By Phyllis Thomas, News Editor 
THE ISSUES making last week's news were more of the same deadly and depressing.
They include the triple murder over what, on the surface, is controlling road work; the killing of the Portmore father who was on his way from the doctor with his sick toddler and the brutal attack on the policewoman who refused a robber's demand to hand over her money. This, in the presence of several onlookers who did not lift a finger to help as the attacker knifed her repeatedly.
And then there was the crunch where those who watch and create credit profiles of countries based on their economic record are obviously not impressed with Jamaica and have profiled it as one that is unlikely to pay its debts. That, in essence, could mean further economic problems for the country which will find it difficult to attract credit on the international market.
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
And this is something we can ill afford given the fact that much of the hostility and despair we are experiencing stem from the country's inability to offer its people any support towards their development. It is severely challenged just to provide education, skills-training and employment the basic ingredients towards achieving personal development.
So we have a nation with thousands of uneducated and untrained people who are overly aggressive to each other and a set of greedy politicians who exploit the situation which they themselves have created. They award contracts based on political affiliations, people are hired on these projects based also on political leanings to hell with skills meanwhile another set demand their share of the spoils.
On Tuesday three men were ambushed and killed in Temple Hall, West Rural St. Andrew. Jamaica Labour Party Member of Parliament, Andrew Gallmore, who said that the men were supporters of his party, said that they were lured to a so-called meeting to discuss roadwork.
These murders, it was reported, were over the control of work being done on the Tom's River-to-Stony Hill road, the project to cost $100 million. However, it seems all was well when the work was being done in the People's National Party's (PNP) supported area of Brandon Hill and PNP affiliates controlled the distribution of work. When it moved into the Stony Hill phase, where JLP supporters lined up for work and control, things turned ugly because the PNP affiliates wanted to hold on.
There have been several deaths on construction sites due to fight for control of work or outright extortion. Earlier this year, the Greater Portmore police, South St. Catherine, were called to probe the brutal murder of a 45-year-old contractor, Selvin Earle Walton, who they suspect was a victim of the extortion racket.
On June 2, he was attacked by gunmen who pumped several bullets into his body and the police said that his life had been threatened by persons who wanted to extort money from a construction site where a house was being extended. Mr. Walton had declined to give the men money and a male relative of his was attacked and beaten by a group of men. Mr. Walton was later killed.
Alrick Simpson, also called 'Tata', one of five men accused of murdering Sylvia Edwards, 48-year-old business woman who was kidnapped July 2002 and later murdered was himself killed on December 13, 2002, while attempting extortion on a construction site on Braemar Avenue, Kingston 10. He and gang of men invaded the site demanding money and he was shot dead.
In this most recent case, it is being seen by some as veiled extortion. I heard an official on radio on Nationwide I think saying that in order for work to be carried out on the project the contractor had to meet with the area leader who acts as the liaison for those who want to work on the site. That, the official said, comes with a cost. "They have to be paid," he said, when the interviewers insisted on clarification.
So on the surface it may not look like extortion but closer examination will reveal that the action was indeed extortion. If the don/community leader says our people must get the work or else that's extortion. If they say they are the liaison between you the contractor and the people they are providing you with to carry out the job, but you must pay them for this service (although you made no such request for their service) that's extortion. If they say we want money to provide security for the site or else that's blatant, unbridled, unmasked, extortion. And by the way, the security they are providing for work being done in their own communities is against what or whom? In their own communities!
ANTI-EXTORTION PLAN
A meeting between the National Works Agency, the Incorporated Masterbuilders' Association of Jamaica and the police last week came up with an anti-extortion plan. But also there were suggestions that there needs to be a reduction in the influence of political representatives in how persons are hired for projects. I think the language ought to be stronger than that. They must demand that politicians take themselves out of the process. I have no evidence of any of them being directly involved in any extortion but they are the ones who are continuing to feed the polarisation of Jamaicans which in turn breeds the kind of activities taking place on construction sites.
And instead of identifying the need to certify persons who are skilled in various aspects of construction, which came out of the meeting, they must demand it and those among the builders who can offer training must do so. It is this disregard for skills on construction projects why most of the multi-million dollar road work around the country become lumpy paths and disintegrate after a few years. Because the requisite skills for the major construction work seems to be excellence in thuggery and loyalty to political party.
The Consultative Committee, charged with overseeing the implementation of the recommendations of the National Committee on Crime and Violence has called on political leaders to condemn extortion. But even if they climb on top of the Parliament building on Duke Street and denounced acts of extortion I would not be convinced until they are no longer associated with the process.
It is in the hands of the politicians generally and the Government in particular (to use the word that they so loosely use) to "crush" extortion. But the steps must be to divorce yourselves from the hiring process, denounce extortion and deal with those who practise it.
Comments? You can email me at phyllis.thomas@gleanerjm.com
