Letter of the day - PM's shocking stance on extortionists
published: Sunday | September 28, 2003
THE EDITOR, Sir:
I WAS shocked to read a statement made by the Prime Minister at his party's annual conference, that he would rather shut down the inner city housing project than pay one cent to the extortionists.
One would think that it is the Prime Minister and not the extortionists who is in charge of the country. However, by his statement, the Prime Minister has conceded that he has neither the will nor the ability to control the criminal elements in these communities. Instead of cheering when he made this statement, the party faithfuls should have been appalled.
I expected that the Prime Minister should have issued a stern warning to these extortionists, that they would be arrested, prosecuted and jailed if any attempts are made to obtain money from the contractors hired to complete these projects. The extortionists, some of whom may have been present at the conference, must have smiled on hearing this statement because they realised at that point, that no attempts would be made to arrest and prosecute them. They also realised at that point that they are not considered criminal and parasites.
The ordinary business person will continue to pay because, unlike the Prime Minister's threat to close the project down, the business person is obliged to operate. The Prime Minister, by his statement, has placed the foxes in charge of the hen houses. The question which must be asked is, who is really running the country?
