The law is not blind

Feb 17, 2026 Dem Boys Seh, Features / Columnists

(Kaieteur News) – Apparently, justice now comes with a receipt. Here’s how it works. If you provide a service for someone and they don’t pay you, the police adjust their spectacles, clear their throats, and tell you, “Sir, that is a private matter.” Translation: Congratulations, you have to go to civil court. May the best lawyer win.

But reverse the roles — take someone’s money and fail to deliver the service — and suddenly it’s not a “private matter.” Oh no. Now it’s misappropriation. Now it’s fraud. Now it’s handcuffs and fingerprinting.

So, if I cut your grass and wash your car and you don’t pay me, I must hire a lawyer, file papers, wait two years, and perhaps recover my $2,000, minus $53,000 in legal fees. But if you pay me to weed your yard and I decide to wait until the weather dry, I could end up facing charges.

That’s not justice. That’s a buyer’s protection plan.

The law, it seems, has a soft spot for people who are “requesting the service.” They are treated like delicate orchids. The provider? You’re a cactus. Survive on your own. Now let’s apply this logic to newspapers — particularly a paper like Stabroek News. They run your ad. They print your notice. They provide the platform that lets you sell, announce your tender, provide notices to your customers and advertise your vacancies The ad runs. The ink dries. The public reads it. And then the bill arrives.

Then suddenly, silence.

When the newspaper seeks payment, it’s told — explicitly or implicitly — that this is a “private matter.” Sue them. Spend more money to recover your money. Meanwhile, the paper still has to pay staff, printers, electricity, and the fellow who keeps the press from sounding like a tractor engine.

But if the newspaper took money upfront and didn’t run the ad? Outrage. Accusations. Maybe even police involvement.

Funny how that works.

In theory, the law is blind. In practice, it seems to wink — and it’s usually winking at the person who hasn’t paid the bill.

Talk half. Leff half.

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The law is not blind

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