Tyrone Reid, Enterprise Reporter

National Security Minister Colonel Trevor MacMillan says the failing human-rights grade Jamaica has received on the international stage has made it extremely difficult for the Government to purchase arms for the security forces.

The ex-army man told The Gleaner yesterday that the difficulty in obtaining guns and ammunition from countries that produce them is partly to blame for a foul-up that resulted in the purchase of millions of dollars worth of ammunition from an unlicensed dealer in the United States.

"For Jamaica to buy weapons and ammunition for its security services is a very difficult thing - because the perceived human-rights problems in Jamaica do not allow a lot of countries that produce weapons to sell them to us," MacMillan said.

The national security minister said the unwillingness of some arms-producing countries to sell to Jamaica puts the country at a "major disadvantage".

"That's part of the problem ... some of them don't want to sell it to us at all," he stressed.

However last night, Dr Carolyn Gomes, chairman of human-rights lobby group Jamaicans for Justice, disagreed with MacMillan.

Problem

"I don't think we have a perceived human-rights problem. I think we have a human-rights problem. We have one of the highest rates of police killings in the world per capita," she said.

In addition, Gomes said she did not believe the restrictions faced by the Jamaican Government were partly to blame for the blunder.

"I don't think that's a factor here ... that's ridiculous. I don't see that the fact that there are restrictions, limitations and caviats on Jamaica's purchasing of arms means that we go to unlicensed dealers. We can't accept that."

MacMillan, who said that the incident happened prior to his stewardship, said he would not be able to comment further until he receives a report on the matter. The minister could not say when the investigation into the ammunition affair would be completed. "I can't at this time because it involves overseas connections," he said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed that, between October 2007 and March 2008, Lance Brooks, owner and operator of Taylor and Associates - an arms-brokering business - in Lauderhill, Florida, was brokering the sale of defence articles to the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). Brooks is a confessed criminal and was not licensed to be exporting defence articles. The Sunday Gleaner this week reported that the JCF had conceded that a serious blunder occurred.

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com