Surinamese Vice President Ronnie Brunswijk completely disagrees with the comment of several former ministers who previously stated that Minister Kenneth Amoksi of Justice and Police should keep the honor to himself. According to Brunswijk, it is not Amoksi’s job to tackle criminals in the country, but that of the police. This should perform its tasks better and in a more targeted manner.
“It is not the minister who should do the work. The police have to do the work. The minister can’t go after criminals, can he? I can’t do that either,” Brunswijk emphasizes. The second man in the country states that the minister will automatically not get a por’neng (bad name) if the police function better.
“Of course the minister is politically responsible for Justice and the Police, but the police must do the work. And the police are now doing the work,” said the VP, who states that sufficient measures have been taken to act efficiently and quickly in criminal activities.
Brunswijk does not hide the fact that the crime wave in Suriname may be due to the economic situation in the country, where unemployment is very high. However, he emphasizes that this does not give anyone the right to rob or rob other people.
“But we must also work towards employment, so that a number of people can also be helped to find work,” said the VP.
According to him, the clear language that Brunswijk spoke last week in the National Assembly of Suriname (DNA) regarding action against criminals has produced the necessary results.
“I don’t think it has gotten worse. We were already in a criminal atmosphere and we made that call. Of course, a number of things have happened, but the visibility of the police is visible. And when something has happened, the perpetrators are also arrested. So work is being done. Of course you’re not going to have that thing turned around in one day, but at least a clear signal has been given to the criminals that they are being tackled. And we will continue to do that,” says Brunswijk.
