by Jerome Pinder
In a recent Guardian article entitled "PM to make gambling statement," it is stated that our Prime Minister is distressed and discomforted by our inability to police our laws in the Bahamas with respect to the numbers business. But why can't we?
As of today's Tribune article (May 25th), we now know that the Government will not be proceeding at this time with legalizing the numbers business. Instead, the PM feels that it is an issue that should be settled by a referendum. So, as of now we are back to business as usual. The illegal numbers business rolls on.
Despite this debate, if the numbers business is against the law, why can we not Police it? Why can we not each and every day have our Police Force and Defense Force swoop around town, shut down the number stores, confiscate the equipment, confiscate the funds, and impose a large fine. Tomorrow do the same thing again, and again, and again. Since we are not going to earn taxes on the numbers business, we can earn money in fines on a daily or weekly basis. Given the speculated earnings, when was the last time you heard of a significant fine being paid by a numbers house?
Our problem, is that we do not have and we do not want the political will to stop the numbers business. It is not a matter of not being able to.
Are we going to legalize armed robberies, because we cannot police and properly penalize the armed robber? Are we going to legalize drugs, because we cannot police the drug dealers?
More importantly, what affect has our unwillingness to police the numbers business had on the attitude of society at large? The fact that so many can openly break the law without fear of the law, leads to a disrespect for the law in general.
Have we waited until it is too late to now police the numbers business? Are we going down the same road with violent crime? We are not properly tackling this problem. Government has neglected the Bahamian people in not tightening up the laws and carrying out capital punishment. Are we going to wait until it is too late to handle this problem as well?
Since the numbers business will not increase our tax revenue and the Government must now find other avenues to increase taxes, the PM may wish to first start with reducing the number of Cabinet Ministers, Government Cars, and Chauffeurs.
We slipped on the numbers business Mr Prime Minister, stop slipping on violent crime!!
