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Jamaica has to solve the crime problem that plagues it. 

If it does not it will be to the detriment of the citizenry and the economy.

Business leaders and civic groups have remained quiet, perhaps they are immune and regard it as the status quo in Jamaica.

No country can advance and be deemed developed or civilised for that matter if it has one of the highest murder rates in the world and that has been the case in Jamaica for decades.

The winter tourism season began last Sunday and its importance cannot be understated. Tourism and transportation account for 30 per cent of Jamaica’s GDP and last year the country raked in over US$4 billion from this vital industry.

But who wants to visit a country which has one of the highest murder rates in the world and where you are taking a chance with your well-being and safety?

Already the United States Government and the Canadian Government have put out advisories telling its people not to visit Jamaica because of its crime problem.

Some say tourists do not get killed and that the murders are primarily carried out by gangs.

Veteran court reporter Barbara Gayle was a wonderful lady and perhaps the top in her field. She worked for the venerable Gleaner for decades and during her tenure there won plaudits and awards. She was always pleasant, amenable and church-going. A finer woman you could not find.

Aged 77 she was brutally murdered in her home, stabbed multiple times in the neck and her forehead bashed in. Her mobile phone and car were stolen. Why would such an upstanding Jamaican citizen meet such a heinous end in her own home, in her own country?

There are many older Jamaicans in the Diaspora who dream of returning home and spending their golden years in Jamaica. When they hear of Barbara Gayle’s fate they must have second thoughts.

It is the job of any government to protect and ensure the welfare of its people. The inability to do so is deeply disturbing and perturbing. 

How long can Jamaica bury its head in the sand on its crime problem? Why is it unable to solve this problem? Some say the high number of murders and perennial crime is due to a failing economy, broken families, social ills and moral turpitude.

It is no good talking about debt reduction, and high NIR when people are being killed at will in a country that is not at war. The commonality of murder in Jamaica is a cause for concern.

Christmas they say is a time for joy, good will to all men. In Jamaica, it is a time when death takes you by the hand and you can meet a horrible end. People have to cower in their own homes as a beleaguered police force is under siege and overwhelmed. 

“Crime is out of control in Jamaica and the murder rate continues to be unacceptable. When Donald Trump becomes President he will not accept Jamaicans going on a crime spree in the United States or killing vacationing US citizens. He will deport the lot and crack down on  Jamaica so hard, that the government there will beg for mercy. Trump is not playing around, Jamaica better be wise to what he is going to do,” said Maria Harrison of Florida International University.

Blossom O’Meally Nelson has given sterling service to her country and did a good job as Postmaster-General. Earlier this week, she had to flee for her life and was run off the road when gunmen in broad daylight on Roehampton Drive in Kingston engaged in heavy weaponry gunfight where her life was imperilled. She said, “It was a harrowing experience. I was going to get my eyebrows done. The crime is on top of us now. It is not somewhere else.”

How much longer will we continue to hear platitudes and vapid statements about solving crime and murder in this beautiful country? What madness plagues this land?

There was a week last month which saw 44 murders in a week. Will this be surpassed this month? There has to be a national plan to stem the blood-letting. 

According to a US Department of Justice Report entitled “Urban crime and violence in Jamaica”, despite improved living conditions and advancements, crime continues to escalate.

“Violent crime has increased even in the face of improved socioeconomic conditions in urban areas. Rapid social change, which has produced a breakdown of traditional social roles and institutional controls over behaviour, coupled with an increase in the percentage of the young adult population prone to crime, is believed to be the primary cause of the violent crime increase.”

This report was written in 1980. The situation has decidedly worsened since then.