Government Minister Expresses Concern Over 'Boardroom Gangsters' Hindering Barbados' Crime Fight

The government minister in charge of crime prevention has expressed concern about what he says are “boardroom gangsters” who are intent on stopping or slowing down Barbados’ crime fight.

Though not identifying anyone by name, Corey Lane told a Barbados Labour Party St Michael East branch annual general meeting on Sunday night that these individuals were sabotaging crime-fighting efforts.

“I am not afraid of the gangsters in the street. I am afraid of the gangsters in the boardrooms. The hardest part of this job is the gangsters in the boardroom.

“They will stop, sabotage and slow down everything possible. These people have three gears – neutral, stop and reverse,” he told the audience at the St Giles Primary School, adding that this related to “an institutional precedent that exists”.

The Minister of State in the Office of the Attorney General with responsibility for crime prevention added that because of the situation, he has to work “300 times harder to produce 30 per cent of what I know I can produce”.

“So apart from carving out time to spend with my wife and family, I have to put in extra time and all-nighters building projects so as they seek and design me to fail, that they will not get that orgasmic pleasure because I will succeed,” he said.

The member of parliament for The City of Bridgetown also urged all Barbadians to get involved in the crime fight, insisting that it was “everybody’s business”.

He said that several steps have already been taken to intensify the effort, including a “retweak and review” of past studies and hearing recommendations from residents, and while a lot of work has been done, there was still “a mighty long way to go”.

“That means if we stand up together and we work together then we can solve this together. I ask every Barbadian, when it comes to crime prevention, ask yourself one simple question, ‘Are you part of the solution?’ If you are not part of the solution it means therefore you are part of the [problem],” Lane said.

“It means that it is all of us – the church, the media, the opposition, the [political party] branches, the mother, father, grandfather, the pan-Africanist, everybody. If we cannot commit to doing that, we have already failed; let me go back on the backbench because I cannot do it alone,” Lane insisted.

(MM)