Dear Prime Minister:

I am not aware that there is a job description for the post you hold in the same way one would expect in the private sector.

But, even in the absence of such, it is a fair to assume that one of the main responsibilities and duties of the office would be to ensure law and order. This has been understood to be the first and ultimate public good governments are expected to deliver going back to, at least, the 17th century and contributions such as that of English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes in his seminal work Leviathan.

You, Sir, do not have to be convinced of this fact. Comments attributed to you during the declaration of the state of emergency (SOE) covering the entire parish of St Catherine in June of this year and reported in the June 18, 2022 edition of the Jamaica Observer clearly demonstrate that you know what is at stake. Observer Senior Staff Reporter Balford Henry quoted you as saying, inter alia, “Government’s first responsibility is the preservation and protection of life. Government measures and keeps track of deaths in the society, not just for the purpose of statistics, but it is important for Government to ensure that the average citizen feels safe and secure.” You, Sir, would, therefore, be among the first to agree that under your leadership and during the tenure of the current Administration failure to curtail the rate of crime, especially murder, is a blemish on the Government’s performance.

In 2015, the last full year before you returned as prime minister, 1,354 murders were recorded. At the end of 2017 the rate shot up (pun intended) to 1,647, with a per-capita murder rate of 63 per 100,000 people, one of the highest in the world. At mid-year, July 16, 2022, the bodies of an additional 7,864 murder victims had been interred in burial grounds across this fair land under your watch. September 2022 was one of, if not the bloodiest month on record, with a reported 147 murders. Remember, Prime Minister, in the run-up to the February 2016 General Election, a major plank in your campaign was a promise made that Jamaicans would be able to sleep with their windows and doors open.

As it stands today, Jamaica’s intentional homicide rate, at almost 50 per 100,000, tops Latin America and the Caribbean. Comparative statistics on homicide, reported by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), put Jamaica’s rate at eight times the world average. By one estimate, crime costs Jamaica close to five per cent of our gross domestic product (GDP) or in the region of $100 billion, which translates to about $40,000 for each citizen.

There is no solution in sight. In a recent poll by the highly regarded Don Anderson organisation, 91 per cent and 93 per cent of respondents say they have little or no confidence in the Commissioner of Police Major General Antony Anderson and National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang, respectively. The same polls revealed a 35 per cent plunge in public confidence in the effectiveness of states of emergency, the Government’s main crime-fighting strategy.

In the absence of efficacious remedy by Government, the crime problem, like untreated cancer, is metastasising into forms once alien to Jamaica. Mass murders and what some people are referring to as terrorist attacks have become the order of the day. Acts of domestic violence are being committed with a level of savagery equalling those by criminal gangs. Not a nook or cranny, including home, church, and school, has been spared from being the scene of a crime.

Prime Minister, as gory as the murders are, as palpable the national pain and shame, there is a greater threat posed by the absence of mitigating strategies to stem the near anarchy in our communities and on the streets. Jamaicans are losing hope, willing to give up that which is most precious in a civilised society. Studies by reputable institutions, such as Vanderbilt University, have uncovered a worrying trend with upward of 30 per cent of the populace expressing a willingness to give up some hard-won civil rights to give the police a free hand in going after criminals. This level of desperation is amplified by shrill and misplaced utterances coming from senior officers within government ranks. Prime Minister, the framers and enforcers of the law cannot be breakers of the law.

While accepting that each citizen has a role to play in solving crime, it is Government that must bear the heavy end of the load. The ballot box offers a means of changing Government and non-performing politicians through the democratic process. Truth be told, many Jamaicans have grown cynical in believing that when it comes to solving crime generally, and murder in particular, the only party that seems to have the answer is the one out of power.

Every patriotic Jamaican must put politics aside and join the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) President Keith Duncan in holding you and your Administration accountable in this matter, and do so with a degree of civic militancy if necessary.

Prime Minister, come up with measures to stop the wanton acts of murder, now!

Dr Henley Morgan is founder and executive chairman of the Trench Town-based Social Enterprise, Agency for Inner-city Renewal and author of My Trench Town Journey — Lessons in Social Entrepreneurship and Community Transformation for Policy Makers, Development Leaders, and Practitioners. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or hmorgan@cwjamaica.com.