NTA POLITACAL LEADER INTERVIEW.

[00:00:01] Speaker A: The best insight, instant feedback, accountability. The all new talk radio Freedom 106.5. Joining us now this morning, he's been with us on numerous occasions and this morning definitely we need to hear from him on some of the things that we're reading in the newspaper we saw in the news last night. Let's welcome to our program NTA political leader, former police commissioner Gary Griffith. Good morning to you. Welcome back to the show. [00:00:27] Speaker B: Hi. Good morning. [00:00:28] Speaker A: Nice to have you with us here this morning. So much to discuss, so little time to do it because time just gets away from us on many instances. I definitely want to get your responses to some of what was said about this ful audit report in the parliament yesterday. But before we get to that, I'd like you to explain a couple things to us as a former police commissioner, the prime minister went the parliament yesterday and spoke about this, this coup plot by the, at the SSA. And one of the things that he identified was the purchase of weapons and the purchase of ammunition. Now already the discussion by some contributors is trying to make a link between you as commissioner of police and some of these purchases that were made or some of what was ordered or whatever else, however you want to describe it during your term as police commissioner. The prime minister went into great detail to identify the years and how much ammunition in 2021 is 52,022 100,000. The inferences or the suggestions being made that, well, you gave the approval for these things while you were commissioner. Is that true? Tell us. Okay, when someone like the SSA, whoever else wants to purchase arms and ammunition, is that vetted by the police commissioner or some authority or some agency or whatever else, tell us the process. [00:01:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Good morning. It's a template. It's similar to the trying tobago defense for security companies. They make requests, they acquire ammunition. So this is what, this is a desperate attempt by Keith Rowley. The man is going to, he's obsessed with me. He's infatuated. He is intimidated with Gary Griffith because he is mortified that Gary Griffith is going to bring over those floating voters when they call it previous Onr, narcop, whatever you call it, those previous floating voters want to leave the PNM to work with other political parties to form an alliance to defeat the PNM. So he's not going to speak about Kamala Passad, assessor Rudy Munilal or Dave Tancool. He knows UNC has their base. They're 200 to 250,000. And that's not shifting. There's nothing that he could say about it that's going to shift. So as a strategic person, his focus is every single thing. West Indies got knocked out and didn't qualify for the semi finals. It's probably less finally way to blame Gary Griffith. If it is that rain falls, let's do an audit and blame Gary Griffith. It is pathetic. It is sickening. Demand is totally intimidated of the fact that what I am going to do is the same thing that Winston Ducran did with Kamala Posad recessive. He's concerned that the same thing that Ayan Robinson and the ONR did with Basio Pandey with Ulf in 86. He is clearly patterned. So his job is to try to lie and discredit me at all costs. So he has tried everything under the sun and he has not been able to succeed because they are all lies. So even when he tried with everything with these firearms, he has come, he has gone on and on and on. Nothing held because you can't throw more than something that's alive. So the concept they have thought that the SSC I was involved in this massive conspiracy and then when they checked, they realized that I had nothing to. This was not my involvement. The SSA is an arm under the minister of national security. Why doesn't it? Has the minister resigned? You speak about all of these illegal things, about firearms, but the minister of national security is overall responsible. You speak about all these terrible things under the SSA. You are telling me that there was a plot for a coup that was taking place and the SSA director reports to the Minister of national security, commissioner of police. So you came a whole attempt at what's going on for years and the minister of national security is still in his job and you're not fired him. Nowhere in the world would a prime minister or president say that there was an attempted coup, a plot for a coup. There was a massive cult and it seemed to be a major plot to destabilize the country. And the minister of national security was overall responsibility for that organization has not been fired. So you have exposed something and you're not holding the person responsible for it. So. And the SSA, for years they have been involved in having access to weapons where the director of the SSA, through his firearm license, will have persons get an fuec. Because members of the SSA will be involved in major types of intelligence gathering. And if they have to do intelligence gathering 02:00 in the morning in a specific place, you don't expect them to have a slingshot or to be harassing the police to come and provide security for them. So that is where they had that type of ammunition and weapons that they will request if it is that. The SSA director realized that there was a major concern for his staff to have weapons because they're