Neil Armstrong, Freelance Writer
JAMAICA'S OPPOSITION Leader Bruce Golding believes that there will be a general election next year and his party, if elected to form the next government, is prepared to make tough decisions on crime.
"For the first two to three years, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is prepared to prioritise crime as the number one problem affecting the country," the JLP leader said in an interview with Canada Extra, a newspaper published by the Gleaner Company (NA) Ltd. He said that a new approach to effective policing is necessary and the Government will have to reclaim communities with a social face.
The Opposition Leader is in Toronto for the Canadian leg of 'Outlook for the Future', a forum organised by the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS). He will present his position on the Jamaican economy, following in the footsteps of Dr. Peter Phillips, National Security Minister in 2003, and Dr. Omar Davies, Finance and Planning Minister in 2004.
Mr. Golding believes that the Government has made fundamental policy errors that are affecting the economy today. He wants to see crime treated with an urgency that separates it from the other problems affecting the economy. "Unless we get a grip on the kind of lawlessness that is taking place in Jamaica, I don't believe that there is any kind of economic strategy that can work," said the JLP leader.
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES
He said there also has to be a creation of economic opportunities in the country. According to him, the 1990s constituted the longest period of sustained growth that the world had seen in over 50 years. The world economy grew at a rate of 3.4 per cent per annum and developing countries had a disproportionately higher share of that growth at 5.7 per cent. Whereas countries like Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, Botswana and Uganda benefited from the growth, Jamaica did not.
In preparation for the likely election in 2006, the JLP leader said his party will draw on expertise in some critical areas to explore the path the party should take if it forms the next government.
