The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) yesterday demanded that political representatives sever ties with gunmen and other criminal elements in their constituencies and gave the politicians until June 15 to put their commitments in writing and make them public.

Reciting what she said was the 2005 Declaration of Emancipation Park, president of the PSOJ, Beverly Lopez, also called on the political representatives to dismantle garrisons and refrain from accepting monetary or other support from criminals.

The demand drew instant support from Information Minister Burchell Whiteman. “I have no difficulty with this particular one which the parliamentarians and people in politics are called upon to commit, and it is something which we have articulated in the past and I believe that it is something Jamaicans would welcome,” Whiteman told the Observer.

The 12-point declaration also demanded that the Government take “immediate and decisive steps” to exercise the powers of the State to find and punish criminals.

“I reflected and thought that we have been suffering as a nation for far too many years,” Lopez said at a PSOJ-led protest rally at Emancipation Park in New Kingston yesterday afternoon. “We cannot continue living this way. We have to take a stand and demand a change.”

Lopez did not specify what action the PSOJ would take if their demands were not met, but hinted that the umbrella organisation would become “a more demanding group”.

The rally – which was attended by several hundred Jamaicans, including scores of the island’s leading business figures, as well as Government and Opposition politicians – signalled the beginning of three days of activities being spearheaded by the PSOJ in its protest against the escalating incidence of crime that have left more than 630 Jamaicans dead since the start of the year.

The rally was preceded by a half-day shutdown of businesses islandwide. A few firms, though, re-opened after the rally to which most participants wore gold and other national colours at the request of the PSOJ.

Among the other demands of the Declaration are:

. The establishment of a police oversight authority;

. Strengthening of the administrative capacity of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and the inclusion of overseas expertise;

. Equipping of the JCF with the necessary resources to effectively fight crime;

. The acceleration of the passage of legislation relating to finger-printing, plea bargaining, and electronic surveillance by the end of 2005 by both the Government and Opposition;

. Strengthening of the weaknesses in the judicial system; and

. That the Government lay out its anti-crime strategy and give a clear and precise timetable for the execution of its reform agenda, including the passage of legislation to underpin the process.

The PSOJ also encouraged all businesses to resist extortionists and pay up their taxes. As part of the declaration the PSOJ has also invited its members to adopt a police station, and said it will launch a fund-raising drive to assist with the necessary resources to fight crime.

A select board of trustees, Lopez said, will administer the fund.

“We call on every well-thinking citizen to get involved in the fight against crime,” she said. “Let us create a society which allows businesses and their employees, who have families to feed, to operate without fear or favour.”

Yesterday’s rally, which was largely spiritual, featured a roll call of this year’s murder victims. Religious songs were performed by Judy Mowatt, Michael Harris, Velia Espeut and the Kencot Seventh-day Adventist Church choir.

Pastor Adrian Cotterell of the East Jamaica Conference Seventh-day Adventist Church encouraged Jamaicans to go back to their spiritual roots, saying the absence of spirituality and moral values were at the heart of the problems.

“We are of one family in which some members have become wayward,” he said. “The central problem is not political, but moral and spiritual and we need to go back to our spiritual roots.”

Monsignor Richard Albert encouraged members of the private sector to take the “adopt a police station” a step further.

“I urge you to adopt the communities around the police stations, those poor, hungry and disadvantaged people,” he urged. “Empower the people to become self-reliant and self-sufficient.”

After the rally, Lopez hailed it as a success.

“I am very pleased with the turnout, I think the programme had its effects,” she said.

For Douglas Orane, executive chairman of GraceKennedy, it was “a very special moment in the history of Jamaica where you have persons from all walks of life, Government and Opposition, joining together to say enough is enough”.

Orane also said GraceKennedy would donate half of the day’s profit – about $5 million – to the fund established to reduce crime.