KINGSTON, Jamaica — Central Clarendon Member of Parliament (MP), Mike Henry, has reacted with alarm at news to the five murders in the parish up to Wednesday.

Henry, who is also minister of transport, said that although none of the murders are of no great comfort, as there appears to be no respite from the high murder rate in the parish as a whole from last year and the local police need to account for the protracted situation there.

He urged the police hierarchy in the parish to urgently get a grip on the spate of murders that have been besetting the parish for quite some time, “and begin to do what is now absolutely necessary to arrest the situation and bring the perpetrators to book for their wanton and utterly lawless actions.”

In extending condolence to the families and associates of two public passenger vehicle operators who were numbered among Tuesday’s murder victims, Henry said he particularly empathised with public passenger vehicle operators in general, who have had to take extreme risk in seeking to “simply make a honest living for their families”.

He said as a leader in the parish, he does not intend to “sit idly by and allow the present situation to continue and degenerate even further”.

Henry said the criminals have for quite some time been displaying scant regard for law enforcement in the country, “and it is long past the time for the police to begin to really get a grip on the situation, not only in Clarendon, but across the country at large.”

The five murders include that of Orlando Beckford, a 39-year-old taxi driver, who was killed during a robbery after he stopped to let off a passenger on Tuesday.

That same day, 40-year-old farmer Franklyn Morgan, 17-year-old Odane Baker and Fitzroy Joseph, a 33-year-old barber, were also shot dead.

Then on Wednesday, the body of 31-year-old auto body repairman Kevin Francis was found on Orange Street in the parish.