By Nagra Plunkett, Staff Reporter 
WESTERN BUREAU:
ATTORNEY-GENERAL, Senator A. J. Nicholson, has condemned accusations by Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) that the Government is conspiring with corrupt and inept members of the security forces, saying that the utterances threaten efforts to restore law and order in the country.
"Statements of this sort coming from influential members of our society act
as encouragement and succour to those who would ply their murderous trade of death and destruction," said the Minister of Justice on Thursday during an address to Justices of the Peace at a
ceremony to present them with official seals in Savanna-la-mar, Westmoreland.
BUOYED AND BEEFED UP
"These persons are buoyed and beefed up by such assertions coming particularly from persons, whose main mission is to ferret out indiscretions on the part of the security forces," he said.
Recently, Dr. Carolyn Gomes, executive director of JFJ, accused the state of colluding with the security forces to prevent the administration of justice in extra-judicial killings at a press conference. She also presented a report, which she said illustrated that several police and Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) killings over the past five years, have been mishandled as a result of poor collection and contamination of evidence, inadequate post-mortem procedures among other deficiencies.
The human rights lobby group has been staunch critics of inefficiency and incompetence on the part of the police as well as judicial officials, particularly in controversial killings and alleged abuses. Senator Nicholson insisted that such "dangerous assertions" find their way onto the international circuit and has a damaging effect on the country's potential for feasible economic growth.
"It can do Jamaica no good in terms of our ability to attract investment and tourists to our shores and to enhance our ability to attract loans and financial assistance from foreign countries," he pointed out, while adding that confidence in our ability to create and sustain a viable developmental process is critical.
The minister maintained that the current administration considers it necessary to work along with other entities in the country, including human rights groups, in the process of development and the protection of its citizens. In the same breath, he noted how "difficult it was to sit at the same table in pursuit of these ideals when some of the groupings in our society harbour and express the view that the Government is engaged in malevolent and unjust activities."
