SMITH
AS THE government goes into annual retreat in early January, Derrick Smith, Opposition Spokesman on National Security, is recommending that the budgets of the ministries of National Security and Justice be increased.
"The police need better facilities, and more modern crime fighting equipment; therefore, National Security, must be a priority in the 2006/2007 budget which they are about to put together," said Smith.
Smith is also calling the People's National Party leadership candidates to do more to reduce crime and violence as the only way to achieve national prosperity.
In a statement issued toward the end of last year, Mr. Smith noted that murders in 2005 had already passed 1650, making Jamaica the murder capital of the world with 63 murders per 100,000 of the population. This marked a 12 per cent increase on 2004, the previous record for murders in a year.
TOO COSMETIC
"They should remember this always and do not lose focus on the issue while they fight over the spoils of leadership," Smith said.
The Government's current response, he said, was 'too cosmetic' and needed to follow what he claimed was the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) 'lead' on the issue. By this he referred to the JLP's recent announcement that it would make crime the top issue should it win the next election, as well as the party's recent formation of a task force led by former Commissioner of Police, Colonel Trevor Macmillan.
The Government, Smith said, needed to get to the root causes of crime and violence.
