For the first time in decades, Jamaica is stand­ing on firmer ground — both eco­nom­i­cal­ly and social­ly, and in the fight against crime. The present gov­ern­ment has deliv­ered tan­gi­ble progress, not the emp­ty rhetoric we had grown accus­tomed to under the People’s National Party. Roads are being built, water sys­tems are being expand­ed, schools are being upgrad­ed, and hos­pi­tals are being mod­ern­ized. Investment con­fi­dence has soared, attract­ing local and for­eign cap­i­tal that is cre­at­ing jobs and fuel­ing growth.

International orga­ni­za­tions have com­mend­ed Jamaica’s fis­cal dis­ci­pline, and for once, ordi­nary Jamaicans can see the ben­e­fits of sound gov­er­nance reflect­ed in improved infra­struc­ture, bet­ter oppor­tu­ni­ties, and a sense that the coun­try is final­ly mov­ing in the right direc­tion. Equally sig­nif­i­cant is the progress in nation­al secu­ri­ty. While crime is still a press­ing chal­lenge, the mur­der rate has been pushed down­ward — an achieve­ment that pre­vi­ous PNP admin­is­tra­tions nev­er came close to delivering.

This is not by acci­dent. It is the prod­uct of tar­get­ed polic­ing, stronger intel­li­gence, leg­isla­tive reforms, and an unprece­dent­ed expan­sion of tech­nol­o­gy in law enforce­ment. For years, the PNP resist­ed stiffer penal­ties for vio­lent offend­ers, cling­ing to out­dat­ed, rights-based rhetoric that pro­tect­ed crim­i­nals at the expense of vic­tims. Their approach to deal­ing with crim­i­nals must be under­stood against the Dons and gang­sters who sup­port them finan­cial­ly. And so it is no won­der that they put up and elect­ed a known deport­ed twice-con­vict­ed cocaine deal­er to our parliament.
The PNP’s failed exper­i­ment is pre­cise­ly why Jamaica was drown­ing in blood dur­ing their watch. Contrast this with the cur­rent government’s vision.

It has not only advanced infra­struc­ture on a scale unseen since inde­pen­dence but also posi­tioned Jamaica as a region­al leader. The expan­sion of dig­i­tal ser­vices, the trans­for­ma­tion of pub­lic spaces, the strength­en­ing of edu­ca­tion and skills train­ing — all of these build a mod­ern nation. We are no longer stuck in the PNP’s cycle of depen­den­cy and stag­na­tion. Instead, we see momen­tum, pur­pose, and results. Why then would the major­i­ty of well-mean­ing Jamaicans return the PNP to office?
Knowing full well that the PNP is the par­ty of regres­sion. Their track record is one of mis­man­age­ment, cor­rup­tion, and a chron­ic inabil­i­ty to deliv­er. They presided over brain drain, eco­nom­ic col­lapse, and social decay.

Their eco­nom­ic stew­ard­ship left Jamaica hand­cuffed to debt. Their soft approach to crime empow­ered crim­i­nals, turn­ing com­mu­ni­ties into war zones. And their lead­er­ship, even now, offers no clear vision beyond recy­cled promis­es and a stub­born defense of poli­cies that his­to­ry has already proven dis­as­trous. In short, return­ing the PNP to pow­er would have been like hand­ing the keys of a repaired vehi­cle back to the reck­less dri­ver who wrecked it in the first place. The present gov­ern­ment has steered Jamaica out of the ditch and onto the high­way of growth. To gam­ble with the PNP again would not just be unwise — it would be nation­al suicide.

.

.

Mike Beckles is a for­mer Police Detective, busi­ness­man, free­lance writer, black achiev­er hon­oree, and cre­ator of the blog mike​beck​les​.com.