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Michael Ammar, Jr., president of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce. - File AS THE murder rate continues to spiral out of control, the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) has requested an urgent meeting with the Government to plot and discuss strategies to tackle the escalating tide of criminality in the island and wage "a national war against crime."
Michael Ammar, Jr., the JCC president, said crime not only threatens to derail "our new-found economic stability but also to plunge our nation into a crisis, the consequences of which will be devastating for our people and our very way of life."
The JCC president wants all sectors of the society to unite to fight crime and violence. "We can no longer expect the Government alone to devise a plan and fund it fully, without consensus that some other projects and plans may have to be delayed," he said.
READY FOR WORKABLE STRATEGIES
Mr. Ammar, Jr. said the private sector is ready to sit down with the authorities to devise workable strategies to take back the society from criminals. "As members of the business community, we are offering to sit down with both the Ministers of National Security and Finance and Planning to look at ways in which funds can be relocated from other sources to assist in acquiring the necessary technology and equipment to win this national war against crime," said the JCC head.
"The time has come for the private and public sectors, together with civil society, to agree to a new paradigm with regard to winning the war on crime and devise ways by which to fund and implement this strategy in the shortest possible time," said Mr. Ammar, Jr.
He also suggested that 'donor countries' needed to divert some of their assistance towards this crime-fighting plan.
The call for overseas help in the area of security has been gaining much traction within recent weeks. In a Gleaner interview, Godfrey Dyer, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), bluntly stated that, 'The Government needs to get experts to come and take up residence within the CIB offices in every parish to help and guide in the art of investigation'.
The JCC is also calling on all members of the private sector to distance themselves from persons and companies that are 'reasonably suspected' of being involved in the drug trade, money laundering and other criminal activities.
DISCIPLINARY ACTION NEEDED
"We need to carry out the necessary due diligence on existing and emerging businesses, so that owners of these entities are not given legitimacy through association with our members and/or the JCC," said Mr. Ammar, Jr.
At the same time, Mr. Ammar, Jr. wants political parties to take disciplinary action against members "who are proven to have connections with the criminal underworld." He said, too, that the private sector should withhold funding "from those persons or parties involved in such activities until they clean up their act."
The JCC's call is the latest appeal by the business community to find a way to stem the surge in gun-related murders in the country, and to fight corruption in its ranks.
The country has long been steeped in death. According to the police, since the start of the year, there have been 752 murders, and yesterday's double murder in the Brook Valley community of Duhaney Park, St. Andrew, has pushed the number of murders committed in the month of July to 84.
There were 150 murders in June, which the records suggest was the bloodiest month ever in the history of the country.
MOST WANTED LIST
In the wake of the rising violence, the police have released a list of the eight most wanted men in the Kingston Western division. Police officers also recovered two guns yesterday in operations in the troubled Arnett Gardens communities of South St. Andrew.
The JCC acknowledged that the police are handicapped in terms of resources to fight the rising crime problem. "We must realise that the Jamaica Constabulary Force is fighting the war against crime with one hand tied behind its back, because it neither possesses the management tools nor the technological capacity to get the job done efficiently," said Mr. Ammar, Jr.