going into volatile situations, 203:00 in the morning in high risk areas, or being involved in having to secure the thousands of cameras being set up in hot spot areas and the persons putting up the cameras needed security. That is his decision. That is his SSA director. That is not for my involvement. So they tried with the firearms, which I know we'll speak about with all these illegal firearms that were given to citizens, which has all been a lie that he tried with the SSC. The next thing he's going to come with, watch and see will be about procurement, my procurement practices, where after three years he will now come up and say, look, let's do an audit on this as well. And that is what he does. The key throughout the administration is to hire people, pay them big money, let them lie and put fake reports littered with the word allegations and use that to discredit persons. I listen to you satish just before, if it is that you claim that persons bribe firearm holders or, sorry, firearm dealers or police officers to get a firearm, and this is in our report, an official report, why haven't these people been charged? This is a criminal offense. Keith Rowe, let me open it now. Is a blatant and this is not to affect freedom 106 because I'm in court with him on several matters like this. He's a liar. Because if it is these reports have that here and Prishard and Barrington would be taken to court by these individuals for defamation. They will also be taken probably to the police for wasting police time. Stanley John, in the same manner. And that is why it is when I said I did not, when I took him to court was because he knew what he was planning to do. You hire people, pay them money, let them write what you want in the report, then read it out in parliament. He wanted to go to parliament because parliament is the one place that you can lie, defame others, criticize others, slander the names of others with lies and you cannot be suede. Why would you want to do a report on audit report to read in parliament? Parliament is not the place to read an audit report. You read it out on a political platform, you do it in a post cabinet meeting. But if he had done it there, Prishard, Barrington, Stanley John, any one of them who could have been sued for making false statements on people and you notice, up to now, he has not called a name. Call the name of the individuals who he claimed were individuals who got firearms and they were involved in matters of defeating their wife and so forth. For you to get a firearm, if you're married, your wife must sign an authorization given approval for your husband to get a firearm. So that is a lie. He stated that persons bribe individuals to get a firearm. If that was the case, why these firearms have not been taken from these individuals and the individuals charged for bribery, and the police officers and the firearm dealers as well. That is a lie. He stated that people took noble firearms, single shot, and change it into automatic. The commissioner doesn't have that authority. Neither would a firearm dealer or firearm. Hold on. They will all be charged. That is a lie. The man continues to lie using a report. That is what he did. This has been email gate reloaded because he saw it work last time. And now we try the same thing again. [00:08:11] Speaker A: Politics aside and all the allegations against everybody aside, what I want to drill down to is the process and the monitoring and accountability that would go or would oversee what we are being told happen at the SSA. Because what we are being told happened at the SSA, or possibly could have happened at the SSA, is something that would have affected everyone in this country one way or the other. This attempted coup, had it been carried out, we don't know what the repercussions could have been. And one of the elements that will concern people is the fact that this SSA was able to get 52,000 bullets in 2021, which is our jump from the year before of 16,000 rounds and 100,000 rounds in 2022. Whose job would it have been to monitor this? Or for a red flag to be raised for them to check and balance and say, well, here, now, what do you want all this for? Whose job is it? Because that's what we need to know. Because somebody fell down in the monitoring process, if there is a monitor process. [00:09:17] Speaker B: And why do we see it fell down? This reminds me so much of Rowley's justification that I gave out too many firearms is because previous commissioners before me were giving out hundreds when I gave out 2000. And that is the justification I did something wrong. What is the job? What is the wrongful act that I did there? Because other commissioners before and after me were too lazy, incompetent and inefficient to get their job done. It caused the backlog of 25,000 applicants. So if I was just giving out 2000 a year, which is a thousand law enforcement, it would have taken twelve years to deal with the backlog because of the incompetence of commissioners before me. Because. Because I was too efficient doing my job. It made it. You try to make it look like Gary was giving out too many. [00:09:59] Speaker A: Okay, but Mister Griffith, you're answering a question that I'm not asking you. Because I. [00:10:04] Speaker B: Wait. No, Satish. I am. I'm coming to the point. I'm coming to the point. So the point being is that you are measuring it based on what others did and failed