‘An agency for the times’

Changing times and shrewder criminals force Barbados to adapt the laws to fight crimes originating domestically and those with foreign influence, Minister of Energy, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Kerrie Symmonds told the House of Assembly Tuesday.

As parliamentarians debated a bill to create the Anti-Corruption and Anti-Terrorism Agency, Symmonds said that though it was not widely reported, there are high numbers of heinous crimes being committed in the Caribbean that were never thought of decades ago.

He said: “The region that we live in understands now in a way that was not thought of in 1950, or in 1960, the concern of growing and increasing cases of child pornography.

“It understands in a way that was not in the 1950s and 60s, narcotics trafficking and the consequences of that. It understands in a way that was not understood, the consequences of automatic firearms finding themselves within our borders; none are manufactured here, but they are here.

“They are a plague on our society and a plague on this region.”

Symmonds, the MP for St James Central, said that for far too long, Barbadians have taken comfort in believing that some criminal and terrorist acts that took place in neighbouring territories could never reach our shores. Though he agreed that Barbados has not seen those forms of crimes occurring here on a widespread basis, Government holds the responsibility to ensure the nation’s integrity is protected, he said.

He told the Lower Chamber: “[Barbadians] understand the connection between those types of firearms and terrorism, and if we did not understand it, we are a literate population. We understand that just across the pond in countries in Latin America, I don’t have to name them… within this hemisphere, a boat ride away, we have all heard of the cartels, we have all heard of the narco-traffickers.

“We have all heard of the massive movement of firearms, we read of the impact of organizations that have sprung up seemingly overnight, and the way in which some parts of the developing world they have seized people girl children and hold them to ransom.

“It is an impossibility for any serious small economy not to look at these things and reflect on the reality that those plagues can one day too visit our shores.”

Home Affairs Minister Wilfred Abrahams praised the bill’s anti-corruption emphasis but stressed that even more attention and resources should be diverted to pinpointing the cause of corruption, in order to thoroughly stamp it out.

He said: “Hand in hand with all the legislative interventions that we are doing, we also have to look globally and holistically are our entire system. Look at the root causes for corruption; look at what are the fertilizing activities for corruption.

“Look at where it blossoms, look at what sectors are more subject to corruption. Look at the systemic inefficiencies that lead to corruption, and let us not just pass the legislation that allows for the investigation, but let us now start systematically, to weed out the root causes, and to crush the systems that encourage corruption.” (SB)