As of yesterday July 13th 629 murders were reported to Police in Jamaica.
This number represents a 22% increase over the 515 murders reported over the corresponding period last year.
In real terms the average Jamaican has a one in forty two thousand chance of being killed, not just on the streets but in their own homes.
Several factors are adversely impacting crime not the least of which are poverty and high unemployment.
Jamaica is heavily indebted to foreign lenders this places the Nation in a precarious position, servicing those loans eats up a huge chunk of the Nation’s gross domestic product(GDP)
The Country is presently on a path stipulated by the International Monetary Fund , much the way Greece is. The Nation of 2.8 million people – has one of the worst debt burdens in the world, with a gross public debt of 123% of GDP. At first glance this looks better than Greece (166% of GDP) but the more important number is the interest burden of the debt: for Jamaica it has averaged 13% of GDP over the last five years. This is twice the burden of Greece (6.7% of GDP), which is in turn the highest in the euro zone. (It is worth keeping in mind that the burden of the debt can vary widely depending on interest rates, and on how much is borrowed from the country’s central bank.Reports the Guardian.com.
The Administration in Kingston is grappling with meeting IMF targets while fending off public sector demands for higher wages after having endured frozen wages for years to satisfy IMF demands. Juxtapose frozen wages with ballooning inflation and conditions are rife for mass civil unrest.
Hold that though however.….
There are other factors affecting the murder rate in Jamaica, not all of which are the fault of Government. For example the thousands of Jamaicans deported back to the Island each year from the United States, Canada, England and other countries poses a serious problem for the Country’s poorly trained, poorly equipped , poorly paid, unmotivated law enforcement officials. This poses an existential threat to the Nation . One which should sound alarm bells to the Government that if solutions are not forthcoming it faces expulsion with devastating consequences for the Nation. Well I did ask you to hold your thoughts on the possibility of civil unrest as a result of the austere measures dictated by the IMF , so I will address those possibilities here and now.
Jamaica is like no other place on earth, as such the foundation of our politics dictates winners and losers.
The Nation’s politics is incredibly tribal . This means that generally people aligned to the two major political parties sees nothing wrong with the policies of their party.
Garrisonization has made it incredibly difficult to force the Government from power through the ballot box of late. This process which is called (Gerrymandering) In the United States is a cancer eating away at the Democratic process. It literally destroys the concept of one man one vote and creates apathy in less polarized voters.. Because the ruling PNP has controlled state power for over 28 of the last 40 years it has consolidated power using tax-payers resources to create politically homogeneous communities loyal to the party.
Incredibly before Elections are held the ruling party is already guaranteed a certain amount of seats out the nation’s 63 seat Parliament. Many Jamaicans have reigned themselves to their fate and concentrates on merely surviving.
years of corruption and failed leadership
Loop-holes in the Constitution allows the ruling Prime Minister the latitude to determine when he/she determines elections are held. Even though technically they have to be held within a five year span. Both political parties have used this to their advantage . The most recent example being Local Government Elections which were due last month. The Government inexplicably delayed the elections for over a year using spurious and insulting reasons for doing so because some polls reportedly have them down significantly.
The Country once a thriving example of sports , education , and culture in the Caribbean is now struggling desperately to maintain an outward façade of wellness , while underneath the putrid smell of decay is becoming overwhelming.
Jamaica now rates at the bottom of the development ladder , rivaling Haiti a perennial lower-rung performer.
All of this is important contextually in understanding why there are no civil unrest in Towns and Cities across the Island. It is important to understand that allowing crime to go unchecked is part and parcel of the Governing structure of the PNP Administration in Kingston.
It is common knowledge that when the PNP forms the Government there is a feeling on the streets that criminals have a free hand , anything goes. And most importantly the Police is de-fanged
That prevailing mindset creates the perfect brew which culminates into the present situation in the Country. There is statistical Data which proves that under PNP Administrations crime increases exponentially.
Wink, wink, nod, nod.…..
However that is not all the Government does , many of it’s members are actively engaged in serious criminal conduct. Just recently one of it’s members intimated he would be leaving the Party because his party is corrupt.
This strategy of allowing crime to flourish emanated under the Michael Manley Administration after he swept to power in 1972, a mistake the Island never recovered from.
Today there are fundamental efforts afoot at re-writing Jamaica’s political History , re-aligning our consciousness with a sanitized version of what Michael Manley’s misguided policies meant and wrought on the beautiful Island everyone once wanted a piece of. The idea though not written as far as this writer knows, was to do the bare minimum as far as enforcing the Nation’s laws are concerned. This included starving police of resources. Demoralizing the Police while empowering criminal elements through the creation, implementation, and fostering of what is now understood as the contemporary Don Culture,.
During Manley’s failed attempt at social engineering criminals walked into police stations and freed murderers aligned to the PNP.
In other cases cop-killers like Anthony Brown and George Flash were ushered out of the Country by the PNP Government after they murdered Police officers. These two
Today Manley’s followers trumpet his achievements which are largely feel-good platitudes. To his detractors he is the architect of Jamaica’s ruin
prominent Cop-Killers though well know, were not the only two Cop-killers whom the PNP Administration shielded and protected from the local Police.
The strategies used by the Manley Régime of the Seventies were right out of the playbook of other left-wing Goon-squads which paraded as legitimate Governments in places like Nicaragua and other parts of Latin and South America at the time.
This is not to suggest that the Labor Party, (JLP) is guiltless in all this. Most people familiar with Jamaica’s turbulent politics know quite well what happened in 2010 under the leadership of Bruce Golding with the Christopher Coke saga.
So there will be no mass demonstrations in the streets of Kingston, Montego Bay or other metropolitan centers around the Island. Most of the people opposed to the corruption and incompetence have long sought refuge in other Countries. Others who could not afford to leave are not large enough in numbers to force change through the ballot box. This means that for change to come to Jamaica there will have to be monumental change in the thinking of PNP supporters. Enough to create a paradigm shift in expectations of what Government’s responsibilities are.
Unfortunately as life becomes more and more unbearable under the yoke of austerity and political corruption, the people tighten their belts to the point of suffocation.
They bow to the pressure, unconcerned that they have the power to remove the thieves who lord over them instead of serving them.
In the meantime crime continue to rise and the Police are the ones left holding the bag.