10/06/2026
You can enforce the law and still acknowledge a citizen’s loss. You can protect the country and still treat people with basic decency. These things are not in conflict. Choosing between them is a failure of leadership, not a requirement of it.
Grenada’s biosecurity laws exist to protect our farmers, our food supply and our economy. Nobody disputes that. The question raised by what happened to Mr Royan Smith is not whether the law should be enforced, but how.
Two animals were destroyed. A young small business owner now faces ruin. A Grenadian who asked for quarantine, for treatment, for any alternative, was told there was none. And the response from the Prime Minister was that he is “unapologetic”.
Mr Smith deserved a process he could understand, options he could weigh, and at minimum, a government willing to say it understands what this cost him. Strength without compassion is not strength. It is indifference.
You can’t lead people if you don’t genuinely love them.