http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20051106/focus/focus4.html
Published: Sunday | November 6, 2005

HAD P.J. Patterson retired two or so years ago his legacy would have been on the whole a positive one. History would have remembered him as a man who had guided his ship of state fairly safely through the shoals of globalization and left a good launching pad for his successor. As it is now he is on track to go down as the second worst Prime Minister in Jamaica's history.

For there is an increasing sense in the air that this country is veering out of control. Two numbers tell a clear story. In 2003 there were 975 murders. We are on course this year for over 1600. In 2002 the inflation rate was 7.3 per cent. The 2005 rate will likely be close to 20 per cent.

Apologists are trotting out all sorts of excuses for this disastrous turn of events. "It's not our fault." they bleat. "It's drugs and gangs and the human rights people and rain." Well the only word for that is an unprintable one that starts with b and ends with t. Since 1988, Jamaica has been extremely lucky in escaping 'acts of God'. Indeed, given the Government's blundering responses to minor upheavals, it's frightening to think what would happen if we experienced a truly serious natural disaster like a direct hit by a hurricane or a flu pandemic. Would the unmanageable situation in Spanish Town become the norm for the entire island?

But does the government really give a damn about crime? The police I know certainly don't share the 'wha fe do, throw up your hands in the air' sense of hopelessness you get from our media. Give them the right legislation and tools they say, and they are confident crime can be reined in.

But our politicians show no sense of urgency. A police labs official told me that before the Y2K bug affected the machinery, Jamaica's ballistic and finger printing testing capabilities were as good as any in the first world. Since then, in his words, it's as if we have regressed 30 years. But only this week ­ five full years after the breakdown ­ was new ballistic testing machinery ordered, and I haven't heard anything about fingerprint equipment.

SOLUTIONS

What needs to be done: Pass legislation similar to that in the U.K .which allows police to take photographs and fingerprint and DNA samples of anyone arrested for any offence. Pass 'get tough' legislation similar to that in the U.S.A. including 'three strikes you're out' laws, longer mandatory sentencing, plea bargaining and a 'proceeds of crime' act. Get a ballistic imprint of every legal gun in the country. Get up to date fingerprint, DNA, and ballistic testing machinery. Link by computer every main police station in the country. Give each main police station a state of the art mobile forensic unit. Build more prisons, again like America, to hold the additional convicts.

All this would allow any evidence found at the scene of a crime to be instantly matched against a computerised database of dangerous suspects. Apprehension rates would increase dramatically and murder and rape levels fall sharply. And the tougher laws would take the hard core criminal elements out of circulation for at least their dangerous '15-45' period.

It's well documented that the vast majority of violent crimes are committed by males in this age group. You don't need to gun down or hang gunmen to control crime, just put them behind bars till dwindling testosterone levels makes them a minimal danger to society. As to the additional prisons, it's incredible that a country, which has recorded 15,000 murders in the last 15 years still has the same 4,000 prison capacity as in 1989. Can't our leaders count?

There is nothing unfeasible about any of the above. An on- the-ball government would have fast tracked all these measures years ago. For none of this is rocket science, just plain applied common sense. And even human rights purists could not object to Jamaica following the example of our legal motherlands.

MONEY WASTED

Yes, I can already hear the predictable old 'But we can't afford it!' chorus. Well how much money has been wasted on the NetServ and Operations Pride and National Solid Waste Management Authority and Sandals Whitehouse and countless other scandals over the past 15 years? Probably at least 10 times what all the above would cost. It's not a lack of funds that has allowed crime to spiral out of control, it's a lack of political will.

Yet these scandals have contributed mightily to not only a crime but an inflation explosion. I was once a big Omar Davies fan mainly because he determinedly held the hard end that kept inflation in single digits from 1997 to 2002. Whatever else happens, low inflation is a necessary if not sufficient condition for sustained economic growth. Well Omar has lost the plot. Inflation was 14 per cent in 2003 and 2004 and will likely be close to 20 per cent this year. And all those scandals are among the prime reasons. When you flush taxpayers' money down the toilet ­ or rather into genetically connected pockets ­ you have to make up the resulting budget shortfalls by printing money. The comrades 'run with it' till inflation 'run way' with Dr. Davies.

Few governments anywhere are completely free of corruption. Look at squeaky clean Canada where former Prime Minister Chretien has been fingered by a commission of enquiry for setting up a Canadian $100 Million political slush fund. But sensible governments make sure their stealing is not on a scale to cause economic disruption and also take pains to not make it seem blatant.

SHAMELESS

Well, this regime has not only stolen so much that the budget blew up, they have been completely unapologetic about it. Instead of humbly apologising when commissions of enquiry point out malfeasant practices, our officials brazenly confer sainthood on themselves and loudly tell the media to shut up. And then they run for the party presidency or manage the bids of those running for party presidency. And when questions are raised about the appropriateness of such behaviour the media is accused of "character assassination" and "smear campaigns". Talk about shameless.

It's sickening really to think of how murders could have been prevented and how many schools built with all the public funds that have vanished without being properly accounted for. Even worse, not a single person has ever been found criminally culpable for this tremendous waste of hard earned taxpayers' money. And that is the biggest scandal of all.

Only fools try to predict the future. But the 'shut your damn mouth' moment may well come to be seen as one of two tipping points that signified this PNP regime was no longer fit to govern ­ the other one being the horrible burning death of 10 year old Sasha Kay Brown and her relatives by a gang seeking revenge on her brother.

Now it's easy to stand outside the bullring and criticise politicians. Many times actions that seem incomprehensible to outsiders are forced upon 'in the trench' engagees by sheer political necessity. But there are some things for which there can be no excuse. Such as not a single politician attending the vigil organized for Sasha Kay.

Why did the MP for the area not pay his respects? Or the Minister of Security? Or the Prime Minister? Or the Opposition Leader? Were they really not horrified by the deliberate burning death of an innocent little girl? Are they incapable of putting basic human decency before political maneuvering?

To me this symbolised a new low in the political morality of this country. Because it was a clear signal to the public that our elected officials really don't give a damn about anything but their selfish, myopic, nasty, tit for tat version of politics. Apparently all they care about is winning the right to govern no matter what kind of country they govern. They would rather rule a desert than be second in a decent law- abiding nation.

To tell the truth Bruce Golding disappointed me the most. On the face of it he was the least culpable, since Barnes Avenue is in a PNP stronghold and unlike the others he really has no elected power to change anything. But Mr. Golding as leader of the NDM repeatedly assured us that given the chance he would set 'new and different' ethical standards for Jamaican politicians. In fact he called long and hard for then Opposition Leader Edward Seaga and Prime Minister Patterson to walk hand in hand with him through the inner city to show diehards their murderous animosity is not shared by those they are 'defending'.