I would have thought that with various opportunistic means available, especially for young people to earn a livelihood that crime would not be seen as the only option or means to acquire wealth.
But every time you hear the news, some young person seems implicated in an area of criminality, especially in the ghettos — and now in every district without exception.
Millions are made available for development and educational opportunities, inclusive of grants and loans, even scholarships seem more available at this point in time, more than any other time in our country’s history, yet so many choose to go the criminal route. And I wonder why…
I am also baffled by the choices that young people make and wonder if it is about some glory they acquire or just for being identified as ‘a bad boy’ to be symbolic, or if there is plenty more money to be made in such endeavours than we Joe Public are aware of.
I consistently hear of your people being apprehended for possession of firearms, ammunition and various types of drugs in their possession, yet I never seem to hear about any supplier of drugs and guns caught or brought to justice.
Is the risk only one-sided? Are the facilitators smarter than the legal system, or are they interwoven within the system, and it is only when caught that they are revealed, which is seldom?
Are the illegal trade controllers better paymasters? Is the system of protection so established that no loopholes can be found? Or is it that the nation had become tight-lipped to the point where it is nobody’s business what the other does.
In other words, who are guarding the guards? When will we say enough is enough? Or is the business of criminality so established that no dent can be made to change this adopted culture? Are our present penalties working? Are the bail conditions too soft, or is jail time too little?
All these questions I ask for my own understanding, or is it because everyone is afraid of being a witness or being associated with any criminal happening.
Are we to accept that this is the way things are, and we ought not to change the present and consider that this is the era that we live in?
If such is the case, why the building of new police stations, invest millions in law enforcement, and employ hundreds to enforce the law that seems unenforceable?
Are we dealing with reality, or are we just pretentious and just dramatising a desire to be doing something about the high rise in criminality?
Are we fighting a losing battle? Can society set standards and put relevant systems in place to change what exists, or are we fine with the present?
I do not know about you, but to me, plenty of harm is being done in this country and by doing and saying nothing, worse will continue.
We all have our values and philosophy of life, but to my mind, going down the ‘I don’t care’ route is very unhealthy.
If the state cannot direct our destiny, then we are fighting a lost battle and spending our state funds wrongly.
Money is hard to get and obtain by the Government, but to spend it without tangible rewards, to me, is pleasing the wrongdoers and offering no positive solutions for those who choose to live upright or righteous.
Unless, that is, if law enforcement personnel are in bed with the criminals and it is profitable to leave things as they are…