PM, place emphasis on crime reduction

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Dear Editor,

I wish to extend condolence to Edgar Gallimore's family during this time of pain and grief. I do sympathise with their loss — and a great loss it is indeed.

A few years ago I had the privilege of working on a project with Mr Gallimore and, for sure, I can attest to the sentiments of his being a brilliant mind.

I was the main editor for a concert celebrating his sojourn in life and I was quite impressed with his positive outlook on how one should aspire to relish every moment of life, especially when one works very hard to achieve their goals. As I listened to him reminisce about some areas of his childhood years and how he loved Judy Garland from the movie The Wizard of Oz and his passion for music, both from his generation and that of the upcoming one, I couldn't help but imagine how better Jamaica would be with more positive thinkers like Mr Gallimore. The thought even came to mind that if more creative-thinking people — like him — were aspiring to the office of public representation how much better we would be today.

Isn't it a sad day for not just his family, but Jamaica on a whole, for hard, honest, working men to be subjected to this kind of thuggery? And to make matters worse, less than 24 hours after being killed, gunmen invaded his house and robbed his family while they mourned his passing. How much more should we have to endure while our politicians play the blame game? How much more families should have to suffer like this because our leaders lack the political will to deal with crime and violence?

Police statistics have already polled over 140 murders since the start of the year, and all we can hear from the government is how much money the previous administration spent wastefully on projects and blabbering about this much-touted JEEP, which seems to be engineless, while the criminals are once again unleashed on the public.

Please, Madam Prime Minister, let it not be said that your party is synonymous with crime. Kindly place your emphasis on maintaining the miniscule gain in crime reduction by the previous administration. Because if the criminals are allowed to continue operating at this rapid rate, then unfortunately they will reach their target of killing most of the people living on this island. Do your best, if you fail, we all fail!

Melvin Pennant

warriorsunleashed@gmail.com