I want to make it abundantly clear that (a) when I write about crime in Jamaica, and (b) when I criticize this Government, © it should never be seen as an endorsement of, or support for the People’s National Party.
The ( PNP) was in office for an unprecedented 181⁄2 years. The degradation of our country, physically, culturally, economically, and morally must be laid squarely at the feet of that political party.
As a pre-emptive shot across the bow of the bleeding heart apologists let me just stop you right there.……People’s attitudes and behaviors are influenced by poor, weak, acquiescent and feckless leadership.
Let me be abundantly clear, violent crimes stabilized under the Edward Seaga’s government which commenced in 1980 and ended in 1988.
Edward Seaga was no saint, he maintained the mother of all garrisons, (Tivoli Gardens) out of which emerged, Jim Brown, Duddus, Blood, Livity and a host of other blood-thirsty sociopaths.
I hope that I have made myself clear in the foregone, I do not spend my time writing in support of either of the two political parties that share power in our country, I call balls and strikes straight down the middle the way I see them.
Seaga’s love for Tivoli Gardens could be viewed as a mother who was willfully blind to the demons within her child.
Though Edward Seaga may never be absolved from his role in the Island’s garrison culture, his record must be balanced with the reality that at the very least, when he realized that some of the criminals in his domain were out of control, he never wavered in providing their names to the police.
Whether this is enough to redeem Edward Seaga’s legacy is not for me to decide, his contribution, however, must be honestly assessed within the broader context of the gang-land politics which existed then, and to some extent exist to this very day.
What I do know is that this administration has its head up its own ass on the existential issue of violent crime.
One member of the party, Fayval Williams a Saint Andrew MP touts the value of peace marches on her Facebook page.
When political leaders are forced to march for peace, (as if violent crime is a war to be ended through détente’), it is a white flag of surrender.
It is telling the criminal murderers that as a government, you are out of options, you are begging them to behave. Under what scenario is it okay to beg criminals to behave?
Why are the leaders bowing down to murderers instead of getting out of the way so that the security forces can do their jobs?
The challenge for the country is that it created monsters, INDECOM, and allowed so-called human rights groups life JFJ & the IACHR total access to the country’s process of legislation and law enforcement.
INDECOM is now an out of control monster partially funded by shadowy foreign forces.
The unit is totally outside the control of the government. It works as a sort of watchdog on the government itself, on behalf of its foreign funders and handlers.
Years ago, as he berated the Police in the media, the rabid attack dog that heads INDECOM pointed to the [Nicaraguan policing model] as one that Jamaica should be following.
I will just let that sink in for a minute.….…..
Nicaragua is a fucking failed state!!!
At present, our country is drifting aimlessly without decisive leadership on the existential and critical issue of crime. The Government of the day has made it clear that walking and chewing gum is not a thing it can do.
It is clear that it only intends to walk, to hell with chewing gum.
There is a reason that the administration gets away with the charade it is presently engaged in, on the one hand, there are the partisan PNP supporters, and on the other, there are the partisan JLP. supporters. There is not much for rational thinking in the middle. Is there even a middle anymore?
The thing is, that at present the popular sentiment seems to be with the JLP, and so for those supporters, the government can do no wrong.
As a consequence, the administration does not feel any pressure to move decisively to remedy the crime situation, because for it’s supporters, crime was here under the PNP.
Because of that mindset, the administration of the day does not need to worry about accountability.
The economy is doing okay, but it bears mentioning that there is an across-the-board fair economic condition globally.
As for the stock market which is doing great, the vast majority of Jamaicans, as in the United States, does not understand what the stock market is, much less to have money invested in it.
The nation’s unemployment rate is pretty low. According to (Statista), in 2019, the unemployment rate in Jamaica was approximately 9.52 percent, a decrease from previous years.
Imagine where the country would be if we had political leadership that stood decisively behind the rule of law?
Imagine if the country was ready to absorb its returning residents and investors, (not just Chinese peasants) who would love to invest and live in our country?
Imagine where the country would be if we had leaders who were prepared to discard political considerations and stand up for the country?
Imagine if the country had decent men & women of honor and courage who stood up for social order and the rule of law? And tell the know-it-all pundits and prognosticators to shut the fuck up?
Imagine if we had leaders who understood that we cannot build prosperity on the bodies of dead citizens?
Imagine if there was conscientious leadership that shuts out the noise about [human-rights] because it understood that dead people have lost their most fundamental right.…… the right to life?
And, imagine if that leadership understood that standing up for the rule of law, and enforcing the nation’s laws is not antithetical to human rights?
Mike Beckles is a former Jamaican police Detective corporal, businessman, researcher, and blogger.
He is a black achiever honoree, and publisher of the blog chatt-a-box.com.
He’s also a contributor to several websites.
You may subscribe to his blogs free of charge, or subscribe to his Youtube channel @chatt-a-box, for the latest podcast all free to you of course.