We are still very early in the new year. Well-thinking Jamaicans are still busy embracing the many opportunities and challenges of 2026. At the same time, some among us remain fixated on shovelling their same old dirt from 2025 and before. Sowing seeds of discontent is their full-time job.

I earnestly believe that if the very high levels of intellectual dishonesty — evidenced especially in the utterances of some among us, including individuals who are well-heeled, well-credentialled, and/or wear bright shiny robes — were a viable/profitable export some individuals and several organisations in this country would be richer than Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla and SpaceX, and Larry Page, Google’s co-founder, put together.

Hoodwinkers knee-deep in the sordid intellectual Ponzi scheme locally do not rest. Discerning Jamaicans can decipher the seedy objectives of these charlatans, fanatics, and confidence tricksters from a mile away. Well-thinking Jamaicans must not stay silent and allow these destroyers to confuse the public and derail the advance of this country. Those who shovel dirt must be exposed repeatedly.

Recall the tale The Scorpion and the Frog. A scorpion persuades a frog to carry him across a stream by promising not to sting him, claiming it would lead to both their deaths. However, midway across, the scorpion stings the frog, leading to their mutual demise, as he explains: “It’s my nature.”

Be not tricked like the unsuspecting frog. Scorpions are among us. I am talking about a preponderance of intellectual scorpions. They will always do what scorpions do. Those who are discerning have a duty to warn of their deadly dangers.

“Higgins, why so strong a characterisation?” some will bellow.

I believe the scorpion description is quite fitting for those among us who are immensely unhappy because of the reduction in major crimes, in particular murders. They would prefer to hear greater weeping, mourning, and gnashing of teeth of Jamaicans. Why? They devilishly calculate that the more power ‘King Crime’ accumulates, and the more monstrosities he releases on Jamaicans, the better are their personal chances of becoming people of great importance, with titles and power, and oftentimes State power to match.

Perhaps I even do the scorpion an injustice when I compare it to these dastardly individuals who are willing to ride on the coffins of other Jamaicans if that will advance their personal power acquisition and related agendas. Like the scorpion, unenlightened self-interest has blinded them. They are dangerous!

Up to the time of writing there was a 28 per cent decline in homicides compared to the corresponding period in 2025. That means 41 fewer Jamaicans have been murdered. I am not happy that any Jamaican has been murdered, but I am glad that, following the historic 31-year decline in murders in 2025, homicides continue to decrease.

The State must not waver in its commitment to rid us of those whose vocation is heinous crime. The State must continue to be tough on crime and the causes of crime, wherever they exist in our land. Those who provide whether overt or covert cover for the devils among us who snuff out the lives of law-abiding citizens must be exposed to the sanitising heat of sunlight. It is the right thing to do.

Recently, Dr Horace Chang — the best-performing minister of national security since Jamaica gained political independence — placed the heat of public scrutiny on those who formulaically embrace a stony silence when Jamaicans are murdered, but shout with all their might from high and low places when apex predators and other criminals are killed by our security forces. Their actions are despicable.

Some, dressed in the cloak of civil society, evidently aim to relegate members of our security forces to hostages in uniform. I am unrepentant that powder puffs and hugs should not be applied to criminals who shoot at the police or otherwise endanger the lives of law-abiding citizens. Vicious criminals have had the upper hand in Jamaica for far too long.

The most recent Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) statistics show that most major crimes continue to head in the right direction when compared to 2025. Scorpions are upset by the big declines in murders and other major crimes. Well-thinking Jamaicans must continually repudiate defenders of criminals. We are in the firing line minus the wherewithal to protect ourselves from those who kill for a living.

Dr Chang should not relent in his steadfast implementation of fundable and practical policies that are helping to keep Jamaicans safer. Neither should he quit pouring the sanitising heat of public scrutiny on those among us camouflaged in human rights garb. They are consciously blinded in one eye when it comes to the human rights of victims who are raped, robbed, maimed, murdered, and so on.

The Administration must not allow the bleating of whippersnappers to detain the fight against marauding criminals whose continual sup from the corroded mug of death and destruction retards Jamaica’s development. We are all poorer, weaker, and less respected globally because of the sordid actions of those who worship the grim reaper.

Whether they come one by one, two by two, or even in a ‘bungle’, as we say locally, does not alter the fact that overtly and/or covertly riding with criminals while professing unflinching support for the security forces is incompatible. A “bothie” — someone who supports or plays on two sides — is not liked or trusted locally, and for obvious reasons.

Recently the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) was plunged in mourning following the death of a third-year engineering student, Michael Patterson. His partially decomposed body was found in a canal in St Catherine.
The Star newspaper of March 2, 2026 said this: “The 39-year-old had been pursuing a Bachelor of Electrical and Computer Engineering while working as a security guard. Determined and driven, Patterson, his mother said, had accumulated multiple certifications but remained focused on completing his degree.

“ ‘He had a lot of certificates and stuff like that, and he could have stopped, but he said this last one, he wants to do it so he can secure a proper job,’ Grant said.”

