HOPEWELL, Hanover — As the country’s murder rate continues to climb, Jamaica Labour Party(JLP) leader Andrew Holness has warned that if the People’s National Party (PNP) remains in power, the island’s crime problem could worsen.
“If you keep the PNP in power, the truth is that you could lose your life. If you keep the PNP in power and the crime rate continues to rise, the truth is that the next murder victim could be you,” Holness warned.
“It is no joke business, because right now you have a greater chance of being murdered in your own community than being hit by a car, and it shouldn’t be that way.”
The Opposition leader was speaking at a JLP mass rally in Hopewell, Hanover Friday night.
Data released by the Jamaica Constabulary Force revealed that 1 016 people were murdered between January 1 and October 23 this year.
This represents a 24 per cent increase in the number of people killed, when compared with the corresponding period last year, during which time 822 people were murdered.
Last year, some 1 005 people were killed, in comparison to 1 200 murders in 2013, a decline of 16 per cent.
Holness told party supporters that murders had risen from where the JLP had left it in December 2011.
“We brought down the murder rate when we were leaving in 2011 to 1 125. You know what is happening to the murder rate now? The murder rate is climbing again and it is climbing in parishes like Hanover — parishes that never used to have the kind of gruesome murders that we are seeing now, where six persons are killed one time. We never used to have that, but now we see that kind of thing happening under the PNP.
“I say to you tonight, Labourites, if we make the mistake of making the PNP continue in power, we will never be able to bring the murder rate back under control. So if you want to survive and live in your country and feel safe, and if you want your family to feel safe, and if you want to feel like you can send your pickney on the road and nothing nuh happen to them, then join us in kicking out the PNP Government.” (Jamaica Observer)
