IN HIS statesmanlike victory speech on election night last Wednesday, The Most Honourable Percival James Patterson pledged himself to the eradication of gunmanship in his next term as Prime Minister. Such a pledge is a little late in coming from someone who has been Prime Minister for the past 10 years. Tomorrow Mr. Patterson will be sworn in at Emancipation Park as Prime Minister for another five-year term, of which he says he will serve only a part.
Plenty of gunmanship there was before, during, and after the election. On Election Day itself, seven people were shot and killed in the quiet village of Rock Hall, West Rural St Andrew. There were shootings in sections of Kingston and elsewhere on election night. Mr. Patterson himself said he was shot at, or at least his motorcade, in Western St Thomas during the election campaign.
As of yesterday, at least 804 Jamaicans have been murdered so far this year. In the period of his tenure as Prime Minister to date, gunmanship has figured prominently in the deaths of more than 10,000 persons, many in political warfare.
It is past time for decisive action at the highest level of Government. The Governor-General has officially declared October Anti-Crime Month. Crime has remained unmoved by the proclamation. Much more needs to be done after proclamation and prayer.
On the eve of the elections, we published an Associated Press story that street crime had fallen by 16 per cent in Britain. Britain has no more than a few hundred murders per year in a population of 60 million people. A government initiative to combat street crime has led to a 16 per cent decline in just five months. The story of crime reduction in tough New York City is already well known here.
The Prime Minister comes to his task of rooting out gunmanship armed with numerous reports and studies, many commissioned by his own Government of the past and some directly by him. Despite glitches, the readiness and performance of the security forces on Election Day are an indication of what is possible with will and determination.
The Prime Minister calculates slowly and carefully, as he himself stated in the leaders' election debate. Some would say too slowly. Now that the calculations are belatedly complete and the commitment to root out gunmanship publicly given, it is time for resolute action in rapid-fire mode.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
