THE EDITOR MADAM:
I APPLAUD Mr. Gordon 'Butch' Stewart coming out and saying what most of us are feeling. The level of fear in this country is making living here untenable. Few would disagree with his analysis that what the Government is doing is not working and those responsible must fix it. Some of us may also agree that outside help will make a difference. Drawing on his business analogy I wish to make four points.
We need to forge a partnership with the stakeholders and become more people-oriented; in this case we need to work with the citizens in our communities. Who feels it knows it best. Outside help could shorten the learning curve, but there are many good, locally developed, community-based solutions awaiting only the political will to implement.
Outside help should not only be sought in policing, but in other areas such as conflict resolution. Ground breaking work along these lines has been taking place in several inner city communities with the involvement of police community relations officers. These community efforts have actually yielded encouraging results in reducing crime. The communities must be given a stake in the solution because there will be no peace without the involvement of those who suffer the most.
No business can thrive by 'killing' off its customers. Extra-judicial killings of innocent men, women and children must stop. I believe crime is more a reflection of injustice than poverty. We need to reform our justice system to honour human rights and respect the due process of the law. Under the law we are innocent until proven guilty. The 'security forces' must be made to understand this and act accordingly. And when they break the law they too must be punished. This will engender the respect and co-operation of the citizenry in the fight against crime. We can start today by dusting off and implementing the proposals made in the Wolfe Report.
We need a new political paradigm of accountability and a transparent set of performance criteria for all our elected Ministers and officials in key areas of responsibility not just for our National Security Minister. The need to produce tangible results is true of all managers in any business in order for the business as a whole to perform well. Objectives must be harmonised according to some agreed mission. Failure to meet these stated objectives usually results in the termination of an individual's contract as a consequence. I agree with Mr. Stewart, let us start applying these business principles to government and demand accountability.
Crime is a result of successive government's failure to ameliorate inhumane living conditions and provide opportunities for the majority of our people. We have become a callous, brutal and depraved society where criminals justify their actions saying 'a work mi a work' and the 'security forces' appear to be empowered to literally 'kick' citizens to death and trample on their human rights with impunity. By allowing this to go on over time we have all helped to create this monster.
We cannot have dialogue and forge solutions about crime without acknowledging the wide ranging historical injustices in Jamaica and their links with politics. We need a new ethical paradigm in our political leadership and our justice system, so that we can all feel safe walking the streets and sleeping in our beds at night, regardless of our class.
Put simply, we have forgotten to love our neighbours as ourselves. Injustice is the key problem facing our country today not crime. We have to understand its genesis in order to solve it.
I am, etc.,
ROBIN LIM LUMSDEN
E-mail: Limlum@infochan.com
