"MR. KINGSLEY Thomas has now joined Professor Don Robotham in the call for a state of emergency to deal with the current crime level.
Neither of them is likely to be detained without charge for being "a threat to national security". Nor any of their children, for that matter. And if, by some misadventure, it were to happen, a simple phone call would take care of that.
The poor who live in our inner cities, most of whom are no less law-abiding than Mr. Thomas or Professor Robotham, have no such assurance and no such privilege. Every so often the police detain scores of people who are first locked up then "processed" and later released. Why?"
Because the police have no evidence on which to charge them. Under the Thomas-Robotham plan, the police would simply detain and lock up. No need for any "processing"! No need for any evidence! No need for any trial!
The atrocities that were perpetrated by the government in the state of emergency of 1976 must never be allowed to happen again! They will never be allowed to happen again!
I am, etc.,
BRUCE GOLDINGKingston
Bruce Golding (2003), Letter To the Gleaner objecting to the use of a State of Emergency as a measure to tackle the high crime level.
More: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20031009/letters/letters1.html
now that mr golding is the pm,and with crime much worse than it was in 2003,its no surprise that he has changed his tune!desperate situations call for desperate measures.we can't have criminals running riot and burning down police stations holding the country to ransom.we need better accesss to education,find some way for it to be more affordable and more job opportunities when students complete their education.we as a country need to start producing something that we can trade with the rest of the world with.tourism,agriculture and bauxite mining alone will not sustain us.come on jamaica,lets use our heads.we are a great people,lets fulfill our potential!
ReplyDeleteGolding himself has said that as a leader and parliamentarian for the Jamaica Labor Party, he "was associated with gunmen, but being associated with gunmen is not a criminal offense." He noted that gunmen served a function in his constituency by keeping PNP supporters out.
ReplyDeleteHe also said..."Talk shows, media, leadership of civil society all have been quite ambivalent, unfortunately, but more and more people who speak with authority and knowledge are coming out and asserting that the system is rotten. You see public opinion demanding change and reform." ...yet when they concertedly asked for his resignation, after he was exposed trying to thwart the extradition of an alleged criminal mastermind, what did he do?
ReplyDelete