Peter Espeut ONCE UPON a time there was a small country with a big crime problem, and the Prime Minister decided to take some serious steps to reduce it. He made a special broadcast to the nation, and this is what he said:
My countrymen and women. Every resident of our fair land knows that we now experience such a plague of crime that few of us feel safe in our homes or places of business. Hundreds of illegal guns are in criminal hands, and for a small country we have too many murders and shootings and robberies. Serious problems require serious solutions, and it is my sworn duty as Prime Minister to do something about it, to ensure that you, the citizens of this country, feel safe and are safe.
Gun crime is not a recent phenomenon; it did not originate with my administration. I inherited a system where politics and guns are closely related. I am not proud of this association. I myself have never used guns as a political tool in my constituency, but I know some in my party and in the opposition who have done so, and I am not proud of it.
We politicians have created monsters! Political supporters to whom guns were given for political advantage have turned these guns on civil society for their own personal advantage. They are out of control, and are threatening the very constitution we swear to defend. They also threaten the health and stability of our economy not just our fragile tourism industry, but manufacturing as well, since crime drives up the cost of doing business and creates a climate of insecurity and uncertainty.
The time has come to put a stop to it! I know that many of you are deeply pessimistic, since you have heard anti-crime speeches before. Over the years you have heard announcements of the formation of special para-military strike squads with catchy names like the "Trying Squad", the "T-90 Squad", the "Tricycle Squad", the "Freeradication Squad", "Operation Courageous", the "BASIC Squad" and the "Strategy Against Crime Task Force"; and maybe you expect me to announce another squad with a fancy name. But I wont! We have had enough of those, and crime has continued to increase.
I do not believe that the perpetrators of gun crime will be easily caught by roving bands of heavily armed policemen. What we need is a fundamentally new approach! Some say we need a return to normality, but that is exactly what we do not need. I regret to say that normality in our young country means vast differences between rich and poor, not just in income and assets but in the opportunities for education and upward mobility.
Normality means that some of our citizens receive the protection of the police while others live in fear of police violence and brutality; normality means that relatively few serious crimes, including murder, are solved by good detective work but are cleared up before they come to trial; it is a national disgrace that our small country has one of the highest rates of police killings in the world! Normality means that our nation's business including the justice system is conducted by public servants with greasy palms.
I do not tonight propose a return to normality but I put before you the hope of a new beginning. The first thing to do is to break the link between politics and guns. No gunman must feel that he has the protection of any public official. I have discussed this matter within my party and we hope the opposition will walk with us on this one. We, on the government side, have agreed that from henceforth, no gunman and no person who hugs up any gunman will be welcome in our party.
It may be that some are unwilling to change the way they conduct their politics, and to them I say, from henceforth there is no room for you here. We may have walked side-by-side in the past; but if you are going to continue to hug up gunmen then we will walk together no more. We are resolute about this, and I advise you to desist now, or prepare to face the full force of the law.
The second thing we have to do is to get the illegal guns off the street. I have asked those on our side of the House and I hope those on the other side will follow suit to pass the word around on the street to hand in the guns by the end of the month. From now on there will be no political protection for gun criminals. We take getting these illegal guns off the street so seriously that our party executive has agreed that after the deadline of the end of the month has passed, anyone among us still with a gun - and we know who has them - will be reported to the police. It is the patriotic thing to do, and we will make an example of them. What I am doing tonight is declaring war on illegal guns and those who continue to use them.
The third thing we have decided to do is to strengthen the relationship between the police and the public by requiring that our police force treat every resident of this country with respect. Law-abiding citizens will not come forward to give information to the police if they fear brutality from the police.
From now on, any member of the force who shoots anyone will have to face an independent inquiry, and will face criminal charges for any wrongdoing. The police are citizens like anyone else, and are not above the law. There will be a policy of zero tolerance when it comes to illegal police shootings. It is a scandal that some are more afraid of the police who swear an oath to protect them than of criminals!
The fourth thing is to strengthen criminal investigation. Rather than invest in a new paramilitary squad we have decided to expand the Forensic Laboratory, to obtain new DNA and GC-MS equipment which can identify a criminal from a drop of blood or a scab of skin, or from a paint scraping, or soil on his shoes. We have decided to increase the number of detectives, and to deepen our detective training programme to include more modern methods, so that more crimes will be solved and not just "cleared-up".
At the same time, we will work hard to remove the inequalities in our education system which advances some and holds back others. Feelings of hopelessness born of institutionalised victimisation that I have nothing to lose that often leads people to crime. We must raise the bar in the government service and set our face against bribery and corruption.
My fellow countrymen and women, I want history to record me as the Prime Minister who brought an end to political gangsterism and tribalism in this country. Yes, we have a right to support the political party of our choice, but in a civilised manner. We must debate issues and win our support on the quality of our manifesto and on the honesty of the personalities, not on the distribution of scarce benefits and political spoils.
I hope you will all join with me in this important and sacred task. It is time for change!
Peter Espeut is a Sociologist and Executive Director of an Environment and Development NGO.