to do properly. So you're stating that because commissioners before me only gave out a couple hundred, that caused the backlog. When I now did the right thing and because I was too efficient in my job, based on the law, it became a problem. It's the same thing here with the SSC. Who says, why? SSE is a unit with 400 people, some of the most sensitive equipment in the country for interception. And you and with it it has individuals who have firearms to secure the SSA stations to secure. Kam Comuto. Kam Comuto was handed over to the SSA by the PNM Eddie Dillon, who was the minister of national security. And that camp comprised. You're talking about hundreds of firearms that Saut had. You have the same SSA that is equivalent to the Ciataine. Only in a banana republic would you hear somebody saying, well, why this is the CIA have so much ammunition? Because the CIA is, that is investigation, intelligence gathering. So it is a concern. What is the concern? The concern should only lie if we see that out of the hundred thousand wrongs they took, if they took 100,000 wrongs, 50,000 missing, or it has been used for a criminal offense. So that is the point you are measuring it based on. Before you had 10,000 rounds and now it's 100. So now it becomes a concern. The concern is the SSA, as I said, is equivalent to the CIA. You think if somebody says what the CIA has ammunition, but Keith Rowley is, this is not a banana republic. This is the SSA you're speaking about. And I'm not here to justify Roger Best's request for it because he will answer his justification for it. But if you are aware that the SSA has several installations. What, you want them to put a cut glass on a hockey stick to guard the stations? To guard the installations. If there's an attempted coup, as Rowley claimed, the main thing that they will be going after is the SSA with all the installations for interception, the equipment and all of these things. The National Operations center that is the hub for coordination of natural man made disaster, is coordinated and held in mostly by the SSA. So you have all of these different installations. They guard the SSA locations. So the individuals must have ammunition, they must trade with ammunition. So because others had a low number and he had a higher number, it means that something was wrong. That is the point I'm trying to chase after because it's the same thing with myself. Because other commissioners failed to do their job. I did my job by ensuring that if you are qualified, if you do the background check and you're entitled to a firearm, you will get one. Because I did my job, it became a problem. So if Roger Best was doing his job, what is the problem? The important thing the country should ask. If this man claims that there was a coup plot, there's a coup plot. And not one person has been arrested for terrorism as yet. He continues to use. Why does he call the names of the persons in the SSA involved in the coup and say it outside of parliament? But he does that and it automatically filters in the minds of persons. Wow, there's a couple is justified to fire 28 people. [00:13:09] Speaker A: There's. The way the information has been presented will obviously raise an eyebrow to by the individual, the average individual who does not understand the nuances that you've just explained. [00:13:24] Speaker B: That is the plan. That is exactly the plan. People who are ignorant and hear, wow, Stephen Williams used to give out 300 firearms a year. Gary gave out 2000. Oh, gosh, is excessive firearms. No. Because of Stephen Williams Laziness, we had a backlog of 25,000 applicants. And guess what? Stephen Williams, McDonald, Jacob Ula, Christopher. The state has been paying tens of millions of dollars, people suing them for them not adhering to their job, for being lazy and incompetent and inefficient. In my three years, you notice everybody is suing Ella Christopher and everybody is winning and getting taxpayers dollars for it. That is the problem. Because people are too efficient. The PNM can't handle efficiency. So because I was too. And still when I gave out that 2000 a year, if there were 25,000 applicants, it would have still taken me twelve years to clear that backlog. But that is what he sees as excess. And it's the same thing with Roger Best. If Roger Best was doing something, this man has claimed that these individuals, it was a cult. So he is still labeled God fearing, church going people as a Jim Jones plan and a plot that is serious allegation to make on these individuals. It seems that the PNM is upset about people being religious because you have eight persons in a religious organization out of 400 employees, and those are the people you target to fire because they were in a cult. You are basically accusing these individuals of forming a virtual Jim Jones coup d'etat to overthrow the country. Go outside in parliament, call your names and say that these individuals were part of a cult and they were going to form a coup. Say that I challenge Kit Rowey. He can't because he's a coward. He goes in parliament to discredit persons in the hope. And let me tell you what this was about. The director of the SSC and the commissioner of police being myself, we were bombarded by a minister who was continuing to harass us, to give a junior constable full access to all the intercept equipment, to intercept the phones of each and every one of you citizens