rhetoric.
Just years prior, she stood before Parliament fiercely condemning secret surveillance as a vile threat to democracy, openly displaying the exact outrage she now ridicules. By her current logic, the very indignation that once defined her principles now condemns her under her own definitions.
Evidence of Hypocrisy
The depth of her hypocrisy is exposed by her own historical declarations. In November 2010, she stood in the House of Representatives and declared she was "shocked" to find that state agencies were involved in the "illegal wiretapping and interception of communications of private citizens". Back then, she passionately dismantled the surveillance apparatus to protect the public from a "further invasion of their privacy."
To transition from calling wiretapping a "shocking democratic violation" back when she was on the receiving end of surveillance, to branding anyone concerned about it today as "paranoid and deranged" - now that she is the surveillant - reveals a leader whose ethics are entirely dependent on whether she is the 'Macco' or is the one being 'maccoed'.
To reverse her stance on such a critical issue is not just a political flip-flop; it is a betrayal of democratic trust. Leaders cannot champion privacy only when they are the ones being watched, nor can they weaponize the state against the public once they hold power.
In trying to silence her critics, she has ultimately indicted herself - not for the first time - as a hypocrite, political opportunist and betrayer of the national interest whose loyalty to Trinidad and Tobago depends entirely on where she is positioned on the political spectrum when that loyalty is required, and whether she and the UNC stand to benefit.
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