SOEs needed to save lives, says Duncan
President of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), Keith Duncan says states of emergency (SOEs) are necessary in Jamaica at this time to save lives.
“We need SOEs because we have a murder problem in Jamaica,” Duncan stressed.
“Although we should never as a country have to use this tool, but we are where we are and [it is] a tool that we have to apply,” Duncan reasoned.
He was speaking at the annual Chamber of Commerce and Industry (WCCI) dinner, in Savanna-La-Mar, on the weekend.
The PSOJ boss also argued that the enhanced security measures could also help to combat gangs that are “so wicked and are violence producers”.
“We have some gangs and dem will drive pass you and dem will shoot all baby and everybody get shot up,” he said of the gangs.
Meanwhile, Duncan is blaming a lack of investment in the country’s people for the crime monster.
“You know why we have a murder problem in Jamaica, because we are not investing in our people,” he argued.
However, he said, in the short-term, SOEs can be used to bring the situation under control, so the police force can “catch up”.
“But the other tool kit we have is to invest in our people, so that you can have different outcomes,” Duncan urged.
The SOEs which were declared on November 15, expired Tuesday at midnight.
The Government was seeking to have the SOEs extended on the basis that fewer murders occurred during the two weeks. However, the proposal was rejected by the parliamentary Opposition, which voted against the measures last week in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
