Dear Editor,

The year 2019 began with a sour taste in our mouths, where many Jamaicans had lost their lives violently by the gun. Despite the Government’s initiatives to introduce various legal programmes, such as zones of special operations (ZOSOs), Peace Management Initiative (PMI), to name a couple, there seems to have been an increase in the number of guns entering our shores.

Many loved ones saw their relatives and friends gunned down by lawless men who showed no regard for the law of the land. Every eve of a new year, it seems, new guns are tested in an effort to ring in the new year. This is no news to Minister of National Security Horace Chang, the police commissioner, and the law men and women. Yet, they are unable to bring in these guns that are used to snuff out the lives of our brothers and sisters in a rapid way.

Quite recently, in Waterford, Portmore, St Catherine, three lives were taken away by wicked gunmen under the watchful eyes of law men actively engaged in the current ZOSO activity. Four people were murdered in Dover, St Mary. At the rate we are loosing our people by the gun it seems no one will be around to fulfil the Vision 2030. The various authorities, civic groups, corporate bodies, and civil society in Jamaica must continue to work cohesively to rid our little island of these wanton killers and numerous crimes.

It is my firm belief, though, that both political parties have encouraged the entrance of a number of illegal guns into our country over these many years. What brought both political parties political victories has also served as a nightmare. We are hoping, though, that in the year to come partisan politics will not supersede the concerted efforts of many to rid this country of the illegal guns that have found their way into the hands of criminal elements.

According to Assistant Commissioner of Police Devon Watkis, in St Andrew Western Police Division 4, 1,302 murders took place. He said out of the figure given, 165 of those murders took place in St Andrew West.

I may sound hopeless, but I am hopeful that 2020 will bring a substantial reduction in murders and other crimes. However, we must look to the higher powers for help. May God grant peace to our little island, Jamaica.

Happy New Year to my fellow Jamaicans.

Alrick Davis

alrico_dee@yahoo.com