To fund the cost of his education, Patterson also participated in ride-share driving so that he could earn the necessary extra cash. Here was a hard-working man who did not ask for handouts. He was abiding by the biblical principle that, ‘By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food.’ Some vermin cut short his life. Some who say they defend human rights have not condemned his murder. Obviously!

Recently, the gritty community of Denham Town was also plunged in mourning when three-year-old Jayce Pinnock was brutally murdered.

Ponder this: “Police report that sometime after 1:00 am gunmen went to the home, where there is also a business establishment, and posed as customers before opening fire on the family.

“When the shooting subsided, the father, Jayce, and another child were found with gunshot wounds.

“They were taken to hospital where Jayce was pronounced dead and the father and other child admitted.” (Jamaica Observer, February 24, 2026)

Again, some who swear on the Bible that they are committed defenders of human rights have not condemned the child’s murderers. Obviously!

At the time of writing I did not see where any civil society advocate and/or group had expressed condolence to the families and/or devastated communities of the murdered child. It is not difficult to figure why. The raison d’etre of these individuals/groups, I maintain, is the defence of criminals.

Do they possess any genuine “milk of human kindness” (Shakespeare in Macbeth Act I, Scene 5) for victims? I think not! The thousands of Jamaicans who, over many decades, have lost fathers, mothers, breadwinners, and other loved ones — often in the midst of their most productive years — deserve swift justice. Many were vital contributors to their families and communities. Hundreds of Jamaicans, especially children, are suffering emotionally and financially today because some brute snuffed out the life of their loved one.

Hundreds of families will remain in pain for many years to come. I continue to strongly believe that law-abiding citizens should have easier access to proportionate means to defend ourselves against the fiends who prey upon us and agents of the State every day.

The Observer of January 8, 2019 said: “Prime Minister Andrew Holness says that the Government is well advanced in executing Plan Secure Jamaica, which will see the reduction of murders to below the regional average of 16 per 100,000 (less than 500 annually) within the next decade.” All well-thinking Jamaicans must support the realisation of this goal.

CLEAR CHOICE!

Those who “rub butta on puss mouth” and then expect the feline to be listless are living in la-la land.

The dedicated men and women who serve in the JCF and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) are a credit to their profession. The major reduction in crime that we are seeing would not be possible without them working beyond the call of duty, daily.

I anticipate some are going to say, “But the security forces have some very bad people within their ranks.”

True! So what is to be done, condemn the two groups because of the bad apples among them? No! The answer, as I see it, is to strengthen the internal systems within the security forces to performance-manage the bad apples out.

Understand this, I would rather take my chances with the members of the security forces any day, as imperfect as they are. Criminals have one objective, the robbing, maiming, murdering, and impoverishing of you and me. The choice is clear!

All well-thinking Jamaicans must continue the fight against criminals and their enablers, near and far.

Investing in the protection of criminals is a zero-sum game. Selling our birthright for a “mess of pottage” only leads to deleterious comeuppances.

Recall the biblical story of Esau selling his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of lentil stew (Genesis 25:29-34). It highlights short-sightedness and misplaced priorities. We must not be caught in that snare.

The legendary Bob Marley warned us long ago about those who allow themselves to be bamboozled by shiny trinkets from yard or abroad and then sell their birthright. “Stiff necked fools” is how Marley described such people in one of his seminal songs. Their demise is sure, Marley noted.

Consider these very potent lyrics, from Marley:

“Stiff-necked fools, you think you are cool

To deny me for simplicity.

Yes, you have gone for so long

With your love for vanity now.

Yes, you have got the wrong interpretation

Mixed up with vain imagination …..”

The cacophonous voices of those who mollycoddle criminals must be repudiated often — that’s for sure. Our collective advance depends on this action.

A WORD ON CHARISMA

Since my The Agenda piece two Sundays ago, titled ‘Can Damion Crawford do it? A look at the other contenders for PNP top job’, some readers have reacted to say that Crawford is not charismatic, as I described in the mentioned piece.

“I don’t even like him. Charismatic my foot!” one reader exclaimed.

Charisma is impact. It’s the presence a person commands when he/she enters a room or takes the stage. Charisma is about a person’s ability to use rhetoric — whether grounded in empathy, vulnerability, social solidarity, and so on — to excite people, deliver a message, and have them listen and, more often than not, buy into that message.

Many charismatic people are hugely disliked, but that does not nullify the fact of their gift. Charisma has little to do with whether a person is nice or good.

Charisma fades without substance. Crawford needs to understand this important fact.

Garfield Higgins is an educator and journalist. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or higgins160@yahoo.com.

HOLNESS…the Government is well advanced in executing Plan Secure Jamaica.

The State must continue to be tough on crime and the causes of crime, wherever they exist in our land. file

Garfield Higgins

Dr Horace Chang .

This crime scene investigator was one of several working behind this cordoned area in Payton Place, August Town, St Andrew, following the shooting death of two brothers reportedly by criminal elements. Karl Mclarty