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Opposition Wants PM To Address Crime At PNP Conference

SMITH… if crime problem is not corrected, the economy will be going nowhere
SMITH… if crime prob­lem is not cor­rect­ed, the econ­o­my will be going nowhere

THE Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has called on Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller to speak to the nation about the esca­lat­ing crime sit­u­a­tion when she address­es the pub­lic ses­sion of the People’s National Party’s (PNP) 77th Annual Conference in Kingston on Sunday.

“We haven’t heard from the prime min­is­ter [who] is the chair­man of the secu­ri­ty coun­cil and she, in her own right, ought to be speak­ing to the nation and giv­ing the cit­i­zen some lev­el of com­fort. I heard the chair­man of the PNP at a press con­fer­ence recent­ly, say­ing that at the PNP’s con­fer­ence this com­ing Sunday [we will have] the prime min­is­ter speak­ing to a great extent on the econ­o­my. Well I’m demand­ing of her to speak to the crime sit­u­a­tion in Jamaica, because if that is not cor­rect­ed the econ­o­my will be going nowhere,” Opposition spokesper­son on nation­al secu­ri­ty, Derrick Smith stat­ed at a press con­fer­ence at the JLP’s Belmont Road, Kingston head­quar­ters yesterday.

Smith said the nation­al secu­ri­ty min­istry must also give the coun­try a sta­tus report on the effec­tive­ness of the crime-fight­ing strate­gies that have been announced over the past few months. This, he said, should include infor­ma­tion on the get-the-guns cam­paign and the use of CCTV in some town centres.

“We have not been hear­ing from the min­is­ter. Last year at this time he was gloat­ing about the 16 per cent decrease over the pre­vi­ous years and speak­ing to smart polic­ing. Well, I would like to hear what he has to say about the type of polic­ing that we are expe­ri­enc­ing now,” which he described as “hor­ren­dous”.

The Opposition spokesman also demand­ed an update on the results being reaped under the var­i­ous pieces of leg­is­la­tion, such as the anti-gang laws, which were pushed through Parliament as a part of the con­di­tion­al­i­ties of the Government’s deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
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