JLP Mass Rally | Jamaica is safer under the JLP – Chang

Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) General Secretary, Dr Horace Chang, says 290 Jamaicans were spared from murder, when compared with last year’s homicide figure, as a result of massive investments in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

Chang, who is also the minister of national security, was addressing thousands at Half-Way Tree square an hour before the date of the 19th general election was announced, and said it took the guts of Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness to invest in the security forces to make Jamaica safe again.

“He is concerned and he is committed to giving you a country in which every Jamaican can feel safe and realise their dreams. And today I had the privilege of working in a political era where it needed the guts and political will to build a security force that could deal with the criminal elements that run across this country. Crime was rampant. It was the biggest problem we had in my own constituency,” Chang told the massive crowd.

According to him, the sight and smell of blood hung thick over the air in his own constituency and forced the government to take action.

“I saw the blood. Many weekends, the time was such that the police never had crime scene tape so I could walk up to the bodies and look at them. Many were slaughtered…When you walk into scenes, in the morning, five dead. People are shot in their homes, the homes burnt with some still alive. And I could tell they were alive because I'm a doctor, you could look at the position. You went to the yard and the yard was covered with blood. You could smell the blood...” Chang said of the many slaughter scenes across the islandwide.

Many persons were murdered simply for being on the wrong road, said Chang.

He said that was the atmosphere and climate inherited by the JLP.

“But we care. We were concerned and we set about to correct that. And our leader, our prime minister committed to do it. He had to invest heavily. He chose Jamaica. That is the kind of leader you have. And as a leader he led from the front,” he said, noting that the job is not finished.

Making the case for the third term for Holness, he said more work has to be done.

“He set out to fix the communities and to fix the security forces. We passed legislation. We passed a new act, Firearms (Prohibition, Restriction and Regulation) Act to ensure men who use guns to kill people will pay a penalty. When you kill people wantonly, innocent people, you catch him, you put him away for life. Men who disregard and disrespect poor Jamaicans should not see the street. Either you give up the gun or face Jamaica and go to prison for life. One way or the other violence must stop,” Chang charged.

He said old ladies must continue to go to prayer meetings on Wednesday nights; young boys must be able to play football in the square at nights; and a man must be able to go to work and leave one o'clock in the morning from the hotel and get home from the night shift and feel safe.

“That's the Jamaica we want to build. That's the Jamaica Andrew Holness is starting to build. The work is not finished. And I urge all of you, when you leave here as Labourites, all Jamaicans, you listen. The job needs leadership to complete the task. We are at a crossroads. Choose the right road,” Chang urged Labourites.

- Erica Virtue

Follow The Gleaner on X and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.