THE EDITOR, Sir:

It is a sad day to see members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Jamaica Defence Force pulled from their substantive duties and placed on a dump to secure it from arsonists. A lack of proper management of the facility could be cited as the underlying factor for this decision. The city dump and the country's limited finances are going up in smoke simultaneously.

Tell me why the privatisation of the dump or the use of the dump to create fuel or for recycling purposes is dragging on for so many years. Have we no regard for our citizens' health and the cost to the country for putting out a fire each time it is lit? Why does everything in Jamaica moves like a snail, when it has to do with protecting the interest of the people? Police and soldiers are humans too; their lives and health should not be unnecessarily compromised owing to criminal actions at a dump site.

I believe a simple fix to this fiery storm is to sell the dump to a private entity or speedily shut it down. Riverton dump should be moved to a sterile and uninhabited area in the country. There are so many areas that could be used for that purpose. If that is done, perhaps it will be less costly for us over time. Our health is our wealth, we are told, and if it is destroyed all the money or goodwill in the world cannot repair it.

Joseph Edwards