DEPUTY spokesman on national security, Pearnel Charles Jnr, has urged Jamaicans to “rise up and wise up” and reject the poor governance now being displayed by the ruling People’s National Party.

Addressing a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Area Council One meeting at Pembroke Hall Community Centre in St Andrew, Charles said the Government has repeatedly demonstrated that it lacks accountability and effective management skills.

“Look at the 365-megawatt project that they dropped? That could have changed the lives of so many Jamaicans, millions of dollars would have been invested in this country, thousands of Jamaicans would have gained employment. Our light bills would have gone down, productivity would have gone up, that is an example of mismanagement.

Look at the National Housing Trust, and what I described as corruption, and one of the most clear examples of bad management,” Charles charged.

“Look at the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) and Riverton City fire, which has affected so many of our children and our people. My daughter was in the hospital, and many of my friends were nebulised,” Charles said. “This is no joke. Any other country and that somebody wasn’t fired they would have been in jail. But we have persons coming out and talking that she (NSWMA head Jennifer Edwards) was not at the dump and that that she did not light it.”

He said that the Government not only lacks accountability, but that it has no respect for the people of this country. He said the latter was evident with the last-minute preparations made for the visit of United States President Barack Obama nearly two weeks ago.

“That visit has exposed this Administration for the disrespectful [body] that it is, and it has exposed to us, not just JLP, but to Jamaica that it is not a lack of resources that is stopping us from moving forward, but the lack of political will,” he said.

“When we want to get something done it is done. I never before see people working in the night, in the day and in the afternoon,” Charles stated, noting that he was happy for Obama’s visit as it resulted in many neglected roads being re-paved.

Turning to the issue of crime, Charles said that he and his colleagues were not happy to report that 320 people had lost their lives since the start of the year and that they have no intention of using the current statistics to gain political mileage.

However, he criticised National Security Minister Peter Bunting and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller for their handling of the recent spate of killings, saying that it is the duty of the two, as leaders, to find effective solutions to address the problems.

He said the situation is so bad he has had to stop his young daughter from watching the nightly news.

“My daughter, who is five, looked at me last night and said ‘Daddy, make sure you come home and that you don’t die’. What on earth is this? I have to be hiding her from the news,” he said.

“How do I explain to my daughter that it is normal for four men, including three students, to be put on their bellies and executed and nothing happens. And you go down there a hug up people and put it in the newspaper, and there is nothing, no change, no response, nobody resign, nothing is happening,” Charles said making reference to the visit by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and Youth Minister Lisa Hanna to the families of the three schoolboys and the 35-year-old man who was executed in Monymusk, Clarendon, last week.

“If they want they can pave the roads; if they don’t want they don’t have to pave the roads. If they want they can come down and hug you and then go back into the air-conditioned car and leave you where your are. Dem all right,” he said.

But he said the country should not expect any changes, as the current Administration is “comfortable and cool.”

As a result, he urged Jamaicans to reject that low standard of governance and to demand action. He said the JLP stands ready to offer a different type of governance that hinges on accountability.

Meanwhile, spokesman on national security, Derrick Smith, said that the Government must come clean and acknowledge that it is not making any progress in the fight against crime and violence.

“If Government was serious they would not reduce the budget for 2015-2016 — They not serious. The police fleet is about 50-55 per cent of what it ought to be,” Smith said.

“How will these men and women move about to protect you and to protect me?” he asked while noting that the police force was underequipped.

However, Smith said that the security forces alone cannot fight crime and called on all Jamaicans to play their part, as the quadruple murder in Monymusk has shown the severity of the problem.

“It really gone,” Smith lamented.