When the smoke of the general elections cleared in Jamaica and the winning party named their humongous cabinet, I said then it would be a tragedy.It was a tragedy because clearly the winning PNP was unprepared to govern, it was tired, out of ideas and had not had enough time to understand, define or develop a strategy which would have enabled it to have a fighting chance at governing effectively.
Almost a year later the Jamaican people are being made painfully aware of the consequences of their actions, (not critiquing their choice) . People vote for who they feel best represent their interest, sometimes, most times the desired results are not forthcoming after the din of elections are over.
Politicians understand they have to do and say what it takes to get elected, I get that, it is a tough business which requires grit and determination, with much at stake. Jamaica’s electorates like most other are starting to wake up from the morning of a really bad first date.
I will not be presumptuous to suggest that the Jamaican people are uninformed, or that they do not know what they want. I also do not know the exact reason they threw out the Jamaica Labor Party after just one term, and replaced them with the party which had been in office for 18 1⁄2 years, a tenure which did not turn out so well.
Well now the really bad blind date is over, it’s the day after, the stark reality of how bad that date was, is now evident.
Crime is at an astronomical high, women and babies are being raped, people are increasingly terrified of leaving their homes, children are traumatized afraid to even go to school. No one is spared the crippling effects of the rampant wave of unchecked criminality sweeping over the country.
Police Officers are slaughtered along with the terrified citizenry, no one has answers for the country’s blood thirsty killers who roam unfettered , unafraid to threaten entire Police Precincts with annihilation.
These are not empty threats , they have the means and the will to carry out their threats , demonstrably so.
PROOF BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT THEY HAVE BOTH MEANS AND WILL.
Police stations burned, vehicles torched, heavy weaponry confiscated .
The fundamental issue with Jamaica, as I have said time and time again, is that the political leadership, of arguably both political parties ‚do not understand the detrimental effect crime has on the country.
Since the People’s National Party is in Government at this time, it falls on them to get a grip talk to the Jamaican Diaspora. I do not mean the lame bourgeois from uptown Kingston, who now reside in Florida, but real Jamaicans who reside in New York State and other large Metropolises.
These Jamaicans will relate to anyone who will listen, how desirous they are of returning to the land of their birth, to invest, to participate, to volunteer. The number one problem most will argue is not having access to good hospitals, fancy stores, good roads to drive on, none of the creature comforts they have grown accustomed to over decades of living in the developed world.
Their primary concern , is that they are highly likely to be butchered in their own homes for a few measly bucks.
The government has zero clue or desire, neither does it have a plan which will return our country to a path of prosperity.
At the zenith of the political food-chain is a Prime Minister, seemingly incapable of understanding what is required, on the second tier there are Ministers and Parliamentarians who double as trial lawyers.
This is clearly a conflict of interest, yet they are allowed to continue to represent murderous criminals in court then head over to the House of Parliament to legislate. The fact is that these trial lawyers have a vested interest in criminality, they feel insulated from crime, they get paid from crime,.
They are not about to legislate for harsh sentences for dangerous felons.
Rather than outrage, it seem Jamaicans are numb to the effects of crime, they recoil into survival mode, hoping the next victim will be their neighbor, not them. Others simply join the criminality.
We are getting to critical mass here.