Dear Editor,
Your editorial “Poor fishermen” is timely and I empathise with them, for the Ministries of Agriculture and Home Affairs seem to care little about the plight of these hardworking men. Just fancy one minister telling them they should take to aquaculture as it is safer.
The Minister of Home Affairs says that he was not put there only to sit in an office. But that is what he is doing. You will hear, the budget did not allow for this and that. The Americans gave us high speed coast guard boats – where are they? As usual, undergoing repairs? What about helicopter surveillance? Are any of our helicopters serviceable or vandalized and made inoperative by untrained “experts” in the army?
One fisherman pointed to the corruption in the police force when he complained that the police had to be given food before they would move. I see no end to these poor fishermen’s plight and think one deterrent would be to treat any convicted culprit as a kidnapper and pirate who should be punished severely. We can’t deal with these matters with kid gloves.
Yours faithfully,
(name and address supplied)