On Thursday October 14, 2010 Suleman Esuf was granted bail of 1 million dollars with two sureties of $500,000.00 in the Bridgetown Traffic Court. We recall Esuf was charged with having a traffickable quantity of cannabis stated as 2778.38 pounds with a street value of 11 million dollars. It should come as no surprise that Esuf was granted bail. In our system of jurisprudence a person is considered innocent until proven guilty. In a case which does not involve rape or murder and if you have the money for the best lawyers little time is spent on remand. In this case Esuf had a cooling-off at Dodds prison for one month. He returns to court March 8, 2011.
BU continues to be very perturbed at the lawlessness which has become prevalent in our small society. The establishment in Barbados maybe comfortable with Commissioner Darwin Dottin’s statistics but a more than casual survey of the Barbados landscape gives reason to be alarm. Barbadians have become consumed by the political issues of the day but as the saying goes, the city burns while some fiddle. Yes we should be concerned about the political goings-on in Barbados, political stability has been a key attribute of our stable democracy. However as can be seen in Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and even St. Lucia, rising crime has the effect of destabilizing a society and in the process threaten its economic wellbeing.
Take a trundle through many neighbourhoods/villages and have a look at the side streets, behind the social centres, in the backroom of village shops to name a few. What do you see? Large numbers of young unemployed men gambling, smoking/engaging in illegal substances. These men are committing crimes which are not being reported Commissioner. In an environment where there is an economic recession that has led to rising unemployment and those activities across the island have been on the increase.
Our greatest fear is that Barbadians in neighbourhoods/villages across Barbados are beginning to experience uncertainty. The fear which is driving many to keep their children indoors when they return from school, the fear which is seeing many people searching for the opportunity to seek habitat away from neighbourhoods they have known all their lives.
What is of concern is that members of the RBPF who live in neighbourhoods/villages as described do nothing or in some cases participate in the undesirable activities. It is no surprise that Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia and others would turn to expatriate police officers to lead the fight against crime. Based on our observation BU seeks little solace in Commissioner Dottin’s statistics which paint Barbados in a state of tranquillity compared to our Caribbean neighbours.
It is encouraging to read of Hamilton Lashley’s efforts to convene a conference in Barbados and to invite politicians of the grassroots variety. Those politicians and social practitioners who are not* afraid to visit the blocks, roll-up their sleeves and get their hands dirty. This is what it will take to win back our neighbourhoods/villages.
Our society has allowed itself to degenerate to a level where and eye to maintaining moral standards and values have been placed on the backburner. It should be evident to our leaders by surveying the region that if we continue to allow our society to follow a rudderless path there will be nothing but bad in the offing. Instead we continue to be consumed by what is popular. We continue to frame the solutions to problems in political arguments.
How can the Attorney General and Deputy Prime Minister continue to ignore the estrange relationship which exist between Commissioner Dottin and Assistant Commissioner Bertie Hinds? What message is it sending? What effect is it having on the hierarchy of the RBPF? What message does it send to wider society? Even if Assistant Commissioner Hinds retires soon, the vestige of the system which allowed the dysfunction to exist for so long gives reason to be still be concerned.
BU continues to be concerned about information which is alleged to have been suppressed in the Campus Trendz matter. We will continue to probe the matter and update the BU family when we can.
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