Hypocrisy of the JLP
Dear Editor,
When Andrew Holness was leader of the Opposition he suggested that if the People’s National Party (PNP) remained in power crime would get worse. He made the following statement: “If you keep the PNP in power, the truth is that you could lose your life. If you keep the PNP in power and the crime rate continues to rise, the truth is that the next murder victim could be you,” Holness warned.
“It is no joke business, because right now you have a greater chance of being murdered in your own community than being hit by a car, and it shouldn’t be that way.”
At the time of that statement some 1,016 Jamaicans had been murdered.
Holness further went on to say: “We brought down the murder rate when we were leaving [office] in 2011 to 1,125. You know what is happening to the murder rate now? The murder rate is climbing again and it is climbing in parishes like Hanover — parishes that never used to have the kind of gruesome murders that we are seeing now, where six persons are killed one time. We never used to have that, but now we see that kind of thing happening under the PNP.
“I say to you tonight, Labourites, if we make the mistake of making the PNP continue in power, we will never be able to bring the murder rate back under control. So if you want to survive and live in your country and feel safe, and if you want your family to feel safe, and if you want to feel like you can send your pickney on the road and nothing nuh happen to them, then join us in kicking out the PNP Government.”
So with all that having been said, it is rather surprising for me to hear Generation 2000, the youth arm of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), talking about “crime should not be politicised”, when the leader of the JLP had no problem doing just that.
After winning the election, crime has risen tremendously with more than 100 Jamaicans murdered since the start of the year and suddenly these hypocrites have a voice and crime should not be politicised?
What is even more hypocritical is that the same Andrew Holness, who was loud and obnoxious and filled with arrogance as leader of the Opposition back in 2015, and who was so upset as it related to the issues of murder and violence, has not had one thing to say about curbing what is taking place under his administration.
The hypocrisy of profiling about “prosperity” while Jamaicans are being murdered left, right and centre speaks volumes. And the silence and inaction coming from the prime minister as it relates to kicking Minister of National Security Robert “Bobby” Montague to the curve” is deafening.
Michelle Bradshaw
phillipsmichelle57@yahoo.com