WAR OF WORDS

Opposition Leader Mark Golding yesterday fired back at Prime Minister Andrew Holness, calling him “desperate and becoming unhinged” after the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader said the People’s National Party (PNP) embraces criminality.

Holness was speaking at the Manchester Central constituency conference put on by Member of Parliament Rhoda Moy Crawford at Manchester High School when he told JLP supporters that the PNP accepts criminality once it gives the party an advantage.

“They use whatever happens in the society, even if it’s criminal, for their political benefit, and that, my friend, is PNPism.

“They embrace even criminality to make their political point for political benefit, and that is how PNPism has destroyed our society, and it is threatening to do so again because we see their embrace of criminality; their defence of criminality, and that is why, my friend, they resist the states of public emergency because they are bent on defending and protecting criminality,” said Holness to bell-ringing JLP supporters and workers on Sunday.

However, in a media statement yesterday, Golding rejected the claim, arguing that Holness has resorted to blaming the Opposition because of his Government’s inability to provide solutions to Jamaica’s chronic crime problem.

The opposition leader said the Government is to be blamed for “eight years of failure” in managing crime.

“The prime minister is clearly desperate and becoming unhinged in his pathetic attempt to shift blame for his own Government’s poor performance. When a Government starts to blame the Opposition for its failures, you know that time come,” Golding said.

The war of words follows the latest Don Anderson public opinion poll in which 48.3 per cent of the 1,012 Jamaicans surveyed believe that crime and violence is the biggest problem facing the country. High cost of living was the next factor identified, with 15.1 per cent.

These were the top two reasons just under 60 per cent of participants said that caused them to believe that the country is going in the wrong direction.

Respondents who participated in the poll, conducted by the Anderson-led Market Research Services Limited (MRSL) between September 27 and October 3, were 18 years or older.

The poll, the findings of which were released just over a week ago, has a sampling error of plus or minus three per cent at the 95 per cent confidence level.

Non-aligned, publicly traded private sector interests assisted in financing the research, the parameters of which were determined solely by MRSL, Anderson said.

Golding said, instead of Holness blaming the Opposition, the Government needs to engage its counterpart in constructive dialogue in good faith, aimed at forging a national consensus on strategies to address Jamaica’s serious challenges with violent crime.

Golding said the PNP’s vision for citizen security is built on a foundation of community partnership and empowerment, combining effective law enforcement with community-driven solutions to create a safer Jamaica.

But Holness did not stop at pointing the finger at the PNP for Jamaica’s high crime. He said, too, that the PNP is to be blamed for the breakdown in law and order in the country.

Holness said the breakdown in respect between citizens and the police did not happen overnight, but is as a result of PNPism.

“[It is] a breakdown of all systems, values and respect for authority and institutions, that is PNPism,” he said, adding this will take some time to be corrected.

The Independent Commission of Investigations said, for the period January to March 2024, it received 323 categories of complaints from 250 incidents reported for the period. The top five categories of complaints include: assault (115), discharge of firearm (64), fatal shooting (31)*, unprofessional conduct (16), and shooting injury (15).

At the same time, Holness acknowledged residents’ concerns amid what he said is an upsurge in crime in Manchester and specifically in the Manchester Central constituency.

Between January 1 and November 2 this year, Manchester recorded a 16.2 per cent increase in murders. Shootings also went up by 12 per cent. However, there has been a decline in all other major crimes in the parish.

Still, Holness said, nationally, all major crimes are down.

He singled out murders, reporting a 20 per cent reduction, but noted that some Jamaicans still hold the view that crime is out of control.

This, he said, is understandable.

Holness said the JLP Government has, since 2016, more than tripled the budget and spend on national security.

“What we have spent on national security since 2016 surpasses the entire national security budget for the last 30 years. That is what accounts for the persistent reduction in all crimes and the reduction in murders,” said Holness.

He said his Government has invested in transforming the police force, specifically its equipment, technology, training, and systems.

“It’s not perfect but it is better now than under the PNP,” he said, adding that there has also been an increase in the size of the force and a decrease in its attrition rate.

“These things take some time before you are going to see all the benefits facing you. When you are in the middle of Mandeville and you see two taxi man and a policeman get into confrontation, we want to change that. We want to ensure that all the changes that we are making to the systems in the police force makes its way to the average policeman – the constable on the beat dealing with you, the citizen.

“That is what we are working on, so that you feel like the police is on your side. That they respect you always in whatever happens and, at the same time, that, when you get into a confrontation with the police you have respect for the law,” said Holness.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com