Both Moore and London agreed that their 90-minute meeting at the Calder Hall Administrative Complex, Scarborough was “cordial and productive”.
London told reporters that the meeting agreed that they hold quarterly statutory meetings which were extremely critical at this time because of the number of projects to be undertaken including the correctional facility at Hope. He added that this would require close collaboration between the Assembly and the Ministry.
“From our perspective we were very heartened by the quality of the discussions and the commitment of the ministry to ensure that the Assembly is involved in a meaningful manner in all decisions emanating from the ministry,” London said.
In expressing appreciation for the level of professionalism and commitment which the minister and her team would have brought to the discussion, the Chief Secretary said this augured well for the future and expected it would be a model for future discussion and future relations between the Assembly and the various ministries of the central government.
London said it was hoped that the new correctional facility to be constructed at Hope in east Tobago would be designed and constructed based on the needs of the people of Tobago and not just a prison and not something that goes with a national model.
He said there was recognition that there were peculiar and different challenges, different issues in Tobago. However, he said there was no agreement on how to ensure that the Courts in Tobago treated with those issues that were important to the quality of life and retrofit the Courts to adjust to that.
Moore said it was quite exciting to be a part of corporate efforts which vision new steps in providing administrative justice services in Tobago. She said her Ministry was moving to establish offices of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board and the Police Complaints Authority to serve the people of Tobago. She added that the Director of Public Prosecutions was also invited to share space with the ministry so that a large range of criminal justice services were available in Tobago.
Moore said the meeting was very invaluable since it had given her ministry new insights into the justice system in the island.