Vandalism of 14 Transport Board Buses: Post Election Sabotage?

So who vandalised those 14 Transport Board buses parked in Roebuck St. last night?

This sort of behaviour can never be tolerated in Barbados. It must never be allowed to happen again. Get some barbed wire, fence off the area and keep it locked securely at night. This country also needs more security cameras at ALL government premises where state assets are vulnerable to vandalism and theft. It is we taxes dat pay fuh dem.

This is not the sort of Barbados that we want. This sort of violent destruction and sabotage has never been the norm in Barbados, whether it is during the heat of an election campaign or after the installation of a new government. There is a small possibility that it could have had nothing to do with politics, but buses have been parking there without incident since last year at least. And coming a week after elections we cannot ignore the likelihood that we are witnessing a gradual slide into the realm of election violence in Barbados, heading in the direction of what we are seeing in Kenya today.

If this vandalism was indeed politically motivated, and that is something we may never find out, then the most likely suspects would be people who are unhappy about the recent DLP election win. Again, the people most likely to be unhappy about the DLP election victory are supporters of the BLP whose headquarters are just a stone’s throw away on the same Roebuck St.

We in this country sometimes have the habit of not saying and not speaking in times such as this, but that culture of silence can sometimes work against us. This act of vandalism is a problem which must be nipped in the bud. The new DLP government needs to say something to show that it will not tolerate this act of lawlessness and that it will do everything possible to hunt down the perpetrators of this or any other acts of lawlessness. And the opposition BLP (for whom this incident strikes close to home) also needs to come out and make a public statement against the act of vandalism so that they can never be accused of lending encouragement by saying nothing.

Finally and most important of all, it takes a little time to smash the windscreens of 14 buses, so if anyone witnessed anything suspicious last night or knows anything about it, you know who you have to report it to. It might start with the windscreens of buses now… and it could end up with the windows to your own house by the time the next election comes around.

Cat Piss

http://www.cbc.bb/content/view/13918/10/

One night of destruction causes over $18,000 in damage
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Vandals have hit the transport board service forcing them to take 14 buses out of service

And the company is now faced with a bill of over 18 thousand dollars to repair the vehicles.

The situation prevented the board from providing normal service to commuters Wednesday morning and could affect their operations for a few days.

The buses were parked in an area referred to as the Weymouth Annex, the former home of Lowe’s Laundry.

Officials say they were forced to move them because of a lack of space in the main complex.

The area is lit after dark and monitored by in-house security until 11p.m with periodic checks made after that.

It was sometime between two of these checks that the vandal or vandals appeared to have made the move, smashing the windscreens of the vehicles forcing them out of service.

Some commuters who use the service particularly those in the northern part of the island had to endure long waits because of the incident.

General Manager of the Transport Board Ian Jessamy has apologised for the situation and is assuring the public the board has already moved to have some of the buses repaired and returned to service.

“We would need to see if we can obtain additional windscreens from our local Mercedes-Benz supplier in the event that we don’t have enough to cover the damage to the Marco Polos but the Buscar should be returned to service as early as tomorrow.”

Mr. Jessamy is asking the public to be patient while they fix the problem.

“We anticipate we should resume a normal service within a matter of days and not weeks and as management we would be looking to put additional security measures in place for this particular area to reduce the incidence of this circumstance recurring in the future”

Meantime Corporate and Communications Officer Linda Holder says the costs to repair the buses could rise to over 18 thousand dollars.

“Material costs alone are going to be in the region between eighteen and $20,000.00 to repair the windscreens. The loss of revenue factor must also be taken into account.”

Ms. Holder says while the board has had to make some major adjustments she doesn’t expect the disruptions to last past this week.