JAMAICA | PNP Delivered better Performance with fewer Resources in National Security

KINGSTON, Jamaica: The Opposition notes Minister Horace Chang's pathetic attempt to find another excuse for his failed performance as Minister of National Security. After almost seven years of JLP government, the Minister over the weekend accused the People's National Party administration of 2012-2015 of ‘defunding the police’.

‘Defund the police’ is a slogan popularly used in the USA by persons who support removing funds from police departments and reallocating them to non-policing forms of public safety and community support such as Social Services, Youth Services, Housing, Education, Healthcare and other community resources. It is ironic that Minister Chang's administration's ineffective attempt at militarizing policing in Jamaica through the routine use of States of Emergencies actually makes a strong case for the advocates of a more balanced approach to public safety.

The last PNP administration operated under a severe fiscal austerity programme agreed with the IMF and necessitated by the economic mismanagement of the 2007-2011 JLP administration. Notwithstanding these budgetary constraints, the JCF statistics show that the PNP administration had 1,200 fewer murders in 2012-2015 compared with any four-year period under this current Andrew Holness-led administration. The indisputable fact is that the PNP delivered a better performance with fewer resources!

Minister Chang has signalled from October 26th that the Prime Minister will finally deliver a crime plan at the JLP's Annual Conference. This sudden frenzy of excuses, combined with last Friday's call by Government Senator Don Wehby supporting States of Emergency (notwithstanding the Court's ruling of unconstitutionality), means that we can anticipate more dramatic announcements from the JLP in this week leading up to and culminating in their Annual Conference. These announcements will not truly be about people's safety and security but about gaslighting the population with political propaganda. Shame on the JLP!

The Opposition commends to this JLP administration and the public the oft-quoted statement by then Trinidad & Tobago Opposition Leader Keith Rowley, "Anytime a government resorts to blaming the Opposition for the failure to deliver on their mandate and their responsibilities to the people, it is a clear sign that they have accepted that they have outlived their usefulness".

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