Gareth Manning, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

THE PARLIAMENTARY Opposition, the People's National Party (PNP), says it is willing to talk about the transformation of garrison communities when it starts bipartisan talks with the Government this week. Last Sunday, Prime Minister Bruce Golding said he anxiously wanted to resume the Vale Royal talks with the Opposition with a view to discussing Jamaica's pressing crime problem.

Speaking with The Sunday Gleaner, Opposition spokesman on National Security, Dr Peter Phillips, says the removal of criminality from politics is an effort the PNP has always supported in principle.

Willing to look at proposals

Phillips says while the PNP has proposals of its own, it would be willing to look at others, including legislative measures, but only if these can be appropriately defined within the ambit of the Jamaican Constitution. He notes, though, that Jamaica might not necessarily need new legislation to deal with its crime problem. What it needs is competent enforcement, argues Phillips.

Political garrisons are characterised by dominant electoral support for a political party, often through the use of force and intimidation.

"If you are saying that somebody uses force improperly against people (for the purpose of rallying votes), then that is something that is already against the law. So then, there is no reason to find another law. What you really need are competent enforcers, and that is why you need police reform," Phillips argues.

"I am willing to see how far legislation can go, but there is a lack of clarity about many of these concepts (political garrisons) because some people, including columnists in the newspapers, have defined garrisons as anywhere there is a preponderance of voting one way or the other. That is nonsense!" he adds.

"We need to remove any element of force; the use or threat of force from the political process itself, which is what I suspect people mean when they talk of the notion of garrison," he says.

Most 'garrisons' vote pnp

Most of the constituencies identified as political garrisons over the last 30 to 40 years strongly support the PNP. Of the 11 core garrisons that have been identified in Jamaica, seven are allied to the PNP.

About three quarters of the over 700 murders committed in Jamaica since the start of the year have taken place in political garrisons, police data show. The St Andrew South division, which is responsible for known garrisons such as South West St Andrew and most of South St Andrew, recorded the highest number of murders up to May 11, with 82 people killed.

gareth.manning@gleanerjm.com