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THE EDITOR, Sir:
I WOULD like you to afford me the privilege and opportunity to respond to an article that was published in The Gleaner dated Wednesday, December 7, titled 'Holness lauds JLP for lower crime numbers', written by Daraine Luton.
In the article, the prime minister was quoted as saying, "Today, we have reduced murders to 1,000 and it is trending down. It means one of your brothers or one of your sisters is alive today because the Labour Party put in place policies that ensure that crime goes down."
The prime minister was making reference to the murder rate falling from 1,600 to 1,000 this calendar year, compared with the previous one. However, the prime minister failed to demonstrate how his government contributed to this reduction. I find this comment by the Prime Minister Holness very disingenuous, as the reduction should be attributed to the hard work and dedication of the men and women in our security forces and not the policies of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP)-led government.
The reduction in the crime numbers is as a direct result of the extradition of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, a known JLP strongman and the alleged leader of the notorious Shower Posse, which was based in the JLP stronghold of Tivoli Gardens, west Kingston. I, therefore, argue that there is a direct correlation in the crime numbers trending down because of Mr Coke's extradition
I further find it mind-boggling for the prime minister to forcibly argue and campaign on the issue of the crime numbers trending down, as this was fortuitously because of JLP's inaction in getting any new legislations. I say this on the basis that over the past year, the JLP government has taken no policy or any new anti-crime bills to Parliament. So, how can the prime minister have the nerve to substantiate such a position?
In closing, this is another classic example of the prime minister misspeaking or conveniently misrepresenting the facts for political expediency.
Dwight O. Bernard
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2.../letters4.html
I WOULD like you to afford me the privilege and opportunity to respond to an article that was published in The Gleaner dated Wednesday, December 7, titled 'Holness lauds JLP for lower crime numbers', written by Daraine Luton.
In the article, the prime minister was quoted as saying, "Today, we have reduced murders to 1,000 and it is trending down. It means one of your brothers or one of your sisters is alive today because the Labour Party put in place policies that ensure that crime goes down."
The prime minister was making reference to the murder rate falling from 1,600 to 1,000 this calendar year, compared with the previous one. However, the prime minister failed to demonstrate how his government contributed to this reduction. I find this comment by the Prime Minister Holness very disingenuous, as the reduction should be attributed to the hard work and dedication of the men and women in our security forces and not the policies of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP)-led government.
The reduction in the crime numbers is as a direct result of the extradition of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, a known JLP strongman and the alleged leader of the notorious Shower Posse, which was based in the JLP stronghold of Tivoli Gardens, west Kingston. I, therefore, argue that there is a direct correlation in the crime numbers trending down because of Mr Coke's extradition
I further find it mind-boggling for the prime minister to forcibly argue and campaign on the issue of the crime numbers trending down, as this was fortuitously because of JLP's inaction in getting any new legislations. I say this on the basis that over the past year, the JLP government has taken no policy or any new anti-crime bills to Parliament. So, how can the prime minister have the nerve to substantiate such a position?
In closing, this is another classic example of the prime minister misspeaking or conveniently misrepresenting the facts for political expediency.
Dwight O. Bernard
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2.../letters4.html
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