LIU member arrested for armed robbery; Minister of Home Affairs expresses disappointment

A prominent Leadership Invention Unit (LIU) member has found himself back on the wrong side of the law. Over the weekend, 41-year-old Jermaine “Horse” Garnett, who is no stranger to Police, was arrested and charged for his role in an armed aggravated robbery. Garnett has been a member of the LIU for several months and has benefitted from programs geared at assisting ex-gang members and marginalized youth. However, it seems that Garnett was playing possum with the LIU. Today, the Minister of Home Affairs, Kareem Musa expressed his disappointment in Garnett’s duplicitous behaviour.

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs and New Growth Industries: “That is always something that I remind these young men and women every day. We will only offer you an opportunity to change your life but we cannot change your life for you. We can only offer you skills training, we can only offer your children educational opportunities or yourself an employment opportunity and if you walk the straight and narrow you should have no issue with the police department. But the moment you cross that line there can be no mercy at that point because you clearly made a decision in your life to say you know what I want to continue along this particular path and so as minister yes it’s disheartening but at the same time we have to acknowledge the hundreds of young men and women who are committed to changing their lives and you have to admit that in the last three or four months there have not been a lot of retaliation killings or turf war killings and that sort of thing and we have to acknowledge that moving forward but at the same time recognize that at any point in time these young men can decide to continue that particular life but it is up to the police department, the quick response, the proper investigation to put in place to ensure that these young men who are committed to a life of crime that they are charged for those offenses.”

Musa says he can assure the Belizean taxpayers that their hard-earned dollars will not be wasted on gang members not looking to leave their life of crime in the past.

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs and New Growth Industries: “You are offered this second chance so to speak for many of them it’s a first chance but you’re given this opportunity. If you choose to renege on that opportunity then by all means you are no longer a part of that program because you have chosen this particular lifestyle and so there is no rewarding bad actors or bad actions that are taking place. So you can rest assured that is not the system you are immediately eliminated from the LIU program.”

Garnett has been in crime news as far back as 2012 with a recent charge of murder in 2018.