Yesterday, in this space, we reiterated our long-held view that the problems facing this country, most notably crime and violence, can be overcome by united action focused on making Jamaica a better place to live.

The situation, we stated, cries out for Government and Opposition, business sector, trade unions, Church, civil society, community leaders, and, we add today, all law-abiding citizens to come together in a grand alliance, a national movement, to find solutions.

The old way of adversity and seeking to gain political and personal mileage from what now besets us will not only create more division, but will not redound to the benefit of the country.

Nothing dampens the spirit and depresses the psyche of a people more than violent crime — crime committed by evil, callous brutes who Mr Keith Duncan, the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) president, has joined this newspaper in labelling terrorists.

More people in this country need to get to the point at which they are resolved to fight with might and main against any acceptance of evil. To do otherwise would be to accept that Jamaica is untenable, that the country has no future.

A terrible danger is that the level of violence we are now seeing can lead Jamaicans to believe that there is nothing to be done about it; that people become so inured to the barbarians and their evil deeds that they will be accepted as a given.

For that reason we have kept hammering the point that, as a people, Jamaicans and our leaders must organise ourselves and stand as one — not as members of opposing political parties, but as one people against criminals. Such a determined and organised stance, we believe, is the most glaring missing element in this nation’s perennial struggle to rid itself of criminality.

Rather than talking destructive foolishness on political platforms, the country’s leaders should be exploring together the best ways of empowering and organising communities to assist the security forces.

In addition to correcting loopholes in law that make it easier for criminals to escape justice, our legislators should be sitting together to find ways of improving Jamaica’s penal and correctional system, so that convicts can return to society, after incarceration, as potentially useful citizens, rather than embittered and hardened criminals.

Everyone should remember that, regardless of which political party is in power, the criminals will still be here if we simply sit back and do nothing but play the blame game. Importantly, at the community level, people need to desist from shielding criminals, as when the cover you provide is no longer secure, those same criminals will turn on you and your family.

Mr Duncan, in his address to the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association on Saturday night, made some sensible suggestions, among them the strengthening of our education system, particularly at the early childhood level, as well as the development of human capital. While these are not new, they are worth re-emphasising, Indeed, there is need for urgent action.

As the PSOJ president correctly pointed out, Jamaica is doing well in terms of macroeconomic stability. Imagine, then, how much more could be achieved if, as a united people, we deal decisively with crime.