PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Jun 07 2017 – Trinidad’s Minister of Foreign and CARICOM (Caribbean Community) Affairs, Dennis Moses says he has written to his Jamaican counterpart, Kamina Johnson Smith, complaining in a “forceful manner” about a search reportedly carried out on government minister Ayanna Webster-Roy, as she boarded a flight in Jamaica last week.
Moses told Parliament on Tuesday, that he has also expressed concern to the Jamaican High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago based here, and Trinidad and Tobago’s High Commissioner based in Kingston.
Moses told the upper house that he “personally consulted” with a number of the members of the delegation that travelled to Jamaica to participate in the regional parliamentary forum and the high commissioners to get “as much factual information possible”.
“I, in a very forceful manner made known to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Jamaica our complaints, and I countered in a robust fashion whatever counter arguments would have been presented.”
Moses said the Ministry is working to ensure that incidents of searches being carried out on government officials travelling on diplomatic passports, be minimised.
In responding to the incident, Johnson Smith blamed a “private security company” for patting down Webster-Roy as she was leaving the country.
Johnson Smith, said that “our initial enquiries indicate that a search took place, but that it was conducted by a private security company retained by the international airline on which the minister and her delegation were travelling.
“Furthermore, we are advised that such searches are generally undertaken by the airline under international conventions and are based on random computer selection for additional security screening.
“While we regret the minister’s distress, our enquiries so far reveal that diplomats and ministers of other countries, as well as current and former ministers of Jamaica, across political administrations, have in fact undergone this additional screening process, notwithstanding their status.”
Johnson Smith said, the Andrew Holness government is, however, taking the matter seriously.
Last year there were allegations by Jamaicans about mistreatment and discrimination by Trinidad and Tobago Immigration authorities following the deportation of a number of Jamaicans.
This led to calls by some Jamaicans to boycott Trinidad and Tobago products and Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley visited Jamaica to assure Jamaicans that they were not being targeted.
Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CaribbeanNewsService/
Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/CNewsService
Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/caribbeannewsservice/
