Editorial | Extortion and the NWA

Reports that a National Works Agency (NWA) crew had to flee Mandela Highway because of menacing extortionists reveals how much of a criminal dilemma this country faces.

The team was reportedly doing preparatory work for impending repairs under the multibillion-dollar REACH programme which seeks to repair and restore roads throughout the island. The vague report of the incident did not say how many extortionists were involved or by what means they threatened the workers. Did they hold a gun to someone’s head? Whatever they did caused a drastic reaction by the crew.

Be reminded that the NWA is charged with planning, building and maintaining a reliable, safe and efficient main road network consisting of 5,000 kilometres, and falls under the umbrella of the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation. It has a big portfolio and a budget to match.

Businesspeople may not find this scenario so unusual. They understand only too well that extortionists are not inchoate criminals, but well-organised, armed groups with set targets. Business operators, telecoms providers, manufacturers and others have felt their sting, and know that their intimidatory tactics and threats are not toothless. They have seen or heard of associates who were killed for resisting these demands.

Extortionists are not faceless. In October last year, several of them who had been feasting off transport operators were nabbed in Kingston in a sting operation named Operation Streamline. Their arrests were loudly applauded but, here we are a year later and a major agency of government is targeted.

CRIPPLED

Once-thriving commercial corridors in Kingston, like Red Hills Road, Mountain View Avenue and Slipe Pen Road have been crippled by extortionists, as operators caught in the complicated web cast by extortion closed their businesses out of fear. Many such buildings remain shuttered today. The ugly reality is that extortion money is now factored into budgets and discussed in hushed tones, as an item in the “cost of doing business” column. There seems to be no way around it.

So, will NWA cower and pay up or will we see bands of police personnel dispatched to worksites in the future? To pay up would be conceding victory to thugs and could lead business owners to worry that the pervasive sense of insecurity will persist, leaving no hope that extortion will end. Can we allow the extortionists to win? If the NWA pays them in St Catherine, they may be forced to continue meeting their demands throughout the island.

In a cruel twist, the government is now getting a taste of what businesspeople have endured for many years. Thugs have expanded their activities into extortion, which in the criminal world can prove more lucrative than, say, drug trafficking, for it requires low investment and yields steady returns with rare prospects of prosecution.

The impact of extortion on the social and economic development of the island has not been fully studied. For example, are micro and small enterprises disproportionately affected by extortion? For their survival, do businesses negotiate with thugs and are they charged a ‘fee’ in line with their potential earnings? How do businesses manage extortion?

The foot soldiers who approach businesspeople are said to be controlled by gang leaders at the top of various criminal enterprises. Our research tells us that extortion comes in many forms, ranging from “protection” which is paid weekly, or monthly, to “toll” for entering an area, as well as one-off payments for special events like birthdays or holidays. This is one more urgent reason for the dismantling of gangs to be pursued with even more vigour.

For three or more decades, the crime of extortion has been a growing menace, yet few arrests have been made. True, there could be under-reporting of extortion primarily because the victims fear reprisal, or they think reporting would be futile.

The threat from the extortionists to the NWA is credible, let us see how the State responds in an effort to protect the economy.