Trinidad and Tobago’s National Security Minister, Stuart Young, said he is prepared to appear before the Joint Select Committee of Parliament as he maintained his position that criminals were being paid by “certain individuals” to shootings random people in an effort to destabilise the society.

Opposition legislator, Dr Roodal Moonilal said that Young, who made the statement during the post Cabinet news conference last Thursday, should appear before the Joint Select Committee on National Security to support his “outlandish and reckless” claims.

But in a statement, Young, who first made the comment last year, said that he was “ready and prepared to appear before the said Parliamentary Committee and I will provide the Committee with the information that has been provided to me by, amongst others, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) in support of my very carefully spoken words”.

Moonilal has called for an urgent meeting of the Joint Select Committee. He wrote to the committee’s chairman, Fitzgerald Hinds. He wrote that given the recent statement made by the Minister of National Security, “we are concerned that the central policymaker of the government appears to be at a loss as to what exactly is happening, and seeks to cast blame and aspersions on private citizens rather than assume responsibility for the calamity that engulfs our republic”.

But in a statement posted on his Facebook page, Young said that “all the information I shared, without calling a single name, was provided to me by the ‘authorities”. “Having not called any names, the public will note with interest, those who jumped out defensively and also who have remained silent,” Young said, insisting that he has “no interest in politicising crime.