Simpson Miller
The Sunday Gleaner wrote to each of the People's National Party contenders
for leadership, requesting answers to critical nation-building issues. To date,
front-runners Dr. Peter Phillips, Minister of National Security, and Portia
Simpson Miller, Minister of Local Government, Sports and Community Development,
have responded to our questions. Below are the unedited responses to two questions.
Question one: What will your three primary priorities be?
ANSWER: There is nothing really magical about the number three and some may even argue that one cannot have three priorities. I do know, however, that there is one fundamental priority which must be faced if we are to deal with the critical issues of our time as a nation.
And that priority is integrally bound up in my vision for Jamaica, which is simply that of a united nation with opportunities for all; a nation which is engaged and a nation which has a positive attitude about caring for all.
Having said that, however, it is clear that the main priority and greatest challenge for a leader coming to office in Jamaica in 2006 is to earn the trust of the people by making it plain to them that there is confidence in their thinking and their work and worth.
KEY ELEMENT: DIGNITY
The essential dignity of the ordinary person is a key element of everything that we do and that means that we must respect the fundamental human rights of people, their right to live peacefully, securely and in clean and decent surroundings.
We must respect their right to full self-expression, which means that we must protect their freedom of speech and of assembly and all the other rights which build community and make life worth living.
If we can do these things, we will go a long way to eliminate the misery and perceived injustice in which many people see themselves trapped.
If we do this, we will be reducing the hostility in the society and create a kinder, gentler Jamaica which will be a more pleasant place to live.
We must understand that unless people are directly involved and engaged in process, planning and deciding about the things that matter most to them, we will never be able to speak of trust, unity or of successful and sustainable human development.
It is absolutely clear in my mind that there is no way we can move forward without all sections of the society being fully engaged in building the nation we all want to be.
No political leader can have any measure of success unless all elements of the society, including members of opposing political parties and the uncommitted, are mobilised.
A genuine policy of inclusiveness and unity has to be developed and practised, so that we do not simply speak of democracy, but feel that we all are part of the fundamental democratic process.
In such an inclusive, non-discriminatory society, we will eliminate political victimisation and all the evils that flow from it.
We need to build a society which is genuinely egalitarian and competitive, but just and humane.
Question two: What will you do about crime?
ANSWER: The present levels of crime and violence, particularly the murder rate, are totally unacceptable to all Jamaicans.
I want to make it clear that a major objective of my administration will be to bring peace to every community in Jamaica.
If we can develop more trust between individuals, within families and between households, within communities and between opposing parties, we will be on the way to eliminating the conditions in which crime finds a natural breeding ground.
My administration will deal with national security as a subject for urgent prime ministerial attention.
While we intend to be tough and give the requisite financial and legislative support, there will be equal attention to providing solutions to the social questions.
There is a growing body of evidence which leads us to believe that we can make real progress in limiting crime by taking action within communities. Even the World Bank now agrees with this strategy.
GLOBAL NATURE
In implementing our national security plans, the international nature of the problem must also be acknowledged. So, border control and international collaboration will be a key strategy.
Driving nacro-traffickers out of Jamaica will be a high priority. The drug trade is fueling the flow of guns into the country and fostering the culture of criminality and poisoning our communities.
While we must redouble our efforts at physical interdiction, we must also seek the assistance of our neighbours to control the flow of firearms out of their countries. Guns are not made in Jamaica, we import them.
Our air and sea ports will be supplied with the requisite technology at the level where it is a real deterrent. Smugglers must know they have a high probability of being caught.
Of course, the present administration has made more than modest beginnings in acquiring equipment for the two international airports and the container port, but it is now clear we have to set new and higher percentages for the screening of incoming cargo.
We will also work with Jamaican communities overseas so that they can understand that sending weapons to Jamaica is destructive and self-defeating.
If we can provide more opportunities for our youth in Jamaica, there will be fewer abroad sending guns back to their friends.
I want to point out that the vast majority of our young people are good, decent, ambitious and law-abiding citizens. But we need to give them all much more attention and care. We need to provide the social conditions in which stable families will flourish.
There are some youths who are in need of rescuing. A youth who is poor and hungry cannot buy an AK 47 or an M16 and the expensive ammunition.
He cannot buy it, but he has one, given to him by someone to create 'duppies' and to terrorise the very community from which he sprang.
RESCUE YOUTH
We have to rescue these youths and point them to a better way of life. We have to bring them from the fringes of society into a productive and law-abiding life.
We must move our young boys and men off the street corners into the main stream of the Jamaican society.
We have to provide them with more time in school, with more counselling, with more opportunity for excelling in a variety of sports, and in other extracurricular activities, so that we are developing whole young men and women, people who are conscious of their own intrinsic worth and of the value of live and of the need to respect others.
If we can make the communities healthy again we will be well on the way to cutting down the incidence of violence and crime.
We must create opportunities for them and so reduce the temptation of a fast way to material things, including the 'Bimma'.
My approach will be holistic and integrated. We will deal with the underlying socio-economic causes of crime including family values and the
moral grounding of our people at the same time that ensure that the men and women of our security and given all the tools and improved working conditions, including the latest technologies.
We also have to be more sensitive to issues of social justice and equity. We have to empower people economically and socially.
We have to break the strangle hold of criminals on communities and engage the people to take back control of their lives, their families and their communities. And if we unite we can do it.
ALL UNITE
I believe, there is nothing we cannot achieve, if we unite, and if we put our hands, minds and hearts together, there will be no stopping us as a people.
The fact is that the vast majority of our people, though poor, are not involved in crime.
They are honest, decent, hardworking people who want to be free to live in peace and to pursue happiness for all members of their families and themselves. We must find the ways and means to support their genuine efforts to achieve improvement or those who prey on them will prevail.
I am talking about a total system of rescuing our young people who are involved from the clutches of crime. So in administration led by me, there is going to be a rescue mission for the youth and I will myself lead that rescue. In that rescue, we must involve the mothers and the fathers and families since many of these young people have never been loved so they do not have the capacity either to give or receive love.
In dealing with the strategies to fight crime, I will also remember that national security has a twin sister called the justice system. Everyone agrees that the criminal justice system is need of modernisation and reform. That will be an important task.
