IT is incredible reading the comments of a minister and a police commissioner about knowing about lawless activities including illegal rum shops, harbouring of persons of unsavoury characters, trafficking in narcotics, vending of stolen articles, and illegal connections from GPL, etc. The minister spoke of receiving reports of the selling of gold, ammunition, firearms, etc, in the area. The commissioner said that in October 2009 he spoke of sanitising the Stabroek Market area to make it safe for the public .
The commissioner and minister should be made to disclose when and what they did from the time they received these reports up to when they eventually took the steps now being taken. Any one of these reported conditions should have elicited a much stronger security and immediate response. It is time for citizens and the politicians alike to demand greater accountability and seedier solutions from officials.