in this country. And we refused. We said, this man is not qualified. He doesn't have the rank. This man. The minister was upset. I was removed. Roger best is removed. Guess what? The individual will now have full access to listen to every single call and message by each citizen of this country. That is what this country is going through. [00:15:36] Speaker A: Now, there's a question that needs to be asked and answered. There was a court order about this ful report that the information could not have been spoken about, could not be relayed for whatever reason, and you were not given due process and the court justified its. I don't want to use the term embargo, but I think that's what it is. The report was embargoed. You couldn't talk about it, you couldn't release the information. And that was a court order. Yesterday, the prime minister went into parliament and gave us a lot of what I'm assuming are details coming out of this report. So is there a situation where the prime minister has breached a court order or does parliament allow him that leverage? [00:16:19] Speaker B: No, parliament has no authorization to override a decision by the court. So the prime minister needs to be a hold of a high office and he must adhere to the constitution. He must explain to the country that he did not breach that court order. If the data he was speaking about actually came from that audit report, what he may try to allude to is, I know it came from the other two reports. And if that is the case, well, then all that we are saying is that simply call the names of the individuals who have your claim receive firearms illegally, that would, they would have been beaten their wife and still got a firearm, that they were littered with criminal. He also said persons had criminal records and got firearms. You cannot get a firearm unless you have a certificate of character. So the man was just spitting out lie after his parents sing his lie and Richie. And that is what he does. And my point is, how could any citizen bind to this nonsense? If you're aware of all of these things, if you are aware that you've seen in a report with Prishard and Barrington, which I am telling you that is not true, because that report with Prishard and Barrington had no such information on it, of accusations, they made recommendations to improve the system. The same with Stanley John. Remember Stanley John, people? Stanley John said it was a massive, well oiled criminal enterprise. And three years later, not one person arrested, not one person charged, not one person convicted. Stanley John is not an investigating officer. But that's what the PNM do. Hire persons who are judges, call them investigators, with no investigative capacity, and let them write reports littered with. It is alleged, it is rumored, and we have been told. So this report he has has somebody stating. Well, and we have reports of persons stating that they bribe. That they paid bribes to police officers and firearm dealers to get firearms. How could you have an official report with persons saying that these persons have not yet been charged? It is a lie or it is based on. It is alleged and it is rumored that is what these people. So this report is as ruthless as the paper that it was printed on. [00:18:20] Speaker A: On page a five of the Guardian newspaper this morning. There's a story that was written on what the prime minister had to say about the report and everything else. And I'll ask you directly in it, the prime minister said, and you'll tell us that house, a housewife or housewives or whatever else, had as many as ten weapons in one household, there were 33 weapons. Is this something that is true? And the reason why I'm asking is, how does a city. Oh, okay. Couple questions. How does a situation arise? I'm sure that there would be, as I said this morning, business people, people who are gun enthusiasts or whatever else, but is it permittable to grant persons more than one license for a firearm? And there's a second question. Since these weapons were granted, has there been any evidence to suggest that there was illegalities associated with the granting of these weapons? Were they used for nefarious activities and all those kinds of things? Because telling me that somebody has ten guns doesn't really tell me much. Because if I am a gun enthusiast, I associated with some rifle association or whatever else, and I have a set of guns don't mean I do anything illegal. It just means that I like guns and there's nothing illegal unless I'm not allowed to have that many weapons. So is it true that persons did have these number of weapons? Number one and number two, was it something wrong, is it something illegal or whatever else to grant them? [00:19:54] Speaker B: As many before me, there were dozens of persons with ten or more firearms. Dozens. So that's why the hypocrisy of Keith Rowling, when you wouldn't speak about that, you wouldn't speak about other commissioners with dozens of other persons getting over ten more weapons. He wouldn't say that. He wouldn't speak about. A senior government official harassed me to get a special gun to kill his pigs and to get 500 wrongs after. He would speak about other ministers who have several weapons as well. So it shows the hypocrisy of the man. And yes, you are correct. So someone may have actually have 30 firearms. I do not know, because he's not calling names. But if somebody is a