Breaking laws with impunity

THE EDITOR: The 229-acre Beetham Landfill (dump) is a smelly unsecured area where scavengers rummage through garbage, jump onto trucks entering the site, and leave the site with bags of discarded stuff to be used or sold to the public.

The Solid Waste Management Company (SWMCOL) manages the site. According to the managers' website, access to the site is off-limits to unauthorised people and vehicles. The fact that anyone can enter the site managed by SWMCOL speaks to a level of lawlessness that is allowed on this and similar sites.

The very visible Beetham dump demonstrates to anyone willing to observe that while the ordinary law-abiding citizen is fined and forced to obey laws that are easy to enforce, other laws can be broken with impunity.

On the other side of the highway opposite the dump there are piles of garbage that seem to be growing daily. Garbage destined for the dump and garbage from the dump are strewn along the side of the highway, making the area extremely unhealthy and unsightly.

Could this disregard for the laws regarding dumping of garbage and access to the dump be deliberate? Could it be that law enforcement officers are afraid to confront the offenders or are they allowed to continue acting unlawfully because they are not seen as important citizens of the country?

This smelly, unsightly, unhealthy garbage along a major highway and the continued intolerance of people blatantly breaking the law is a testimony of a very broken system. It is an insult to the citizens who live with the fumes, flies and unsanitary environment that result from a poorly managed state facility.

At this time when statements are boldly made about respect for the laws of the country, there seem to be some people who can boldly break the law without any repercussions. There are private car drivers who use their vehicles for hire. They perform a great service for the communities, but why can't they be regulated to allow them to ply their trade legally? Why aren't the thousands of squatters, including the very visual ones along the Lady Young Road, regularised and asked to comply with the laws of the country?

Until there is an effort to deal with all levels of lawlessness in a humane way, that is not punitive to the poor people, the country will not emerge as a modern civilised society.

STEVE ALVAREZ

via e-mail