When will we demand more?
Dear Editor,
Over the past couple of decades no public problem has worried Jamaicans more persistently than crime. Yet crime has failed to bring down incumbent governments.
When one looks at polling data the majority of Jamaicans list the threat and manifestation of crime at the top of their concerns, but when the same people were asked to list the issues that will decide which candidate they will vote for, crime usually comes behind most other subjects. This phenomenon is so true when it comes to crime-infested constituencies like Kingston Western, East Kingston and Port Royal, St Catherine Central, Clarendon Central, St James Central and North Western, along with St Andrew Southern, South Western and Eastern, to name a few. If one follows the history of those constituencies they have been represented for years by prime ministers, Cabinet ministers, and prominent Members of Parliament (MP).
There is no social transformation of these constituencies; just keep them in their present condition and predicament and your victory at the polls is certain.
In the court of public opinion the perception is that our leaders can do much more to curb crime, but their piecemeal approach will not help. Truth and honesty from our leaders are the fulcrum that balances the effects of social transformation on one side and criminality on the other side. One is a function of the other. If social transformation goes up crime goes down, and the converse is true.
If you look at the representation in the present Parliament it baffles me why social transformation is not at the forefront in the fight against crime. Look at the portfolio of the MPs in most of the crime-infested constituencies — national security, education, community development, gender affairs, youth, prime minister, social security; and those who are in Opposition are party leader chairman.
That being said, I have to remind myself that Tom may be drunk all the while, but Tom is not always a fool!
Fernandez Smith
Former Jamaica Labour Party councillor
fgeesmith@yahoo.com