ANOTHER robbery! Happy for you to put this view of mine in your paper regarding the increasing number of large scale robberies taking place in the country.
What message do those robberies tell our leaders and authorities? Are those robberies accidental or just carried out for fun?
Are we not taking anything or learning any lessons from the robberies at all?
Recent planned robberies included the rooting out of the ANZ ATM machine at Kukum, Wespac Robbery, BSP Robbery in Auki, yesterday’s Robbery in front of the Point Cruz BSP bank, and many other shops and residential robberies.
They are becoming larger and targets huge amounts of monies in a well coordinated manner.
Firstly I would like to dwell on the fact that there are no guns in the country for law enforcers to use, so there is no scare.
A beliga who has no future does not care whether a police officer is sanding there because he knows the police officer is helpless (no guns).
In the meantime when there are no guns in the hands of police, it is very vulnerable for financial institutions because the only fear people are banking on now is – Being Caught, something belugas do not care about anymore, as long as they get away with the money and caught later.
Secondly, that brings me to another point I would like leaders and authorities to read and take heed of.
A beliga as I initially alluded to, has no future. They have nothing to loose giving a try in robbing a huge amount of money. So what encourages the belugas to not think twice nowadays?
I personally think the punishment under our laws for robberies must be reviewed.
If I am a beliga, no education, no job, no nothing. My job is just to stand around under the heat of the sun along the dusty streets of Honiara every day. That is a hopeless life for me. It is suffering. So what is better than this daily suffering?
Well, the prison is there, they feed people three meals a day, I got to have some trade training behind those locked doors, I stay away from the heat and have a good rest everyday and got fed three times a day.
The above scenario or example is what I would say incites the idea to commit robbery crimes. You see, the robber has two advantages and chances here.
The first chance is the chance of getting away without being caught, with the huge amount of money. That is happens is an advantage.
But if it happen a robber is caught for executing a careless robbery to led to his arrest, the robber gets away with the money, hides it, faces the courts and gets a slap on face with a feather by the courts, goes out after serving one or two years behind bars (enjoying the three meals a day) and starts using the robbed money.
These are some of the pictures authorities and leaders must construct in their minds and start quickly making amends to tackle the problem.
Review our outdated laws and put harsher punishments and penalties. I think it is high time to stop criticizing the belugas and start looking at proactive way to discourage this phenomenon.
To any belugas who want to do such thing again, please stop and think again, because no one will be on your side. You will face the harsh reality soon.
By Gerald Kono
East Kola ridge
