Here we go again. I am having a discussion with a friend who lives here in the US about Jamaica’s crime problem. Let me give you the back drop to how the conversation started. As many of you may know a report came out last week stating that over 600 people have been murdered since January 1s, 2008. Last week the Government made statements that seem to absolve themselves of their responsibility to address the crime issue.
My friend started to tell me what Jamaica needs to do to solve the crime issue. It was nothing I have not heard before. Education, job training, fight poverty, fight party politics, solve the garrison problem, solve the drug problem etc. A few years ago I promised myself that I would stayed away from the conversations of “what Jamaica needs to do to solve a specific problem”. Why you ask?
Because Jamaica has all the knowledge it needs to solve practically all it’s problems. You can go down to any Jamaican government office and find “studies” on top of “studies” on how to solve many of the problems. Many of these studies are thoughtful and actually are good solutions. So I will continue to say Jamaica lacks no ideas. They also are not lacking in new ideas. We have some of the brightest people in Jamaica even though many complain about “brain drain”. What Jamaica lacks is “implementation”. No one will take the responsibility and run with the solution.
