The Editor, Sir:

The current Government of Jamaica has interesting plans for the future of Jamaica, but I believe that nothing can provide a better return on investment than investing in reducing the crime rate and especially the murder rate.

A better health-care system only means that we can treat gunshot and stab wounds more efficiently. Free tuition means that when violence flares up in a community and children have to stay home, the parents are not the ones wasting money, it is the taxpayers.

Jamaica cannot become an offshore financial centre, a top destination for high-end tourists, a more attractive location for overseas companies to invest or a major player on the casino circuit if crime, especially murder, is not curtailed.

Brain drain

More citizens will continue to leave in order to take advantage of opportunities outside Jamaica if jobs are not created and the country becomes less safe. More people in the diaspora will choose not to return to Jamaica after retirement for the same reasons.

Also, a country cannot be so dependent on remittances, an 'industry' that is entirely dependent on the economy of the sender's country. The economy slowdown in the USA undoubtedly has had some impact, add to that the rising costs of food and fuel, which means an increased cost of living that disproportionately hurts lower- and middle-income earners, the main source of remittances.

Grow the economy by reducing crime because that makes Jamaica more attractive to internal and external investors, which means more jobs, more tax dollars and more opportunities for all.

I am, etc.,

DAVID MULLINGS

david.mullings@gmail.com

Pembroke Pines, Fl

Via Go-Jamaica