At the height of his populist socialist experiment, Michael Manley invited the Mozambican military commander and political leader Samora Machel to give the keynote speech at a PNP conference. In a tirade, which added gasoline to the raging inferno of political unrest and violence occurring in Jamaica at the time, Machel made his infamous “killing crocodiles in the egg” statement, suggesting that was how so-called rapacious capitalists should be dealt with before they grew in numbers and power and took over the commanding heights of the economy. Frightened by the rhetoric, many of our most productive wealth-creating citizens rushed to catch one of the six flights a day to Miami.

That is a chapter in Jamaica’s political history best forgotten. I bring it back to memory only to suggest that is exactly the kind of attitude that should be displayed at the first sign of some alien strain of crime, and the associated behaviour, in our midst. Root it out before it metastasises and spreads like a cancer to affect the very culture.

Had those in Government, the security forces, and people with money and influence done this, garrisons and dons would never have taken root and flourished, neither would have killing women and children, music with antisocial and misogynistic messages, extortion of businesses, or the latest, brazen attacks on couriers of cash and automated teller machines.

It was a welcome change to see and hear one of our corporate leaders display this no-nonsense, enough-is-enough attitude at the recent Inters-secondary Schools Sports Association/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships. GraceKennedy Chief Executive Officer Senator Don Wehby, stung by public display of bad behaviour by some athletes, which threatens to mar this world-class event, temporarily took off his smiley face and adopted a don’t-test-me posture.

Speaking in a tone and language even a simpleton could understand, he said, “We’re not going to be associated with Champs if indiscipline continues.” Such an action would mean millions of dollars in investment would be lost to Champs, not to mention loss of the concomitant benefits from those investments that flow to the GraceKennedy brand.

It’s time to stop pussyfooting with crime, violence, and displays of “badmanism” in all quarters and among every age group.

A thief by any other name

The term white-collar crime has been used as a euphemism to dress up crimes committed by people who wear jackets, dress shirts, and ties, if they are men, and designer dresses, tailored suits, and heels, if they are women. These crimes, committed mostly by insiders, such as employees, fall in the categories of fraud and embezzlement or to use a catch-all word, corruption. Referring to these reprehensible individuals as white-collar criminals is like referring to prostitutes as ladies of the night, as if that is sufficient to cover up a disreputable lifestyle.

A recent study by Paul Bourne, Dennis Brooks, and Vivienne Quarrie shed new light on this murky underworld activity, which is becoming commonplace in Jamaica. The study revealed that in 2017 and 2018 this category of crime increased by over 500 per cent year on year. The trend continues at epidemic levels.

Almost every Jamaican has heard of the $3-billion fraud alleged to have been perpetrated by at least one employee of securities dealer Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL) against unsuspecting clients, including one of our sports icons. That has since been replaced in the headlines by the $220-million fraud case at the Institute of Sports (INSPORTS), which was brought to the public’s attention a few days ago.

So-called white-collar criminals — whether they sit on private sector boards and indulge in insider trading, or in Parliament and buy up poor people land for little or nothing based on information that a highway will soon be traversing the area, or sit at a laptop in a financial institution and pilfer depositors’ hard-earned money, or work in offices and pass security information to criminals who carry out hit jobs and heists — are worse than a common thief and should be treated as such under the law, in addition to being ostracised by society.

At the height of the SSL saga, Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke served notice that the line between thieves based on class and privilege will end soon. He was reported in the press as saying, “The discrepancy between the sanctions for white-collar crime and other forms of crime must be erased. If you rob depositors or defraud investors and you put our financial system and way of life at risk, the Jamaican society wants you to be put away for a long, long time.”

I am no lawyer, but non-violent crimes such as are becoming commonplace in financial institutions should be tried under the Offences Against the Person Act, alongside crimes such as homicide. Sentencing guidelines should be such to allow the judges in these cases to throw the proverbial book at those found guilty.

These are not misdemeanours requiring a slap on the wrist. They should be treated as level three felonies, grand theft, to borrow a term from American jurisprudence. The guilty parties should do serious jail time and after that live with the stain of being worse than a common thief for the rest of their lives.

A thief by any other name is still a thief.

Dr Henley Morgan is founder and executive chairman of the Trench Town-based Social Enterprise, Agency for Inner-city Renewal and author of My Trench Town Journey: Lessons in Social Entrepreneurship and Community Transformation for Policy Makers, Development Leaders, and Practitioners. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or hmorgan@cwjamaica.com