Flipping the script in 2019
Dear Editor,
So it went as quickly as it came; 2018 with its woes, now it’s a part of history — a thing of the past.
This new year, 2019, holds potentially the greatest collective level of successes we may see in Jamaica for a very long time.
Crime is on the decline, so too murder, while the dollar is almost stable, major roads are renewed, cities are built, and there has been record employment and training.
Returning from China, the young Jamaican engineers have declared that they are ready to execute their learning at Alpart. Additionally, the new city to be built at Bernard Lodge is on the calendar, so too the St Thomas transformation from the Goodyear plant.
I’m delighted at the prospects for Jamaica as I see it today. Road improvement work abounds, and the police force and both Supreme and Parish courts are getting things right more often now than ever before. Criminals are confined, denied bail, and sentenced to real terms like 40 years.
Our two greatest problems now are gangs and garrisons. I therefore beseech Justice Minister Delroy Chuck and Daryl Vaz, who has responsibility for land and the environment, to work assiduously to see to new legislative measures to cripple gangs and their members, and to locate, map and title every inch of land occupied in Jamaica. It is imperative that we know who is among us.
Finally, I hope that the National Identification System (NIDS) will survive the current onslaught, that the new crime plan will reap big rewards, and that the new Road Traffic Act will be the deterrence sought for years to rid the streets of vipers around steering wheels. Over 10 traffic tickets should mean immediate cancellation of driving licences for six months and over 20 means imprisonment for six months.
Hopefully this year will be the full turning point, or better yet the transformation that Jamaicans at home and abroad have been praying for. God still hears and answers prayers.
Joseph Edwards
jdocforreal@gmail.com