Lambert Brown, Guest Columnist

It was 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday last when my cellphone rang. On the other end of the conversation was a female friend who was requesting my assistance in escorting her home in north-central St. Andrew. She was terrified because there had been a hold-up in her neighbourhood recently and she was scared of driving home unescorted. I was very busy and she braved it home solo, thankfully without any incident.

That very night, on my way home in Portmore, I came upon a major crime scene. Here, a young special constable had been murdered. This murder happened a mere half hour after that frantic call from my friend. Just a little over a week before that, again, on my way home, I drove straight into another murder scene on Chisholm Avenue in St. Andrew. Is this just a coincidence or is it that the crime factories are working overtime? While I accept that the murder rate is going down relative to last year, people are becoming fearful, with good reason. We still have a lot to do to make people feel secure in the country.

Last year June, in my column entitled 'Time for a change,' I wrote: "The budget must now be reordered to tackle this national social emergency of idleness which breeds crime. Money is available. Only the politically-connected project managers and genetically-connected contractors will suffer from this reordered budget. The country stands to benefit." I stated then that we needed to "build a national coalition and consensus to remove the conditions that breed crime in Jamaica." The column ended with the declaration: "Wanted are leaders with the vision and the ability to mobilise the nation. They exist. Let's summon them. It is time for a change."

UNDERLYING PROBLEM OF IDLENESS

Since April of this year, I have seen great efforts being made to attack the underlying problem of idleness which contributes to crime. I am not, therefore, surprised that the police are reporting some successes relative to last year in the reduction of crime. When jobs are provided for the people, idleness is reduced and the temptation to commit or support crime is similarly impacted. The additional 12,000 jobs announced by the Prime Minister recently as part of the national beautification drive, is, in my view, a major salvo fired against the crime factories in Jamaica. I have been paying close attention to the Prime Minister's approach to empowering the people and I must confess that she has quietly but consistently recognised that providing jobs for the people is the way to tackle the social problems, including crime.

LEARNING NEW SKILLS

Teach the person to fish and you feed them for more than a day, seems to be her approach rather than simply giving the people the fish. The truth is that up to August of this year, over 9,000 women and men have been employed throughout the country building community infrastructure through Lift up Jamaica. These workers are also being trained and are learning new skills to better their lives after their projects are completed. I have heard no serious complaint about Lift up Jamaica nor for that matter jobs created under the Jamaica Social Investment Fund being condemned as partisan in nature or wasteful 'crash programme' expenditure.

My pleasant experiences at the workplace confirm that programmes designed and implemented to improve the aesthetics of one's surroundings can contribute positively to higher morale, respect for each other and transform people into more productive and responsible individuals.

I am confident that the change I called for last year is beginning at last. The decision to use $1billion, a small part of the interest from the National Insurance Fund to assist a potential 5,000 small and medium entrepreneurs, is also part of that attack on the crime factories. Clearly, no government can provide all the jobs needed in the economy and neither would this be a desirable state, but credit must be due to Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller for taking the initiative to focus her government on creating jobs for the people, especially the poor, and women in particular.

The private sector is playing an important part in contributing to reducing idleness in the country and laying the foundation for a society where our people can live without the daily, if not minutely, fear of crime. The Development Bank of Jamaica, after an unnecessary delay, is now about to start lending another $600 million to small farmers and small hotels at relatively low interest rates. This is the loan that the Prime Minister announced in her Budget speech as coming from the Bank of Nova Scotia. This should contribute to providing thousands more employment opportunities for our citizens and add to economic growth and prosperity in our nation.

Each company in Jamaica can adopt a community and target a few of the youths, helping with jobs or paying for training so these youths may become worthwhile citizens contributing in a positive rather than negative way to society. The overseas Jamaicans can help as well in this regard. Imagine people living abroad who came from a particular community or district in Jamaica, getting together and raising funds specifically for use in training youths from that area. Think of what this could do to transform lives here at home.

I can see my friends from Standpipe raising even a minimal US$4,000 and sending that to a responsible agency to train youths in the community in entrepreneurial and coping skills. That is over $240,000 that could pay 20 youths $4,000 per week for three weeks of training. This is but only one example of a creative, low-cost approach to tackling the problem of idleness among our youth and, thereby destroying or reducing the crime factories.

I would certainly love to see the Prime Minister bring together a task force, involving the private, public sector, civil society and a wide cross section of youths and charge them to come up with practical, creative and implementable proposals for short-, medium- and long-term reduction of idleness among out youths.

I dream of the day when we can soon go about our daily task free from fear of criminal assault. I think we are heading in that direction as long as the assault on the crime factories continues. Let's each of us play our part in this worthwhile battle.

Lambert Brown is president of the University and Allied Workers' Union and can be contacted at labpoyh@yahoo.com