Dear Editor,

I am confused and I think that all of Jamaica should be confused as well.

The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is in its second term in office and Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang would want well-thinking Jamaicans to believe that the previous Administration is responsible for his and his Government’s failure to stem crime in Jamaica. Minister Chang seems to be sleeping, like he does ocassionally in Parliament, except that this time he is sleepwalking.

According to Minister Chang, the People’s National Party (PNP) is responsible for the high crime rate because they did not give the police the funding they needed. As a matter of fact, he used a term that was used in the United States to create division between citizens and the police. He made reference to “defunding” the police and made the claim that this was what the previous Administration did.

His attempt at gaslighting the Jamaican people after the Andrew Holness Administration has been in office for seven years is not only shameful but laughable. This tactic, which was used by the Republicans in the United States, will not work in Jamaica.

It is ironic that Minister Chang and many in the JLP like to boast that they have budgeted more money for the security forces than any other Administration, yet government Senator Don Wehby was telling us just last week that the security budget was severely underspent and a committee should be set up to look into the issue. This is a failure on the part of Minister Chang or are we to assume that he has, by default, defunded the police by not spending the money allocated. Meanwhile, we see wanton waste in places like the Ministry of Health as outlined in the recent Auditor General’s report on COVID-19 spending.

I want to suggest to Minister Chang that the people are not fools. They can see through the gaslighting.

This Holness-led Administration is always trying to blame everyone else, even after being elected by a majority. First it was the absence of states of emergency (SOEs) why crime is rampant; then it was the civil society groups who are lobbying for human rights and in so doing are supporting the criminals; now they have resorted to blaming the Opposition.

Ralston Chamberlain

ralston.chamberlain@alum.utoronto.ca