PM: You will sleep with your doors open
Published:Saturday | April 5, 2025 | 6:41 AMKimone Francis/Gleaner Writer
Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness says his administration will take credit for the 35-per-cent reduction in murders, arguing that his government was “unmercifully battered” over previous climbs in the figure.
His defensive stance was triggered by a newspaper editorial on Thursday which noted that politicians should be the last to take credit for any progress Jamaica is making in reducing murders and other serious crimes.
The editorial indicated that the country’s two main political parties are to be blamed for the state of crime in the country, noting that both contributed “in their quest to win elections by unleashing thugs on opposing sides and fostering garrison constituencies”.
But speaking at the opening ceremony for EXPO Jamaica 2025 at the National Indoor Sports Centre on Thursday, Holness poured cold water on the argument, firing back at the criticism and insisting that the government would claim paternity for the 35-per-cent decrease, reiterating that he still envisions that one day Jamaicans will be able to sleep with their windows and doors open.
Holness said for the past three to four decades, crime and violence has been a challenge to Jamaica’s economy.
He said economic growth could have been as high as five per cent or more were it not for the impact of the security issues the country faces.
“I read quite curiously in today’s paper, an article which said politicians should take no credit for the reduction in murders. Yet, the Andrew Holness-led administration was unmercifully battered – the poor minister of national security – when the numbers were going in the wrong direction,” said Holness.
He added, “We must be careful of this urge that we have inside us to make government look ineffectual. It is of no benefit to anyone to have [an] ineffective government. It is a government that you elect that has administered your affairs so that we can have revenues to make the largest allocations in the national security budget, develop the policies, select the leaders and give guidance to the police and the military to have the impact that we are having now. It didn’t happen without the instrumental, deliberate and direct policy of the government.”
‘WE MUST HAVE AMBITION’
Noting that his comments are “jarring” or even “confronting”, the prime minister said it is a risk he must take to set the record straight.
He said leaving it unaddressed could be “dangerous”.
“Yes, so the Andrew Holness-led administration is presiding over a 35-per-cent reduction [in homicides] year on year. We presided over 19-per-cent reduction last year. And a seven-per-cent reduction the year before and we intend to drive this down to below the regional average of 16 per 400,000,” he declared.
He added, “My job is to see things as they are, to be very practical, but it doesn’t stop me from being aspirational, aspire. I dream, but only when I am sleeping. Otherwise, I am visioning with my eyes open, and my vision for Jamaica is that you will be able to sleep with your windows and doors open, and I don’t take it back. It’s aspirational and we must have ambition to make Jamaica a peaceful country, which is our destiny and our future.”
According to the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), for the first quarter of 2025 the country has recorded a 34.7-per-cent reduction in murders compared to the same period last year. The JCF said shootings are down 25.9 per cent; rape, 58 per cent; and robberies, 9.3 per cent. Meanwhile, break-ins are up 31 per cent.
Holness called the reduction in serious crimes “remarkable” although, he said, there are some who will say they continue to feel unsafe.
He said there is always a lag when it comes to these matters of security.
“The LAPOP (Latin American Public Opinion Project) surveys are always a paradox. When you ask people, ‘have you ever been a victim of crime? Have you seen crime in your community?’ The percentage is usually a very high ‘no’. But then when you ask ‘what’s your greatest concern?’ [It’s] crime and that’s because fear imagined is as real as fear experienced,” Holness said.
“So if every day you’re fed a diet of fear, whether or not you experience it or imagine it, it is going to have that impact on your outlook and your perception. And so as the administration, we cannot give in to the proclivity and tendency to accentuate the negatives only, the administration must ad nauseam to bore you at times, present the facts and the reality.”