Bunting says Montague ‘not fully engaged’ with security portfolio
FORMER Minister of National Security and People’s National Party (PNP) spokesman for the portfolio, Peter Bunting, said yesterday that the recent flare-up of violence in sections of St James has shown that Security Minister Robert Montague is not “fully engaged” with the portfolio.
“We’ve been having huge challenges in St James for a number of months. I have been invited by various civil society groups to participate in events around Peace Day, for example last week and earlier there was another event promoting non-violence [and] violence prevention. And on both occasions the minister was absent… you would have thought that he would have been on the ground a lot more where the problem is most serious,” Bunting told journalists at yesterday’s PNP press conference at the party’s headquarters in Kingston which was called to discuss the country’s crime problem.
Bunting added that while he understands how arduous the portfolio can be, the minister, in his approach, has shown no real effort in impacting crime, which is crippling the country’s western city, Montego Bay, and surrounding communities in the parish.
“… So my impression is that either he’s still finding his feet or he doesn’t have an enthusiasm for the job as difficult as it is. I acknowledge it is a tough job as I am one of the few people who can relate to that. [But] I think he could throw himself into the job with much more enthusiasm and energy,” said Bunting.
He added that the Opposition was “deeply” concerned about the wave of murders and shootings that have engulfed St James over the past few weeks.
Bunting argued that just last week the country was rocked by 36 murders, 17 of which occurred in St James. Additionally, he said a further 24 shootings have occurred, with St James accounting for seven.
“While this is an emergency situation, the Opposition is not calling for a state of emergency, or any other knee-jerk measure designed to severely restrict the human rights of our citizens, we are instead demanding a sense of urgency from the Government in pulling together all stakeholders to craft a solution,” the spokesman said.
“We are recommending a high-level stakeholder’s summit of policy makers, (including the Opposition), the security forces, the private sector, and civil society to craft an emergency response to address the plight of citizens in St James and [the rest of] western Jamaica, who are trapped in this cycle of lethal violence. The goal would be to understand the complex issues contributing to the current wave of violence and develop short, medium, and longer term responses,” he added.
Bunting said almost three months ago the Opposition called on Government to act “speedily” to mitigate the crisis situation in St James and other western parishes; for saturation patrolling which required significant budgetary resources to maintain additional personnel from outside of Area 1; and cash resources, which, he said, would have been necessary to provide food, accommodation, fuel, and intelligence acquisition for the reinforcements from Mobile Reserve and Motorized Patrol.
— Kimone Francis