Speeding to overtake another bus to get a $60 fare is a norm, so the lives of a busload of passengers are only worth $60 in their estimation.

One mini-bus driver, who had been laughing as he raced a friend in a car on one of the country’s highways, was stopped by the police and issued a ticket, after he had been shown the mileage on the speedgun when he attempted to argue.

When he returned to his bus he said that there is a need for some more killings in the country so that things could get “better.” One could only surmise that by “better” he means where anarchy prevails and there is no rule of law enforced. In other words, back to the law of the jungle.

But we are supposed to be humans living in a civilized society, not a jungle where predatory beasts ravage the vulnerable. Our laws were formulated to create order in the societal construct with the intention of protecting the citizens of the land.

“Mothers in Black” evolved from a mother’s pain at losing a cherished child, and the organization has had tremendous success in bringing road safety issues to the front-burner in the legislative processes; but enacting laws is only one step. Enforcement of those laws has to be a correlative factor for effective solutions so that the precious human resources of this country could be safe to live productive lives and pursue goals that could contribute to nation-building initiatives.

On Monday last, a three-year-old child – a mere baby, who had been entrusted to the most bestial couple (are they parents?), who dropped their charge off like a sack of potatoes by the roadside, ran over the child with their bus and crushed her to death in an instant. Three years, five years, ten years, fifteen years, twenty years of loving care and nurturing of children are wasted in a second by a killer behind the wheels of a vehicle, leading to a lifetime of pain for the family members left behind to mourn.

The system needs to give them justice so that they can have some level of closure. With all the laws that are being flouted, with all the warnings, drivers violate the laws without caring a whit that they are responsible for the lives they are endangering with their irresponsible behaviour.

That husband who was the driver, and his wife who was the conductress, entered into a contract with the parents for the safe care of their child. The explanation that the mother normally awaits the child by the gate, or that the child normally runs across the road from behind the bus is puerile and reflective of their callousness.

Any number of things could prevent a mother who has additional care of a year-old baby from being positioned at the gate at the specific time. However, what makes the driver and conductress even more culpable of negligence leading to the child’s death is the fact that, if they left the child to run across the street from behind the bus there was the likelihood of her being run over by a vehicle approaching from the opposite side.

Also, on that particular day, they were aware that the mother would not have been at the gate because they were earlier than their normal schedule.

It was incumbent upon either adult – the driver or the conductor, but moreso on the conductress, to take the child by the hand and leave her safely inside her gate before driving off. Rather than forfeiting a few minutes of their time they forfeited a child’s life instead and they should both be charged for vehicular homicide, because both are culpable for the loss of that child.

And the heartless policewoman who castigated the mother for negligence while her baby lay crushed on the road should be dismissed forthwith from the force, because she far exceeded her mandate in the discharge of her duties, causing unutterable distress to an already grieving mother, and consciously creating a culprit out of a victim. Police mandate is to protect and serve. Who was she protecting and serving? The callousness of some police ranks who ignore the suffering of the citizens of the land because of misconceptions and wrong perceptions need to be addressed if the trust of the public in the Police Force is to be re-established.

Even as this editorial is being written, another citizen was found dead under questionable circumstances while in police custody.

Commissioner Green, there are questions being asked by the public, and the force needs to provide satisfactory answers to those questions. The Force needs to reflect your personal integrity, sir, whatever it takes.

This newspaper is aware of the frustration of honest police ranks who capture perpetrators at great risk to themselves, only to see them set free by the courts on one flimsy pretext or another, and we will support every initiative you undertake to restore law and order in the land.