Tweet
...these 2 tribes we are afflicted with don't seem to have the capacity to plan in advance. Wasn't it obvious long ago that these depressed communities need massive investment?
Dem need sumting fi lick dem inna dem headback before dem si reality.
EDITORIAL - That US$1b has to be found
Published: Sunday | June 6, 2010 0 Comments and 0 Reactions
AUDLEY SHAW did not say how he arrived at the figure, but suggests that it will cost around US$1 billion for the social interventions, community rehabilitation and security enhancements to make Jamaica safe from gangs.
But according to the finance minister, the Government could make substantial headway on half that amount of money.
"If we could secure US$500 million to a US$1 billion over the medium term, it would go a far way in the fight against crime," Mr Shaw told this newspaper.
This is an investment that Jamaica, in the aftermath of recent events in Tivoli Gardens, cannot afford not to make. Indeed, it is one that is in the interest of our big neighbours on the North American continent and with which they should help, generously.
With the relative calm that now exists in Jamaica it is easy to forget what occurred in Kingston a fortnight ago, when the country appeared heading to the abyss.
After nearly a year of equivocation and mendacious arguments about protecting the constitutional rights of a Jamaican citizen, Prime Minister Bruce Golding did a volte-face on the Christopher Coke extradition matter. The Government, he announced, would allow proceedings for Coke - a strong supporter of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party and one of the prime minister's constituents - to be sent to the United States to be tried on narcotics and gun- smuggling charges.
State under threat
Mr Coke and his supporters locked themselves behind booby-trapped barricades in the west Kingston enclave of Tivoli Gardens - a heartland of the ruling party - and engaged the security forces in a battle that cost 73 lives, including those of two policemen and a soldier. Critically, that fight was not only in west Kingston. Armed irregulars supporting Coke skirmished with the security forces in several inner-city communities in the downtown areas of Kingston as well as in the parish of St Catherine.
The Jamaican state was under threat which, happily, it beat back. That threat, though, cannot be assumed to have been eliminated. Highly armed gangs still exist across the country. They have to be crushed. Our communities have to be retaken and opportunities opened for young people.
The United States, Canada and the European Union (EU) have an interest in this.
Jamaica, for all its problems, has, for the most part, kept democratic institutions intact. We are a reliable member of the international community.
But the country's geographic position between the Americas, on the USA's 'third border', makes it an important trans-shipment point for the smuggling of narcotics from South America to North America and Europe. This trade has influenced the growth of gangs and organised crime and threatens to corrupt the country's institutions. The grave danger, should they succeed further, is our evolution into a narco-democracy. That, ultimately, is not merely a Jamaican problem; it is a security threat to our neighbours and allies.
It makes sense that Washington and Brussels invest in the effort. It is estimated that insecurity and violence cost the Jamaican economy about three and a half per cent of GDP annually, which, if recovered, would recoup the proposed investment in two years.
There may be questions of whether Mr Golding, after his recent disappointing behaviour, is a reliable partner. He has to be. Or he has to go
Dem need sumting fi lick dem inna dem headback before dem si reality.
EDITORIAL - That US$1b has to be found
Published: Sunday | June 6, 2010 0 Comments and 0 Reactions
AUDLEY SHAW did not say how he arrived at the figure, but suggests that it will cost around US$1 billion for the social interventions, community rehabilitation and security enhancements to make Jamaica safe from gangs.
But according to the finance minister, the Government could make substantial headway on half that amount of money.
"If we could secure US$500 million to a US$1 billion over the medium term, it would go a far way in the fight against crime," Mr Shaw told this newspaper.
This is an investment that Jamaica, in the aftermath of recent events in Tivoli Gardens, cannot afford not to make. Indeed, it is one that is in the interest of our big neighbours on the North American continent and with which they should help, generously.
With the relative calm that now exists in Jamaica it is easy to forget what occurred in Kingston a fortnight ago, when the country appeared heading to the abyss.
After nearly a year of equivocation and mendacious arguments about protecting the constitutional rights of a Jamaican citizen, Prime Minister Bruce Golding did a volte-face on the Christopher Coke extradition matter. The Government, he announced, would allow proceedings for Coke - a strong supporter of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party and one of the prime minister's constituents - to be sent to the United States to be tried on narcotics and gun- smuggling charges.
State under threat
Mr Coke and his supporters locked themselves behind booby-trapped barricades in the west Kingston enclave of Tivoli Gardens - a heartland of the ruling party - and engaged the security forces in a battle that cost 73 lives, including those of two policemen and a soldier. Critically, that fight was not only in west Kingston. Armed irregulars supporting Coke skirmished with the security forces in several inner-city communities in the downtown areas of Kingston as well as in the parish of St Catherine.
The Jamaican state was under threat which, happily, it beat back. That threat, though, cannot be assumed to have been eliminated. Highly armed gangs still exist across the country. They have to be crushed. Our communities have to be retaken and opportunities opened for young people.
The United States, Canada and the European Union (EU) have an interest in this.
Jamaica, for all its problems, has, for the most part, kept democratic institutions intact. We are a reliable member of the international community.
But the country's geographic position between the Americas, on the USA's 'third border', makes it an important trans-shipment point for the smuggling of narcotics from South America to North America and Europe. This trade has influenced the growth of gangs and organised crime and threatens to corrupt the country's institutions. The grave danger, should they succeed further, is our evolution into a narco-democracy. That, ultimately, is not merely a Jamaican problem; it is a security threat to our neighbours and allies.
It makes sense that Washington and Brussels invest in the effort. It is estimated that insecurity and violence cost the Jamaican economy about three and a half per cent of GDP annually, which, if recovered, would recoup the proposed investment in two years.
There may be questions of whether Mr Golding, after his recent disappointing behaviour, is a reliable partner. He has to be. Or he has to go
Comment