Youth looking forward to crime-fighting boost in year ahead
Published:Friday | February 11, 2022 | 12:10 AMJudana Murphy/Gleaner Writer
With more than 160 homicides recorded since the start of the year, some of the nation’s youth are welcoming the planned boost to national-security initiatives in the coming parliamentary year, hoping they will have a lasting impact on the crime-weary nation.
As Governor General Sir Patrick Allen laid out the Government’s plans for the year, 21-year-old economics graduate student at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, Cleveland Tomlinson, was pleased with the plans to ramp up the recently launched Operation Get Every Illegal Gun campaign, hoping that heightened focus will also be placed on the security of the island’s borders.
Some 85 per cent of homicides in Jamaica are committed using an illegal firearm.
Tomlinson found support in Jenieve Richards, a 21-year-old accounting and management studies student at The UWI, who also welcomed the campaign, hoping that it will also aim to address the root cause of Jamaica’s illegal gun crisis.
“When we get the guns, who will be responsible for them? We have white collar crimes and we have corruption in high places. We need to have a very clear accountability system for this campaign,” Richards told The Gleaner.
Blake Brown, a 22-year old final year UWI student majoring in banking and finance, was pleased to hear that the Government will be expanding the capacity of the Jamaica Constabulary Force by boosting the annual intake from the current average of 500 to 1,500.
“We do need to ensure that our investigations are done in a state-of-the-art fashion so we can properly bring criminals to justice,” Brown added, noting the planned increased reliance on forensic science to crack criminal cases.
Looking at the impact of COVID-19 on the education sector, Brown and Richards reasoned that although there has been improvement in broadband access since the start of the pandemic, there is significant work to be done.
“A number of students, especially those in rural areas, have not had access to quality education simply because of insufficient access to the Internet. Internet penetration in Jamaica is simply too low,” said Brown, who is also doing a minor in political leadership, strategy, and management.
EDUCATION REFORM
Along with Tomlinson, he welcomed the move to have an Education Transformation Oversight Committee, which will monitor and publicly report on the progress of the implementation of recommendations from the Jamaica Education Transformation Commission report.
“I am of the view that the proposed plan for education for the 2022-23 parliamentary year is sufficient and will drive improvement in student performance as well as standardise teaching practices,” 27-year-old Tia Ferguson – a vice-president of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party’s young professional affiliate – weighed in.
She noted that the education ministry’s Yard-to-Yard Find the Child initiative is crucial to re-engage students who have not been attending classes during the pandemic.
On the health front, Ferguson, a pharmacist, noted that several healthcare facilities across the island were in dire need of infrastructural upgrades, adding that she has seen where work has begun to improve not only their appearance and functionalities, but their general overall quality of service.
Upgrades to three hospitals and 10 health centres will commence this year through joint funding by the European Union and the Inter-American Development Bank.
Blake and Tomlinson agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the ills of the sector, showing why such rehabilitation efforts need to be fast-tracked.
Strengthening the capacity of the healthcare sector, Tomlinson said, should go hand in hand with a revision of the compensation for workers.
“I was very elated to hear that we will be tabling the review of the public sector compensation package. I’m looking forward to seeing what will emerge from that, and I am hoping that it will augur well for our healthcare workers, who are burnt out, and who, arguably, are not compensated for the quality of the service that they offer,” he said.
Among the key areas they believe should have been part of this year’s throne speech or given greater attention are the rationalisation of public-sector bodies, the Cockpit Country, the new Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs, and plans for economic growth and retention.