Warren Newby
GOVERNMENT SENATOR Warren Newby believes Jamaica should follow the example of the United States of America and enact the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act-type (RICO) laws.
"We ought to proceed along the lines of what took place in the US with the RICO laws," Newby said at a Gleaner Editors' Forum, held at the company's central Kingston offices last week. The forum discussed solutions to dismantling garrison communities.
Newby, who is the parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, said that it was very critical to pursue criminal networks that have safe havens in garrisons, through legislation.
"The police have not been able to convict them (criminals) of any major crimes. This is so because people are fearful of becoming witnesses because of corruption within the state machinery," Newby said.
The US enacted the RICO laws which provided for extended penalties for criminal acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organisation. RICO legislation was intended to make it easier to prosecute organised crime figures, but it has been applied in several other cases as well.
Under the RICO Act, a person or group who commits any two of 35 crimes within a 10-year period, with similar purpose or results, can be charged with racketeering.
- Daraine Luton
Garrison results
Golding has been in charge of the West Kingston constituency since 2005, when he replaced former Prime Minister Edward Seaga as the JLP's standard-bearer. Tivoli Gardens, a community in the constituency, was described as the 'mother of all garrisons by then Jamaica Defence Force head, now Police Commissioner Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin. Before that, Golding served as MP for another JLP garrison, Central St Catherine.Simpson Miller has held the South West St Andrew seat since 1976 and has never lost a contested election. She faced her toughest challenge during the JLP landslide victory in the 1980 general election, but still polled more than 17,000 votes while her opponent could only manage 4,524. To underline her dominance, in the next five contested general elections none of her opponents could manage to get 10 per cent of the votes cast. In fact, in 1993, Simpson Miller picked up 16,439 votes while her JLP rival received only 71.
