Opposition Raises Concern Over New Crime Control Amendment

Kareem Musa

The Crime Control and Criminal Justice Amendment Bill was tabled and read in its entirety during the sitting of the House of Representatives this morning as a measure to arrest contraband.  The new piece of legislation seeks to expand the offenses for which a magistrate cannot grant bail in the lower courts, including offenses in which persons are found in possession of contraband items.  That stringent measure is aimed at deterring border jumping activities in which persons crossover into Mexico and Guatemala to purchase contraband items for sale on the local market.  Concerns were raised about the bill and the fact that it is too harsh on persons who did not commit the offense of crossing over the border themselves.

Kareem Musa, Area Representative, Caribbean Shores

“I think we need to be very careful here because while the majority of citizens do not have any sympathy for border jumpers, the truth of the matter is we need to look out for the small man and woman in this country during this very difficult economic time.  Many of our people, Madame Speaker, they are purchasing goods based on the price that they can afford and many times they are unknowing or unwitting participants.  They are buying these goods not knowing that they are uncustommed and so I don’t believe that we should be treating them the same when it comes to the penalty, as border jumpers.  Because yes, border jumpers, you can prove they went across the border in order to bring uncustommed goods over to sell in the country.  That is very straightforward and I think we can all agree that they need to be penalized substantially, but when we are looking at people who are found in possession who may not necessarily know the origins of these goods, how is it that we can now put this offense on par?”