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Former national security minister and police commissioner Gary Griffith is calling on the Government, and more specifically Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander, to improve communication with the public.

In a Facebook post yesterday, Griffith discredited a comment made by Alexander, who claimed that social media misinformation triggered widespread panic last Friday after an international news report suggested that the United States was poised to begin land strikes in Venezuela. This was compounded by the Defence Force calling out all its members to bases across the country and the police service recalling all officers from leave.

In an interview on Sunday, Alexander said his role was not to dispel social media claims. He said the Government should not have to hold a press conference to address every rumour and even urged citizens to be independent thinkers.

“I think people ought to be more responsible, and not everything that the social media says, I think I, as the minister, I have to come out and correct it. So the sky is going to fall this evening, the social media said; ‘Trinidad and Tobago, we just want you to know that we have no information at all that the sky is going to fall.’ A train is going to pass through Trinidad and Tobago this evening, at six. ‘Trinidad and Tobago, we just want to inform you that no train’… You think that is created members of the public, right? That makes logical sense?” asked the minister.

However, Griffith said the Homeland Security Minister’s assertion that the public has no right to listen to or take note of information on social media is deeply misguided. He added that it demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of how modern communication and public sentiment operate.

“The appropriate response from the State should have been proactive in communication and reassurance—not silence. And to compound matters, your response in the aftermath seems to be one of ridicule of the public’s justified concerns and reactions. Minister Alexander, the role of leadership in security is not merely to reduce crime statistics. It is also to reduce the fear of crime.”

Another former national security minister also weighed in on Alexander’s response.

Opposition Chief Whip Marvin Gonzales accused the Government of failing to address the people.

Speaking on the Morning Brew programme yesterday, Gonzales said the position taken by Alexander regarding social media seems at odds with what his leader and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar asserted while she led the then opposition.

“When I heard him saying that yesterday (Sunday), you know, I was taken aback but not surprised because the UNC utilised social media, especially when they were in opposition, and even more so now, to spew misinformation and disinformation into the public. So, they will say one thing when it is convenient to them and they will say something else when, of course, it is convenient to them.”

Gonzales said that where there is a lack of communication, there is also a lack of leadership.

“There’s a serious vacuum of information in Trinidad and Tobago and with it, a vacuum of leadership. When I made my contribution in the SoE debate on Friday, I told the Government that you are not speaking to the population. You are invoking Standing Orders in order to evade holding yourself to account, and you are not speaking clearly to the people. Therefore, when you don’t speak and you don’t take the people into your confidence, they have to rely on other sources for their information.”

Gonzales claimed miscommunication was also evident in what he described as the Government’s failure to explain why the State of Emergency was extended for another three months.

Attorney General John Jeremie, who piloted the motion, insisted the SoE remains a critical national security instrument to support active operations targeting criminal gangs and organised crime networks.

He stressed that the measure was never intended to serve as the Government’s crime-fighting strategy, but rather as a temporary platform enabling law enforcement agencies to execute sensitive and ongoing tactical initiatives.