And we thought we had seen it all.
A US Postal Service cheque, payable to the Postmaster General of Jamaica disappears, untraceable, a feat unheard of in the 21st Century; a computer goes missing from the heavily guarded and most secure offices of the Ministry of Security; millions of dollars, the property of community strongman “Zeeks”, confiscated and placed under lock and key at the Ministry of Finance, yet spirited away by shadowy figures; the Trafigura Trapeze Act and what was billed as the Cuban Lightbulb Crisis all have come and gone, with many accusations, lengthy probes and zero apprehensions.
We thought we had seen it all, until this latest circus act: the beach heist.
It is tempting to be disrespectful of Ringmaster and Industry Minister Karl Samuda and his bellicose rantings about delivering justice to those who pulled the beach heist in Trelawny recently. The public has become a bit jaded and cynical regarding the penalties accorded to those who flout the law, whether flagrantly or covertly, especially when some of the illegal activities are hardly secrets, and their perpetrators are prominent citizens known and adored by many. And it is proving difficult to cough up any sympathy for the grieving members of the Billionaires Club, who inexplicably did not think it prudent to employ security for the beachfront acreage they were collaborating to develop, and had none of their agents visit the location in a month.
The citizens of Jamaica are weary of the unearthing of scandals followed by threats of prosecution, only to find that after the dust clears, all allegations are relegated to the slag heap of obscurity.
The law is being rendered toothless with the inaction that follows each empty threat on the heels of each triumphant discovery, and it would do the Minister well to calm the rhetoric and await the outcome of the investigations, before he engages the public in the excitement of the Big Top and the circus acts he announces. If he really wants to make himself useful, he should have the relevant law enforcement agency officially procure the NASA global satellite records of the beach site to shed some real light on the issue, and spare us the sabre-rattling
About Mark Lee
Mark Lee has been a long-time journalist writing, editing and producing in print, radio television and new media.
