I felt it incumbent on me to make this statement in light of the fact that guns have featured so prominently in the most recent spate of violence. If each of those shootings had resulted in a death, we would have an even more shocking murder rate than we suffered last year. Guns are indiscriminate weapons and it is only God’s mercy that all of those people were shot in the leg. We have to ask the question, where are these guns coming from? Has the Commissioner of Police initiated an investigation into the smuggling of guns into our Federation? What is being done about these guns? When we ask that question we must recognize that we have no working coast guard boats. They remain derelict with engines needed and not having been replaced by the Government for over a year. When persons are driving and shooting at people from cars each of us is at risk yet we have heard nothing from our elected Representatives.

The issue of weapon smuggling has the potential to derail what economic progress we have made. It will scare off investors and tourists in addition to making our once idyllic islands unfit to live in. We as a society need to take an especially serious look at the prevalence of guns in our communities. We need to make sure that the gun smugglers have no safe haven among us. I am aware that there is a serious problem with persons being afraid to speak up about witnessing crime but this emboldens criminals and must be confronted sooner rather than later. If the current Administration feels incapable of handling this situation it is high time to put the matter to the people and let the individual and collective wisdom of the people speak. We are all individually and collectively responsible for the problems within our society. There needs to be a unifying force going forward. Civil society needs to be heard on this serious matter. Their silence gives the impression that they do not care.

I wish to use this opportunity to send condolences to the family of 15 year old Jumal Mike who was recently found murdered in St. Johnsons Village. I know that I was not alone in my shock and horror when I heard along with the rest of the Federation that this child was shot in the head, executed. How is it possible that such gangland style killing is a fact of life in our Federation? What is even worse is how it is that our children are the victims of these crimes and we can be so dispassionate about it. It has been continually observed during the last two decades that a significant subset of our boys and young men are experiencing serious difficulties integrating into the mainstream of our society.

While many talk of how boys in general are failing in school and are marginalized I think that most of us can agree that this pronouncement is exaggerated. The fact is that many boys and young men do very well but unfortunately many also do very badly. For whatever reason boys seem to be more vulnerable to social and cultural breakdown than girls are and it is well known that they act out in a more violent way than girls do. The lure of easy money and the respect, power and admiration that come with it draws many young men to lives of crime especially when there are no buffers in the home to protect against negative influence. This makes them easy recruits for the drug trade as well as the gangland lifestyle of the North American ghetto that is propagated through much of the music and film that they are exposed to.

All of this is well established to experts in the field of sociology and criminology and should be known to those charged with the development and implementation of youth policy in this Government. In recent times, especially during the last two years, the news media has been replete with incidents of criminal activity by boys and young men. We have become accustomed to reading about one crime after another in the daily paper and are not even surprised any longer. Despite this we, the public at large, have no idea what this Government has put in place to deal with the special case of youth criminality.

In recent times the Republic of China on Taiwan has donated funds to this Government for the construction of community centers around the island but the powers that be have not seen it fit to designate a facility to replace the destroyed Harris’ home for boys. Boys and young men on their first offence are remanded into custody with hardened criminals for months at a time with no program in place to abort their downward slide. It is high time the Government come forward to tell the Federation exactly what it has put in place to deal with this critical issue. A significant proportion of our most violent crimes are committed by boys and young men but we cannot lose them in jail like many are demanding. We need to find creative ways to both reform the bloods and the crips that we have unwittingly imported and also prevent new ones from developing. We need to demand that the Government comes to the people with a plan to arrest this downward spiral into crime by our youth. We cannot afford any more Jumals.

Many people will complain that the PAM is politicizing the issue of crime because of these remarks. They will say that the Government does not cause crime and that parents and civic society need to play their part in dealing with the issue. This sentiment is entirely misguided. The fact is that we are well aware that many parents are incapable of controlling their children and so the state has a responsibility to step in. The fact is that our schools have a serious problem with discipline and that is a failure of the Government. The fact is that the church and civil society, despite their critical function, are simply not responsible for law and order in our society. The Government is. It is the Government that must ensure that principals have sufficient authority in schools; that unruly parents cannot enter the premises at will and attack staff and students and disrupt classes, that all schools are adequately staffed with trained teachers and support staff. It is the Government that must ensure that we have an adequate, well trained and well equipped police force and proper facilities to rehabilitate offenders. It is the Government that must make the laws and implement the policy that direct how law and order is maintained. It is the Government that must be held accountable for the current breakdown in law and order.

I again reiterate my call for this Government to come forward with a plan or even invite members of the public and civil society groups to submit proposals through which we can begin to curb this problem with violence. The People’s Action Movement is already on the record with a 16 point crime stoppers plan. This is by no means exhaustive and we invite the Government to add to it and to make use of it. Crime affects all of us so we cannot afford to be uncooperative but I cannot stress enough that this problem is the responsibility of all of us but the Government is charged with the responsibility of leadership and must therefore lead. If the Government cannot lead on the issue then it is incapable of carrying out its mandate of law and order being its number one priority. If it cannot carry out its mandate on this critical issue then the electorate must speak through the ballot.

Thank you.