The evictions at Pond Island (see Friday/Saturday edition) are sad for the businesses and persons located there but also what they call in Dutch a “brevet van onvermogen” (certificate of inability) for government. The related occupying of- and building on public land did not happen overnight.
Authorities looked the other way for decades and thereby undoubtedly created an impression that the practice was being tolerated. That does not make it legal, the courts confirmed, so time is up for those involved.
What perhaps seems especially unfair to them is that many doing the same on and near the landfill were compensated to move. However, that relocation was part of a Dutch-sponsored trust fund project administered by the World Bank and executed by the National Recovery Program Bureau (NRPP) to rehabilitate the dump.
No further rights can obviously be derived from such, nor is apparently being allowed to do something illicit a long while provide justifiable reason to keep doing so forever. What all this does show is possible socioeconomic consequences of not enforcing the rules promptly.
When an undesirable situation is permitted to continue year after year, it becomes increasingly harder to correct. In this case some may – at least temporarily – be left homeless and/or without a job.
They say that in addition to blind, justice must be swift. The same goes for maintaining law and order.
