Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles is calling on the Prime Minister to directly address the nation on the latest SoE.
In a statement shecondemned the most recent SoE as confirmation of the Government’s inability to address crime and accused the Prime Minister of “presiding over and enabling chaos with absolutely no plan, despite promising the world in the 2025 General Election.”
The Opposition Leader added, “This State of Emergency is the second in less than a year, and like the first, it will fail spectacularly at solving the underlying issues of crime in our country. The first SOE was declared on July 18, 2025 and ended, after an extension, mere weeks ago on January 31, 2026. What possibly could be the reason for calling another SOE in such a short space of time?”
Ms Beckles said the SoE comes on the heels of the failed Zones of Special Operations (ZOSO) Bill and insisted that “the first SOE did not effectively reduce crime, and neither did US intervention.”
She maintained that a continuous SoE cannot be the answer to crime and called for a targeted, comprehensive approach focusing on community engagement, justice reform, education, and poverty alleviation.
