Mai Fatty, the former Minister of Interior, blames government’s inaction for the communal violence in Sanyang. 

Mr Fatty claimed the Barrow government had failed to act on intelligence warnings of the potential for communal violence due to disputes over land and natural resources.  

Mr Fatty said the recent communal clashes in Sanyang and other parts of the Kombos “are not failures of intelligence but rather the reckless failure to act on actionable intelligence. 

“It is the inexplicable omission on the part of policy makers to engage communities to tackle early warning signals and to effectively respond to the urgent needs of communities.”

“It translates to a failure of leadership not only to grasp or appreciate the critical exigencies but also to devalue the recommendations of those state agencies with the ability to monitor and analyse public pulse, from the prism of national security,” Mr Fatty told The Standard. 

He continued: “There is the general feeling that no one is in charge, and therefore no one cares about public protection and safety. 

“Public impression is that the state, through willful negligence, is not interested in protecting communities at home, places of business or in the streets and the rapid rise in violent crime justifies this thinking.” 

He added: “security is fundamentally about perception and the state must up its act, lip-service and rhetoric alone will not do the job”.