firearm instructor, an instructor, it is not to say that you are, you know, you're teaching people how to drive and everybody has to go in a central. If you're an instructor, you will need several different types of brown in six or, and when it's a shotgun, so they have different weapons that you will need if you are an instructor. So if you're an instructor, by right, you suppose you could probably have about 50 weapons because you, you're coming to me now for me to train you after you get your provisional license, to get your firearm license. So instructors will have it. You have individuals who are owners of companies and they will have probably ten different businesses. And in the businesses, because they have an ful, they will now give out their weapons to fuec holders to secure your supermarkets around the country. So they will have several. They will have probably 20 weapons under their name. So it is, it is. His comment was so stupid, it was so baseless. What you're supposed to say is somebody had ten firearms and they lost three, or somebody had 30 firearms and they used five to commit a crime. That is not what this is about. This is about to instill some degree of, oh my God, how could Gary do that? He probably has fallen flat. Only the most die hard balazale lover will buy on nonsense. What is supposed to state is that how many people under my watch got a firearm and lost it, use it for a crime or use it to commit a crime? The answer is zero. Not one. So in the 6000 odd firearms I issued, not one was lost, not one was stolen, not one was used for crime in my three years, because I did proper evaluation to ensure the right persons received the firearm. And guess what? Trinidad and Tobago, the commissioners before me, who gave out probably five times less, there were more incidents of weapons being lost, negligent discharges, and using it to commit a crime. So I gave out several times more with no incidents. But I am the person that you're trying to target. I did my job and I did it well, because there was a law. If you as a government do not want people to have firearms, then you change the law. Don't blame me for being efficient and doing my job to provide citizens with their right to secure themselves, their family, their assets, because of your inability and incompetence of the state to protect them. [00:22:37] Speaker A: Just correct me. I vaguely remember was anybody? Because we've been hearing this allegation of people playing bribed to get gun and all that kind of thing. We've been hearing that for a long time. But were persons arrested and charged under your tenure for this? [00:22:52] Speaker B: What I started doing, because when I became commissioner, the first thing I heard is the massive amount of bribery that was taking place. Blackmail, extortion by police officers. But it was hearsay, I couldnt get anything. And then when I found out how they were doing, it was police officers. And this is not to discredit the police service. It's a small number, very small number. The same small number that would have been getting $300 million in overtime corruption, stating that they were working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 30 days a month. So there were individuals in stations that were deliberately holding back applications to send it to the Ful department. And that is where the extortion and the blackmail was taking place. So any prime minister with his stupidity will come and say, and firearms were issued when it was, when it was not approved by certain stations. That is why. Because persons were being bribed and blackmailed by stations, refusing to forward it unless they paid the officers. So what I did is say to listen, you have three months to do the due diligence, to do the background check. And if you fail to come up with anything, bring it forward. And the FUL department, through the compliance unit, will do the background check. Because persons applications were being held back for ten years in stations. And key trouble has a problem with me bypassing these individuals for their incompetence in holding back firearm applications. Others rejected individuals because they said there's no threat to your life. That is the ignorance of certain police officers, or because probably they didn't want to pay them. So because you. That is not a reason to reject someone from getting a firearm. So I will be. I will agree to that for that person to take me to court under the review committee, and then I have to justify to a court, I did not give this person a firearm because some sergeant in a station said, well, there's no threat to his life. That is not a reason to reject someone from a firearm. It is whether it is you have been charged, you've been beaten, your wife, whether you have a criminal offense, whether it is your area is not properly secured. That is how those are the reasons to reject, not because there's no threat to your life. So when Rowley stupidly stated that I was overriding officers, I have that authority. Because if the officers were doing something incorrectly, inappropriately, in some way, unethically, I will do what was required. And kit roll, if you have a problem with that, it shows why you should be removed as a prime minister, because you're saying it is okay to agree to persons below you doing the wrong thing. [00:25:14] Speaker A: We need to take a couple messages. When we get back, we'll open our phone lines and for persons, they can send your messages to our WhatsApp number as well. We are speaking this morning with NTA political leader, former police commissioner Gary Griffith. We'll be right back. Stay with us. The best insight instant feedback accountability the all new talk radio Freedom 106.5 feeling safe is an important aspect of life. A safe house, a safe workspace and environment. These are things that we all desire. 