I HAVE been informed by the media, both print and electronic, that the Linden Commission of Inquiry has recommended that financial compensation be given to the families of those who were killed and to the individuals who were injured during the protests/ riots in Linden. Since the announcement of the compensation, I have heard talk from almost every opposition politician about how meagre is the money that is supposed to be rewarded.

Mr. Editor, I’m honestly under the impression that the opposition politicians are all just fanning the flames of fire, the reason is that the COI has established that the protest was illegal, so it is safe to say that those persons who took part and those who will be compensated were all part of an illegal gathering. Yet still those same illegal protesters will be paid almost three times the amount that the family of a policeman killed in their line of duty, which is legal, and I don’t hear the likes of Nigel Hughes, Basil Williams et al commenting on the miniature or meagre amount that the families of slain policemen receive.
For the readers information, the family of a slain policeman receives $1,000,000 while the families of two illegal protesters will receive $3,000,000 each and yet still we hear that this amount is not sufficient.
On February 23, 2002, in the midst of a prison break, two prison officers tried their best to prevent the breakage as a result of that one officer lost his life, while another officer is now a vegetable. Was a $ 3,000,000 compensation given out there? The answer is no.
Shortly after the prison break, a string of Police Officers were murdered, have the families of those slain cops ever compensated with $3,000,000? Recently a soldier died on active duty during a fitness run, again I ask the question, was his family also offered $3,000,000? The answer is boldly no; but yet still a group of persons who were part of an illegal protest will be awarded a compensation which is far more than what members of our disciplined forces are entitled to; and to compound matters, the $1,000,000 allocated to the families of members of the disciplined forces is not paid out in a lump sum. To members of the public and to opposition politicians especially, be a bit realistic and rational when using the words meagre and miniature to describe the Linden compensation.