I am going to hold the commissioner to account for bringing that murder rate to below 1,000, and I am going to hold the minister (of national security) for putting in place the policy and supporting the commissioner. I also have to appeal to the conscience of Jamaicans, to that young man in the inner city, to say yes, I know you feel as if you have no stake in Jamaica but I want you to understand that you have a prime minister that believes in you and will put the programs in place for you to help you to make that change in your life,” Holness said Tuesday night.
“You will understand that you have a prime minister that will own the issues, that will deal with the issues, not back away from the issues, not try to pass the buck.
The prime Minister uttered those words as he addressed the third in a series of islandwide town hall meetings, hosted by the security minister, at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre in Sam Sharpe Square, Montego Bay.
According to the police and as was reported in the Jamaican press, murders stood at 1,207, which was 202, more than the 1,005 reported the previous year. The highest number of homicides ever reported to police was in 2005 when over 1600 people were reported murdered.
The Prime Minister did not announce any specific initiative he would undertake outside his general intention to hold himself and others accountable.
The new Prime Minister referred to himself as the chief accounting officer for the Government yet what I personally would have liked to hear from him are concise strategies which he would pursue which would enable the Minister and Commissioner to carry out their mandates.
Yes , yes I know it’s the Minister’s remit to deal with policy minutia, but any policy initiative to be undertaken bears more weight if it is announced and supported by the chief executive officer of the country.
These Town Halls can be a good listening tour , they may also be an educational tour to sensitize people that the old ways of doing things are no longer sustainable.
Every Jamaican opposed to crime is a stake-holder who must be educated in the many ways crime is reducing the quality of their lives, if not taking their lives alltogether.
The Prime Minister has not equivocated on any of the policy decisions he has announced in his stated goal to turn the Island from poverty to a path of prosperity.
Yet he is naïve at best if he believes he can waffle on crime and expect the prosperity he speak of to happen in the atmosphere of daily bloodshed which presently exist.
The Prime Minister can only expect positive result from the people to whom the constitution delegates the responsibilities of minister of national security and chief constable if he as the chief executive ensures that they are given the tools with which to get the job done.
Words are just that , “words”. The Prime Minister is in the best position of any Jamaican to do something about crime, his party has the majority in the 63 seat legislature .
This is the time to draft tough anti crime legislation and table it in the Parliament, use the media to sell the plan and if the opposition does not want to sign on then let them sign their death warrant as the party which support criminals on the Island.
This can be a zero sum game , draft a tough anti-crime bill and dare them to oppose it which is their right to do but if they do they own the issue .
Asking the Commissioner of police to hold homicides to a number tolerable to the Prime Minister is not a national security policy, it is a cop out . Without tough backing it is giving the Commissioner basket to carry water.
At the same time the officer corps of the police force can stop being lapdogs and grow some balls.
Why are they not demanding from the administration the tools to do their jobs?
Where is the federation in demanding the legislation necessary to bring crime under control?
Obviously the Prime Minister can live with the high homicide rate as long as it’s under a thousand dead Jamaicans , the Jamaican people and the police should accept no such arrangement.