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[00:26:50] Speaker B: Good. [00:26:51] Speaker A: Okay. Sorry, we're not hearing you. Sorry about that. Try us back. 62522. Hello. Good morning. [00:26:59] Speaker C: Morning. Mister Griffith, during your ten years commissioner of police of this country can you inform the nation as to how many bullets did you authorize to be imported by the private sector in this country? Secondly, Mister Griffith, did you ever authorize the sort to transfer arms and ammunition to the SSA? And lastly, Mister Griffith, could you tell me did you authorize one dealer in this country to import 11,000 arms and listen to your comments. [00:27:33] Speaker A: Okay. [00:27:34] Speaker B: I'm not hearing the caller. [00:27:35] Speaker A: Okay. He asked about. Let me see if I could remember because trying to write it down here. Eleven. Okay. First one, how many bullets you authorize if you have that information during your tenure as commissioner of police to be imported. The second one was whether or not you authorized transfer of arms and ammunition from I think it was sought to SSA. And the third one was did you authorize the importation of 11,000 guns by some arm dealer? [00:28:05] Speaker B: So the first thing is that the transfer of weapons and so forth came from the minister of national security of the PNM government, Eddie Dillon. When he said he transferred when sort was sorry, when it is he took over as minister of national security. That whole combutor barracks he handed you over to the SSE. So the SSA became fully responsible for all the arms and ammunition that belonged to the defense force, the police service and the SSC. So there were three different compartments that had nothing to do with the commissioner of police. So that red herring of what would have taken place in Komooto had nothing to do with me. It was handed over to the SSC. So the SSC was responsible for that. The second point is all of these comments this man is making as it pertained to somebody brought in 11,000 firearms. Now you all take sense of nonsense if you're a businessman. If I am only issuing 2000 firearms a year, and Rowley, as Rowey claimed, we brought in 70,000 firearms. It would have taken 35 years to sell those firearms. Why would any businessman bring in 70,000 firearms if you know only 2000 are being sold a year? So you are bringing 70,000 firearms and knowing that it will take you 35 years to sell those firearms? After three or four years the firearm is outdated. So that shows the stupidity and the lies by the prime minister. So it is impossible for anybody to be a foolish businessman to bring in so many firearms knowing that because there were about 30 firearm dealers. So each one would have probably sold about 60 firearms a year. And you will know you are not just selling more than 60 70 firearms a year, but you will go and bring in 10,000. It shows the stupidity. The demand makes no sense. So that's why we keep saying, show the document of firearms that actually enter the country. I only issued 2000 firearms a year, a thousand to civilians and a thousand order previous and past law enforcement officials who needed it because of the outdated system. When you're a prison officer or soldier or police officer, you have to leave your weapon in the station and then go home where you can't protect your family and be targeted by criminals. That is a bad thing that I did, and as I said, so if it's 2000 a year and there were 25,000 applicants, you would have taken twelve years just to deal with the backlog. Even with the pace I was going at, if we go at Christopher's pace now, which is about 100 a year, it will take about 100 something years before we could deal with those persons who have only applied at this time. That will sum it up. The lies that he continued to state made no sense. And then he also stated that persons who had legal firearms committed criminal offenses. Why, if that is the case, how come Ula Christopher has not seized any firearm from any of these individuals who got firearms? And why haven't these people been arrested there? [00:30:50] Speaker A: Okay, why do we wait for another call? Because we're almost out of time for the interview. There seems to be, whether perceived or real, a position that is against granting legal firearms for one reason or the other. It seems as though the commissioner has put the brakes on granting these firearms and she's ended up in court on more than one occasion as a result of it. But why would anyone government not want to arm law abiding citizens? I mean. I mean, I'm asking you a question that, that. That asks you to go into the minds of others. You were a commissioner. [00:31:37] Speaker B: Yeah. That is. You see, that that is incorrect because there was a minister. In fact, remember when Kit Rowley stated that certain persons altered their weapon to automatic? That is a criminal offense, so that person should be charged. So this is not