Hugh Martin
I WATCHED in utter amazement recently a man declaring in a prime time television newscast that he had committed murder. He was one of a number of persons being interviewed after the brutal killing of a man caught stealing cattle by members of a community in St. Ann. He seemed to be a respected member of the community and a very articulate one at that but showed no sign of regret for the taking of the law into his own hands and for the horrendous act of chopping another person to death.
There was no attempt by the reporter to conceal the man's identity so one has to conclude that he too believed that no crime had been committed. I have heard no subsequent report of anyone being taken in for questioning or of an arrest for the homicide. The entire affair seemed to have been treated by everyone as if it were the normal way to handle such matters. Indeed, the 'gentleman' in question emphasised that the act should serve as a warning to all farm thieves that they shouldn't come into that community suggesting that they would repeat the act.
PENALTY FOR STEALING
While acts of vigilante justice have occurred on numerous occasions it is still illegal and the news media ought not to give the impression of condoning it by giving prominence to the lawbreakers. A mob in frenzy is uncontrollable and exacts punishment far in excess of what is just. The penalty for stealing in this country is certainly not death and every citizen is entitled to a fair trial.
It is true that farming communities throughout Jamaica have suffered for ages from thieves who come by night to reap where they did not sow or to slaughter what they did not raise. In the rare cases that they are caught and taken to the courts they are given light fines and set free to return to do it again and again. There is no compensation for the farmer and so he has come to think that there is no justice for him. That is what has led to this seemingly wide acceptance of vigilante justice. Recent estimates by the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) put the loss to farmers in excess of J$4 billion annually and growing.
In April during Farmers' Month celebrations JAS President, Senator Norman Grant, announced that the long awaited praedial larceny programme designed to effectively stamp out 'the scourge on agricultural production' was finally ready for implementation. It has been in preparation for more than a decade, being slowed down mainly by delays in the enactment of legislation to give the police greater powers in prosecuting suspects. The lynchpin (no pun intended) of this programme is a special receipt book that records all trade in agricultural produce by registered farmers. This required a massive registration of all farmers by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) and assigning of numbers which will identify their farms and the receipts they will give to farm produce dealers. Anyone transporting farm produce when stopped by the police must possess one of these receipts or face prosecution. The penalties have been made quite steep to discourage repeat offenders but have stopped far short of capital punishment.
GETTING REGISTERED
My understanding is that some 90,000 farmers have been registered under the programme 60,000 of whom have been verified and can now receive their receipt books. However, according to Senator Grant, only about 2,000 have so far been distributed. He pointed out that since the distribution has started many farmers who had failed to get registered are now requesting receipt books but they will not be able to be in the programme until they are registered and verified as genuine farmers by RADA. To do this they must contact the RADA office in their area.
In the meanwhile the police have begun to do random checks so farm produce traders should make sure that they get their receipts from the registered farmer. This programme promises a good chance of success so farming communities can now disband their vigilante groups and become lawful citizens once again.
Hugh Martin is a communication consultant and farm broadcaster at humar@cwjamaica.com.
