Jamaica: Prime Minister Andrew Holness delivered the keynote address at the Area Council 2 presentation, where he outlined the culture of Jamaica and various things such as the standard of music that have been produced over the years.
Read Here: Full Statement of Prime Minister Andrew Holness
Many Jamaicans would agree with me that there has been a steady deterioration in the quality and standard of music we have been producing over the years.
While these songs have their place in entertainment, we shouldn’t allow this type of content to define our Jamaican culture. We must restore a national sense of pride in our country and promote a positive outlook of Jamaica.
For Jamaica 60, we will celebrate and seek to highlight what is good about Jamaica to combat these limiting views which have eroded the fabric of our society.
The level of organized criminal activity in Spanish Town is a national emergency. The flare up violence will not be allowed to get out of control. It will be dealt with strongly, firmly and immediately.
Though there are many challenges that we face in Jamaica, this Government is not wasting time looking for solutions outside the country. Jamaica will have to find its own solutions to its problems, and often times, the solution lies right here with us.
A critical part of crime fighting, is the prosecution of criminals. We are bringing legislation, and utilizing the courts to take criminals off our streets. We will continue with these, and much stronger actions, to bring criminals to justice and secure Jamaica’s peace.
As it relates to the crime situation, I wish to point out to the public that we will pass the new firearms legislation which will make it much more difficult for people to acquire, train, traffic and possess illegal weapon.
We will never allow criminals to over-run and hold our country hostage.
We are updating our laws to effectively prosecute those who wantonly endanger and take the lives of Jamaicans.
In my recent Area Council 2 presentation, I made this very point. Criminals, such as those we see in Spanish Town this evening, driving fear into citizens and traumatizing our children, must be strongly and effectively punished within the confines of the law.
We will continue to advance our strong actions against crime.
We must continue to work together to confront this epidemic by taking firm and decisive measures, including updating our laws and equipping our security forces to better enable crime fighting.