just to clarify, because we go to. We did have information that our government minister did that and he should have been arrested for doing that. But you have run and you're keeping it shush. So this is not that this government has a problem with firearms. I told you, a very senior government minister harassed me to get a special firearm to kill his pigs. To kill his pigs. And he got 500 wrongs, 500 rounds. You know, he got to pick killing they had. Other individuals came to me as a senior government minister to get over 13 firearms for his friends and close persons in high places. Almost most. I have the list. It is long and distinguished of state board heads of close associates to the PNM ministers who got firearms and got variations so they never had an issue. In fact, the same prime minister contacted me and told me there's a person in Tobago. If I can look on fast track order first. If I could look into trying to get his dealership license approved. [00:32:49] Speaker A: But why don't you make this. Okay, if all this information. Why. Why don't you make it. [00:32:53] Speaker B: I have been sitting this for the last two years. [00:32:56] Speaker A: When I say make it, make it public. If. If you can, why don't you tell us exactly who these people are so that. I mean. I mean, it's a question that needs to be asked. So if you are saying that government ministers. This one, that one, the next one, can you tell the public that information? And if not, why not? [00:33:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Fitzgerald, Heinz. I can tell you what. If it's Gerald Heinz. Contact, um, contacted me to get firearm licenses for over a dozen persons closely affiliated to him. Um, Keith Rowley was the person who contacted me and asked me to get a deal if I could look into getting a dealership. So if you have a concern about too many firearms, why would, you know, ask the commissioner to get a dealership for somebody in Tobago? So that thousands of more firearms could be sold. So this has nothing to do with the government's concern about legal firearms? They saw this as an opportunity to say, look, Gary is. Now. We think Gary is going to join with the UNC. We can't lose this election. Let's think of something that we could spare. His mayor's name. All right, let's deal with firearms. That's all this was. That is all this was about. But it has backfired miserably because unlike what he has done with the auditor general, with the integrity commission, head with the central bank, head with the industrial courthead, he slay people character. You discredit them, you remove them. Gary Griffith decided to fight back and expose you. Expose your lies, expose your wrongdoing by trying to mislead the country about firearms. And that is where Kamala Persad Besetsa. Took advantage of it, rightfully so, to say that leg. This government doesn't want to give you all firearms. We will do so. And she's correct. Because what I was doing wasn't illegal, wasn't unethical. I was doing what was there in law. If you have a. A problem with firearm dealer, with firearms being issued at such a large amount, which UK, which is 0.3% of the population, then change the law. Don't blame the commissioner for me doing my job. So when he says that my amount was much higher, did I do anything wrong? Did I do anything illegal? Did I do anything unethical? The answer is no. Because by commissioners before me not doing their job, that is why they have been. The state has been sued and after me as well, because I did my job and I was efficient. You blame me. As I said, in my three years, not one was lost, not one was stolen, not one was used for a crime during my three year period. And in fact, many lives have been saved. And I intend to get back in government to continue that process, to provide law abiding citizens with that opportunity to defend themselves. [00:35:21] Speaker A: As we're going to have to leave it this morning. I know there are many other things that we need to discuss in subsequent interviews about politics and all that going on and everything else, but this matter here continues. Continues to occupy the public's attention simply because the insinuation continues to be made that somehow or the other, this contributes to the crime situation that we have. It's not. [00:35:44] Speaker B: That is not true. At no time, because 99.9% of all murders committed by firearm have been my illegal. [00:35:51] Speaker A: I know, I know. I agree with you. I agree with you. I'm just saying that that has never. [00:35:55] Speaker B: Been that perception, okay? There's never been that perception that legal firearms have been contributing. It is legal firearms that have saved lives. [00:36:01] Speaker A: We are. We are. [00:36:02] Speaker B: Every single murder that's been taken place over the last year have been by illegal firearms. So let's not even talk about that. [00:36:08] Speaker A: No, no, I think you misunderstand. You misunderstand the position. I'm not saying that that. That it is. I'm saying that there's an attempt to create the perception that somehow, and that's. We're gonna have to, because news is next. We out of time. Thank you so much for being with us here this morning, as always. That's where we drop the kitchens on our interview. Ladies and gentlemen, news is next. Stay with us. The best insight, instant feedback, accountability. The all new talk radio Freedom 106.5.