Organized crime usually steps in to replace state failure…You can find that line on page 10 of Amandala # 2228, Wednesday, April 16, 2008. The line is taken from a book review, Crime on a Global Scale, One Gang at a Time, excerpted from The Wall Street Journal. The book reviewed is titled, McMafia, by Misha Glenny, and it (the review) is written by Hugh Pope.
All that mayhem and murder in south side Belize City are the signs of a failed state.
Eroding step by step
Sometime in the seventies and early eighties, there was this sudden growth of the marijuana trade in Belize. And there was murder and mayhem in Belize like never before, especially in the north.
In the late eighties, and since, the cocaine trade exploded, and mayhem and murder began and have escalated in the country, especially on the Southside of Belize City. Belize governments have tried to cope. Unsuccessfully.
The UDP of 1993-98 passed this draconian law which allows the police to invade private premises, and harass private citizens in the street, without a search warrant. That one can be laid at the doorstep of former Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Manuel Esquivel, and present Prime Minister, Hon. Dean Barrow. (Hmmm, the more I hear the crunch of the iron heel in this law, the more I see the brain work of former Attorney General, Hon. Hubert Elrington. Maybe some old party insider from that best forgotten regime could enlighten us).
Once upon a time, we didn’t mind sharing a little charlar with any who, without discrimination. With that new law, for fear of being harassed, shamed by the police, we started judging our friends. I have heard of totally innocent parties in bad company, having even their backsides examined by overzealous, or bad-minded police officers, taking advantage of that law.
The second draconian measure to combat the drug and ammunitions trade came from the 1998-2003 PUP. I am 99% certain that it was former Minister of Police, Hon. Jorge Espat, who trotted out the law to control guns and ammunition. It’s not entirely a bad law. The only purpose for having a short shooter is to shoot somebody, so license to own such weapons should be had only under the strictest conditions.
Ai, the net extended to 16-gauge shotguns. A village brother who wanted to put a little fresh meat on his family table borrowed his neighbor’s shotgun. The courts whopped him a massive $10,000 fine. You understand the purpose of these laws, but it seems to me as raw as they are conceived, so they are dropped on the heads of the people. Guilt for this law (in respect to shotguns) also falls heavily on area representatives from “country.” They should have argued vociferously for a separate law for country people and their hunting tools.
Fortunately, nothing under the sun is all bad. The unintended beneficiaries of this law have been the deer and wild pigs in the forest. Now, only people who own licensed shotguns, and the few who would risk huge fines, or incarceration, go hunting.
Returning to the pressing matter, before we contemplate tougher laws, has anyone reviewed the UDP privacy invasion law, and the PUP gun and ammunitions law, to see how they have performed? These freedoms that we have given up, have they made Belize a better place? Is it possible that all that has been achieved is trampling of the meek?
Now the 2008-13 UDP is proposing prevention detention, and wire tapping. Time was when opening somebody’s mail was a heinous crime. Who could have imagined that shameless eavesdropping would grow up to be a virtue?
My, it is a wonder why our governments go through these strenuous contortions. Why does the giant wowla have to constrict, stretch the lee 2-pound chicken until every tiny bone in its fragile little body is broken…when it can swallow it whole? EVERY policeman in this country, from the corporal to the Police Commissioner, knows every drug and ammunitions dealer in this country, from the petty hoodlum to the high flying don.
Really, why are these people looking for solutions out here, when the particular problem lies within their House? The problem is in the justice system. Wiretapping won’t result in more convictions: it will result in more lawsuits. Guess who feeds big, again! The problem is in the police force. The next person who says that police officers behave like the society where they come from, that person I will call out. The problem is in the penal system. Kolbe may have a good heart, but it is not the answer.
No, we don’t need to give up any more space.