“BVI has two very important assets in its favour. It is naturally beautiful and lends itself easily to the sailing industry that has sprung up around it and it is reputed to be a safe place.
It is that reputation of safety that must be protected at all costs for it is not only the basis of our lives but also our livelihood.
The service industries in which we are engaged are highly dependent, not just upon a reputation of safety but the reality of it as well.
And it should be in our favour that the Minister for National Security hails from the kingdom where significant resources exist to fight crime.
Of course, we wish they were as focused on safety and security as they are on public registers but how they exercise their responsibility must never be an excuse for us to abandon ours.
We used to be a people who relished harmony. At one point we were all connected and we were, indeed, our brothers’ keeper.
We lived in extended families and some adult was always on hand when children returned from school to look after and indoctrinate them.
Since then we have raised generations of latch key children with no higher a moral compass than television and the internet. Of course, it is hardly fashionable these days to believe in God.
No civics in school. No duty. No responsibility to fellow-(wo)men. No respect for the property of others. No respect for God or man.
Where did we think such a recipe would land us after having God, according to Mathavious, as a BVIslander?
The rule of law has always been important to the kingdom and we have been respectful. But more must be done.
Wayne Stinnet notes in ‘Fallen King’ that “ Man’s ability to create things really knows no bounds and is second only to his ability to destroy.”
Crime is our Achilles heel. It is sweeping the subregion and BVI is not immune. And if we do not aggressively address it, it will destroy us.
It is time for the 13 to act. We must allocate the resources to fight crime. The criminals know that they have us outgunned. Do they also have us out numbered? No!!
Do they have us out-lawed? The jury is out since our courtroom performances are not stellar.
We have come to the point where our children cannot meet their friends in a bar of their choosing in the Territory lest they be relieved of their chattel at gun point.
Is that acceptable to the 13 or are they too busy arguing about who will sit down in front to notice?
We suggest that we take the cadet programme seriously. Only then will we have, at least some, of the next cohort of police officers in training.
And we call upon the Finance Minister to allocate the funds necessary to support the police. Regardless, the money will be spent; Either in prevention (the hires) or in cure ( prison maintenance and the trauma of death that robs the workforce) or in insecurity that will undermine our economic base and spiral.
During the crime summit, many solutions were identified. Principal amongst them was for a greater police presence in the streets and in communities.
The 13 may make themselves immune in the Honourable House to speak without consequences but, in the end, if the crime wave is not managed at sea and it becomes tsunami height, it will crash even into the Honourable House.
And what report will the 13 give that may comfort anyone at that stage? What will they tell their children; Their constituents; Themselves?
“When the student is ready, the teacher appears.”
We would hate to think, on Fridays, that we have become immune to lawlessness and crime.
Happy Friday!”