And speaking with us this evening, the ComPol's boss, Home Affairs Minister Kareem Musa, echoed his sentiments. He says that the government understands the frustration of the unions and thus allows them to carry out these types of protests - which are illegal - especially since the unions are NOT getting permits for them.
He also added that by inconveniencing the public in this manner, they are only turning public opinion against them.
Hon. Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"I got a lot of calls I must say from very concerned frustrated members of the public who are trying to get to their jobs. We ask them to please try to bear patience with us, I know a lot of people would want to see the police take a more stiffer approach. I don't believe at this stage that is even necessary, so we have advised and I have requested of the commissioner of police and the high ranking police officers that we continue to maintain this hands-off approach, despite the fact that it has been like I said a huge inconvenience to members of the public. The teachers and the public officers have every right to strike. I think we've said that time and time again, but the government has a responsibility to govern and so while it is that a lot of what they are complaining about is like corruption in the past and that sort of thing, we can't catch any feelings over that. I know that we are the government that is actually implementing the 10% cut. It is easily argued that that is something that was long overdue from under Dean Barrow's administration; he kept saying it time and time again that tough decisions would have to be made. Unfortunately, we are the ones taking all the backlash and the heat for these decisions, but it has to be made in order for our country to not face higher inflation or even possibly worse, devaluation. So we understand what they are going through and hence the reason why like I said the police has been taking this hands-off approach giving them the opportunity to voice their concerns, but at the same time I think we have to look at the effectiveness, they have to look at the effectiveness of what they are doing, because they are not gaining a lot of public support but rather quite the contrary - the public is getting frustrated, because this is the limited number of people who still have jobs trying to get to those jobs and they themselves have had to face very harsh cuts in their employment and so it might be a little counterproductive."
