The People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) administration officials were the first to explain that the mayhem, massacres and murders during the decade of the ‘Troubles’ in the early 2000s were the result of ‘drug-gang’ warfare that was being waged by unidentified ‘phantom gangs’ and ‘death squads’. PPP/C officials, despite recent revelations about knowing the identities of the perpetrators, never even held an inquest into the assassination of one of its own Cabinet Ministers or an inquiry into other killings.
Former President David Granger, speaking on the weekly programme – The Public Interest – expressed the view the PPPC owes the nation an apology for the atrocities. He explained that the ‘Troubles’ were a time of the assassination of a Minister; the assassination of the Deputy Head of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit; the attempted assassination of the Director of Public Prosecution; the alleged implication of a PPP/C administration Minister in the direction of a ‘death squad’; and the alleged implication of another PPP/C Minister in the acquisition of a computer for use by a notorious narco-trafficker to track the telephone communication and location of victims to be killed.
The ‘Troubles’ were a time of the most intense wave of criminal violence since Independence which resulted in the murders of 1,431 persons and 7, 865 armed robberies (in 2000-2008). The most methodical massacres occurred at Agricola-Eccles; Bagotstown-Eccles; Bartica; Black Bush Polder; Bourda; Buxton-Friendship; Kitty; La Bonne Intention; Lamaha Gdns.; Lindo Ck.; Lusignan, and Prashad Nagar.
Mr. Granger is of the opinion that ‘drug-gang’ warfare exposed the collaboration of several persons – bandits, businessmen, gangsters, ministers, narco-traffickers and rogue elements in the security services. Narco-traffickers suborned officials, recruited gangs to import illegal narcotics, stockpiled weapons, expanded their enterprise, extended their territory, enlarged the volume of narcotics and eliminated competitors or antagonists if necessary. He felt that several factors contributed to the virulence of the violence – competition among gangs; corruption of officials; criminalisation of certain communities; organization of crime cartels; internationalisation and weaponisation of narco-trafficking; recruitment of rookies; penetration of wider areas and the perpetuation of crime by terror. The killings became more heartless, ruthless and relentless as a result.
The PPP/C administration received several recommendations for security reform from the UK Government. It even pretended to accept an agreement for a 4.9 million pound (Sterling) ‘Security Sector Reform Action Plan’ which it never intended to implement and soon abandoned.
The PPP/C’s failure to deal decisively with serious crimes − gold-smuggling; gun-running; money-laundering; narcotics-trafficking and murder – prolonged the ‘Troubles’. The nexus between drugs and murders is unquestioned. A senior police officer admitted that the arrest and rendition of a notorious narco-trafficker in 2006 triggered a reduction in execution murders from forty-three to twelve in 2007!
Narco-trafficking was the proven cause of the ‘massacres.’ The present PPPC administration, if it is serious about security, must commit to curtailing narco-trafficking by re-enforcing the National Drug Strategy Master Plan, re-establishing the National Anti-Narcotics Agency and re-implementing the National Security Sector Reform Action Plan. Without such an approach, the country will continue to suffer from the effects of ‘drug-gang’ warfare that hampered human safety and that can deny our young generation the right to enjoy a ‘good life’.
