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High court bail for narco-traders sends the wrong message – Rohee

May 07, 2014 News

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Clement Rohee, who is also the Minister of Home Affairs, is questioning whether the court is being as stern as it should be with matters relating to the narcotics trade
At the PPP’s weekly press conference, Rohee said that he is “obviously” concerned about the level of drug trafficking  as most “decent-minded people” would be.
“Law enforcement will be concerned about that; even those who are engaged in those activities who haven’t been found they would be concerned about the frequency with which their activities have been unearthed, so the concerns are far and wide.”
Asked if he thinks the laws are sufficiently stringent and if the penalties are severe enough, Rohee’s response was that the laws are “quite adequate.”
He said the question is whether the courts are being as stringent as they ought to be in meeting out the penalties.
“We have seen in recent times, attempts to legitimize, decriminalize the use of narcotics. We have seen also attempts to decriminalize activities such as wandering. We have seen attempts to provide cover for drug lords by not passing the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill. The key question to ask here is where that coming from and who is hiding it.”
The General Secretary said that he doesn’t think there is a weakness in the law but legal technicalities step in the Court and as a result “people would get off “scot free.”
“With the frequency of bail applications in the High Court, particularly cases with respect to narcotics, we see a flurry of granting of bail to such persons, and the question is what signal does that send to others who may be bent on involving themselves in such illegal activities.”
(Abena Rockcliffe)

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