A truce between warring gangs was brokered by former gang boss Winston ‘Iston’ Branch earlier in the year, to the embarrassment of the country. He accomplished what officialdom and a citizenry living in fear could not. According to BU Murder Counter 11 murders have been committed at month seven of 12. Barbados is on track to have its lowest number of murders in recent years. A good news story?
Unfortunately as we are breathing a sigh of relief at a declining murder rate, there has been an alarming increase in other criminal activity. In recent hours and days there has been two cutlass wielding attacks, one of them taking place on Broad Street at 11AM. The other next to a primary school which thankfully students are on summer break. It is interesting that in both cases the police reported shooting the victims to prevent escalation. A sign of things to come no doubt.
For many years the blogmaster joined with others to warn we had become negligent looking after our small country. We looked the other way instead of proactively implementing measures to quell deviance showing in the country – see BU Artcles. One glaring example is how we have allowed the minibus/Zr sub culture to toxify mainstream culture. As you move around Barbados it is not uncommon to observe and detect- in the light of day – the sale and smell of drugs. An obvious indication the lack of respect for law and order by a section of the population.
Last week teenagers were captured on video scuffling with the police who were summoned to shutdown a Crop Over party targeting teens. One does not have to do too much forward thinking to anticipate what a tomorrow Barbados is shaping up to be. If tomorrow’s generation is finding it hard to exercise the best judgement and quick to resort to violent ways to resolve matters, what does it portend for our country that was known not too long ago for its political and social stability? We have not reached the levels of crime in Jamaica and Trinidad but we are well on our way.
The fact recent incidents occurred smack dab on the Crop Over calendar has implications for the economic performance. It is obvious lawmakers and the police are like the proverbial deer caught in headlights. A couple weeks ago there was an organized assault by hundreds of lawless individuals that breached the security fence of a popular crop over fete. Since the incident occurred it has been reported event organizers have struggled to secure the required public liability insurance to stage public events and in some cases have had to cancel or postpone.
Unfortunately the proclamation by a beleaguered Attorney General Dale Marshall that the increasing level of criminal activity …”is not something that we either will not tolerate or want to tolerate”, will hold no resonance with Barbadians. And what about the citizenry, why have we remained silent and not assisted with winning back our society from those happy to engage in criminal behaviour? To the mothers and fathers who have been delinquent in our parental responsibilities. To corporate Barbados who have not been as generous to commit resources to assist with programs to ensure the environment is the best to do business…
It is obvious the government cannot do it alone. It is obvious successive governments have demonstrated general incompetence and leadership at implementing fit for purpose policies. It is obvious the spirit of volunteerism that was a key plank of our culture in bygone years has been replaced by selfishness.
Can anyone remind the Blog who is the President of the National Parent Teachers Association?
Where do we go from here?
We have several battles civil society will have to develop plans.
- Improve enforcement plans, we must become more aggressive
- Social programs to message the youth at primary and secondary
- Support to address parental delinquency
- Hold public officials accountable to address distrust, apathy and cynicism
- Create sensitization programs targeting citizens – it must be made to clear, we are ALL guardians of our fate
Deus adiuvet nos!
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.